Administrator name vs. User name in Vista

[Uzidengineer]

Hi,

A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
It was a "demo" at Staples.
They said they will restore it to its original state.

But.
While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
shows my correct name (as the administrator)
AND there is no other account except disabled guest.

Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3):
Guest, Public and Staples.
I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
Any advise?

 

[G. Morgan]

Hi,

A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
It was a "demo" at Staples.
They said they will restore it to its original state.

But.
While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
shows my correct name (as the administrator)
AND there is no other account except disabled guest.

Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3):
Guest, Public and Staples.
I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
Any advise?

I would format the drive and reinstall Windoze. You don't know what is on
that thing if it was a demo, and you don't know what they did to "restore it
to the original state".

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi,

A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
It was a "demo" at Staples.
They said they will restore it to its original state.

But. While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
shows my correct name (as the administrator)
AND there is no other account except disabled guest.

Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3): Guest, Public and
Staples.
I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
Any advise?

Yes, don't do that. Instead, create a new account for yourself, migrate
anything you want to keep, then delete the "staples" acccount.

I think you'll find that even if you change the displayed account name to
your own, folder names will not change. This can lead to confusion.

By default, the Vista Administrator account is disabled for security
reasons. You can turn it on, but you need to be in another Administrator
account to do so.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi,

A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
It was a "demo" at Staples.
They said they will restore it to its original state.

They apparently lied.

But. While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
shows my correct name (as the administrator)
AND there is no other account except disabled guest.

Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3): Guest, Public and
Staples.
I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
Any advise?

With second-hand computers (among which one would certainly have to
include a store demo unit), especially if acquired from strangers but
perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest
course of action would definitely be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP/Vista, you
can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some read
the registered owner information dynamically, while others read it only
during installation.

However, the user profile folders (C:\Users\Username) _cannot_ be
renamed, without risky registry editing, even if the associated user
account has been. So, if you don't really want to restore the machine
to its original, ex-factory state, your best course of action would be
to log on using the built-in Administrator account, create a new user
account, with the username desired. Once you've logged in using this
new account (and transfered any data you need to preserve, you can then
delete the old user account(s).


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[shawn]

Someone I know got a computer off someone else for free. That person had a
program installed on there to record what they do.

So, I'd always format and reinstall.