administrator screen

[Guest]

I have windows xp professional . very new on the computer.My problem is every
time i turn on or restart my computer the admin. screen comes up. so my
brother in law tells me this screen should only come up in safe mode. he
tried to fix this but was at a lost. so he made me another screen name and
that is the one i use all the time. but like i said every time i turn on my
computer i have to log off administrator or switch to the other user he made
me. because he said i should never go on the internet with this admin.
screen. i can not delete this user because it is the main administrator name
on my computer. does anyone know how to fix this thank you

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Reading between the lines I think I understand what you're referring to.

Windows XP works on the basis of accounts, not unlike a bank. Every
customer of a bank has to have an account with the bank, and every user
of XP has to have an account with XP.

Just as there are different types of bank accounts, that allow you to
perform different types of transactions with the bank, there are
different types of XP account, that allow you to perform different types
of work on the computer.

In XP, accounts are differentiated by their 'permissions', i.e., how
much access they have to the inner workings of the operating system. At
the top of the heap is the Administrator account, which has unrestricted
access to all functions and capabilities of Windows. Below the
Administrator account are other accounts that have fewer permissions, so
they have less access to the operating system.

What your brother-in-law explained is a well-known rule of safe
computing: don't do your everyday computing through an Administrator
account. If a virus or some other malicious software sneaks into your
computer through an Administrator account, the software will have the
ability to take complete control of your computer. But if the software
manages to sneak in through an account with fewer permissions, it will
have considerably less power over your computer.

XP can be setup to log you into your account without stopping to ask for
your password. By itself, this is not a good idea. You should always
take those extra seconds to enter your password. Otherwise, anyone with
access to your computer -- including Mr. Virus -- can access your
account without knowing your password.

Here's what I think is happening: Even though you setup a Limited User
account for yourself, XP is automatically logging you into your
Administrator account. You need to stop that.

Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type:

control userpasswords2

and then click OK. In the dialog box that appears, enable Users must
enter a user name and password to use this computer check box, and then
click OK.