I did say that, in addition to the user account that you are allowed to rename at the
installation of XP, which has administrator privileges by default - there is also a
'hidden' (that means you will not normally be able to see it) account that is always
named 'Administrator' - by default.
There are times when you *will* see this account - for instance - on booting into
safe mode you will see this 'extra' account named 'Administrator' on the Welcome
screen.
Or, if you do not use the Welcome screen, you may type 'Administrator' into the logon
box - there is no password set for this account by default - but you can set one -
but NOT using the normal 'User Accounts' control panel as I said - it is hidden.
To see ALL the accounts on the system - including some of the ones you didn't know
you had - type the following into the "Run" box on the 'Start Menu' :
CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2
(you will see the 'Administrator' account straight away in the dialogue box that
appears)
But then, click on the 'Advanced' tab and then on the 'Advanced' button under it.
Another dialogue appears with an explorer-like interface and objects that look like
'folders'
Click on the Users "folder" to open it;
you will see a whole 'array' of seen and hidden accounts on your system.
(you can also get to this last dialogue by typing the following into the "Run" box
)
(mmc.exe c:\windows\system32\lusrmgr.msc )
(you can re-set the 'Administrator' account password from there)
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
It is a very sensible safeguard to create a user account for use on the web.
Although, viruses and malware may compromise settings on the current profile OR the
local machine, in which case, doing this will not have protected you.
But, in the case where only the current profile has been corrupted, then by simply
creating a new user account and deleting the old one, would sort out the problem.
It is not advisable to use the Administrator account as your primary profile,
although not many people realise that XP creates, by default, a user account with
admin privileges (which you are asked to name at installation time) quite apart
from
a hidden Administrator account.
Spybot Updates are "global" i.e. they are irrespective of what users install as the
updates are stored for 'All Users'.
I also recommend as an absolute basic precaution - antivirus software that is
'resident' (that is, it has a component which sits in the background scanning for
threats in "real time").
If you have none - get AVG 8.5 [free] from the web until you can purchase some
(although I just use that, Spybot and Win Defender)...
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
I only created (1) administrative account during installation and my
user accounts only showed one afterwards. I did however create another
user account with administrative privilages and left the original
administrative account alone since then. The only thing I did was add
basic features e.g. Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Dell Image
Expert 2000, and Spybot incons to the desktop, should I ever need to
use these. Should I remove them and left the desktop blank? I did the
same for the other administrative account and my user account, but
I've stored all my files/links on the user account and that is the one
I use when on the Internet.
I use to have AVG but as it let in a Trojan Horse virus which caused
many problems I've lost faith in it and have instead opted for Avira
which I like much better and it runs in the background in real time. I
also had Windows Defender along with others and from what I understand
one can have too many conflicting anti-virus/malware programs. So I've
whittled it down to what I have now and the computer runs very well
with what I have.
Robert
