guest account

[KRK]

Hello,

I seem to have a 'Guest' account on my pc. I don't remember creating it (I
am the only user of my pc) and I cannot seem to delete it. I've been through
Control Panel etc.

Any advice pls ?

Thanks

K

 

[Malke]

Hello,

I seem to have a 'Guest' account on my pc. I don't remember creating it (I
am the only user of my pc) and I cannot seem to delete it. I've been
through Control Panel etc.

The Guest account is a special system account, not one meant for when you
are feeling hospitable. It is disabled by default in Windows XP, Vista,
Linux, Unix, and OS X for a reason. Leave it alone.

From TechNet:

"The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to the
system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist
because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system
through this account."

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978(TechNet.10).aspx

Since you posted in a Vista newsgroup and you mentioned that you only have
one user account, you should take a look at the general recommendations
below.

General Recommendations For Setting Up Users In Vista:

You absolutely do not want to have only one user account. Like XP and all
other modern operating systems, Vista is a multi-user operating system with
built-in system accounts such as Administrator, Default, All Users, and
Guest. These accounts should be left alone as they are part of the operating
system structure.

You particularly don't want only one user account with administrative
privileges on Vista because the built-in Administrator account (normally
only used in emergencies) is disabled by default. If you're running as
Administrator for your daily work and that account gets corrupted, things
will be Difficult. It isn't impossible to activate the built-in Administrator
to rescue things, but it will require third-party tools and working outside
the operating system.

The user account that is for your daily work should be a Standard user, with
the extra administrative user (call it something like "CompAdmin" or "Tech"
or the like) only there for elevation purposes. After you create
"CompAdmin", log into it and change your regular user account to Standard.
Then log back into your regular account.

If you want to go directly to the Desktop and skip the Welcome Screen with
the icons of user accounts, you can do this:

Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).

Malke

 

[Saucy]

Malke - doesn't UAC make moot the need to create both a Standard account
( e.g. MalkeFizzleBits ) and an Administrators account ( e.g. your
CompAdmin ) for oneself ??

[[I'm assuming a desktop computer at home in the workshop or den office.]]

So if one creates just one account - an Administrators group account for
oneself ( e.g. MalkeBlazingBits ) - with UAC it runs as if it were a
Standard account unless one explicitly allows requests for raised
privileges - best of both worlds in just one account ?

KRK - Malke's right, it's usually best to leave the built-in "Guest" and the
"Administrator" accounts alone.

Saucy

Hello,

I seem to have a 'Guest' account on my pc. I don't remember creating it
(I
am the only user of my pc) and I cannot seem to delete it. I've been
through Control Panel etc.

The Guest account is a special system account, not one meant for when you
are feeling hospitable. It is disabled by default in Windows XP, Vista,
Linux, Unix, and OS X for a reason. Leave it alone.

From TechNet:

"The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to
the
system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist
because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system
through this account."

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978(TechNet.10).aspx

Since you posted in a Vista newsgroup and you mentioned that you only have
one user account, you should take a look at the general recommendations
below.

General Recommendations For Setting Up Users In Vista:

You absolutely do not want to have only one user account. Like XP and all
other modern operating systems, Vista is a multi-user operating system
with
built-in system accounts such as Administrator, Default, All Users, and
Guest. These accounts should be left alone as they are part of the
operating
system structure.

You particularly don't want only one user account with administrative
privileges on Vista because the built-in Administrator account (normally
only used in emergencies) is disabled by default. If you're running as
Administrator for your daily work and that account gets corrupted, things
will be Difficult. It isn't impossible to activate the built-in
Administrator
to rescue things, but it will require third-party tools and working
outside
the operating system.

The user account that is for your daily work should be a Standard user,
with
the extra administrative user (call it something like "CompAdmin" or
"Tech"
or the like) only there for elevation purposes. After you create
"CompAdmin", log into it and change your regular user account to Standard.
Then log back into your regular account.

If you want to go directly to the Desktop and skip the Welcome Screen with
the icons of user accounts, you can do this:

Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on
the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct
password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).

Malke

 

[Malke]

Malke - doesn't UAC make moot the need to create both a Standard account
( e.g. MalkeFizzleBits ) and an Administrators account ( e.g. your
CompAdmin ) for oneself ??
No.

[[I'm assuming a desktop computer at home in the workshop or den office.]]

Still no.

So if one creates just one account - an Administrators group account for
oneself ( e.g. MalkeBlazingBits ) - with UAC it runs as if it were a
Standard account unless one explicitly allows requests for raised
privileges - best of both worlds in just one account ?

No. While Windows users are particularly vulnerable to malware, not
everything is about that. With only one administrative account that is being
used for daily work, you run the risk of account corruption. See repeat
below:

And user accounts seem to get corrupted a lot in Vista. There's no way for
me to know why - malware, bad hardware, bad user practices, power outages,
etc. But it happens and it's stupid not to be prepared for it.

KRK - Malke's right, it's usually best to leave the built-in "Guest" and
the "Administrator" accounts alone.

Yes.

Malke

 

[Bill Daggett]

And user accounts seem to get corrupted a lot in Vista. There's no way for
me to know why - malware, bad hardware, bad user practices, power outages,
etc. But it happens and it's stupid not to be prepared for it.

So far, I've not had that problem. I run with only one account - it's
an Admin account with no password - and with UAC off... but I have
plenty of backups - including a clone on another internal drive - that
I can fall back on should something go wrong.

Even my backup images - which are on yet another internal drive - have
backups... on an external drive ;-)

 

[Gordon]

in message

control panel---Management tools---computer management---local users and
group---select the account name your want to delete and delete it

It can't be deleted AFAIK - it's a system account.

 

[KRK]

Thanks all

KK