Hopefully Sharon F will answer this one.
I have tried your suggestions re surfing as a limited user. That's OK. But
the Administrator is in the Safe Mode along with any new programs I
downloaded through it. As I need to use those programs, it would appear the
Administrator must be coaxed out of the Safe Mode.Once it is in the Regular
Mode there I should have *no problems* downloading new programs using the
Administrator and they would (I think) be available for all users.
I don't understand what you're saying about safe mode.
With XP Home or Pro, there is built in account named Administrator (unless
renamed) that is a member of the administrator group. And new accounts
within the Administrator group can be added.
In XP Home the built in account never sees the "light of day." It is always
available from Safe Mode only.
In XP Pro, the built in account will appear on the welcome screen until
another account *within the administrator group* is created. At that point
it drops off of the welcome screen.
The newly created account will appear on the welcome screen and be
available when operating in "normal mode."
For the "invisible" built in admin account there is no need to start in
Safe Mode to access this account again. Instead, at the welcome screen
press Ctrl+Alt+Del twice. This will bring up the classic logon screen. Type
in the name of the built in account and the password (if password is used).
Again, the name of this built in account is "Administrator" unless it's
been renamed.
Best practice is to keep the built in account "in reserve." Use a separate
account in the administrator group for everyday stuff.
Some folks using XP Pro will inadvertently use the built in account as
their everyday account. When/if it disappears, they get a little worried.
At this point they can:
Create a new admin account that will appear on the welcome screen without
any extra steps and transfer their files and settings over to it.
(preferred solution but more work)
Or
Force the builtin account to appear on the welcome screen. (less desirable
solution but also less work)
So anyhow, the above is why I'm confused about your concern of the Admin
account being in safe mode. If using Home, you should already have an
account within the administrator group that is available from the welcome
screen. If using Pro, the built in account may have disappeared from the
welcome screen but it is still available for use with "normal mode."
I haven't switched to IE7 for XP yet (tried it once and it messed up access
with one of my POP3 accounts that I use regularly so uninstalled it; will
wait for it to come out of "preview" status before I try it again). If
there are some restrictions placed on an account in the administrator group
by security features in the new browser version, I haven't had to contend
with them yet. Also, this would then be an IE question and better presented
in one of the Internet Explorer newsgroups.
