User Profiles

[John]

I just looked at the user profiles on my PC - in System Properties.

I found that my profile as Administrator is 1.67MB
I also have one for my name which is 878MB

My wife has one which is 1.1GB

Are these sizes typical?

 

[Jeff Ingram]

I partly depends on how much data you store in your profile. If you
download lots of music, it likely get stored within your profile. If you
have lots of photos or movies, or documents, same thing and the more you go
the larger your profile will be.

Jeff

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I just looked at the user profiles on my PC - in System Properties.

I found that my profile as Administrator is 1.67MB
I also have one for my name which is 878MB

My wife has one which is 1.1GB

Are these sizes typical?

No such thing as typical in this respect. There is initial size and larger.
;-)

 

[Richard]

I just looked at the user profiles on my PC - in System Properties.

I found that my profile as Administrator is 1.67MB
I also have one for my name which is 878MB

My wife has one which is 1.1GB

Are these sizes typical?

Hi John,

Let's see, right click My Computer, click Properties, click Advanced.
Under User Profiles, click Settings, and... Yes, here it is:

Administrator profile size: 965 KB
Richard profile size: 7.81 MB
Richard2 profile size: 1.19 MB

That properties dialog does not show all the users. There is also a Guest
user, and I have a "Help Assistant" user for Remote Desktop Help, and a
Microsoft vendor account user for the Help and Support service. Those are
found here: click Start, click (all)Programs, click Accessories, click
System Tools, click Computer Management Console, expand System Tools in
Console (if not already), expand Local Users and Groups, click Users.

Also, press Alt+Ctrl+Delete keys for Task Manager, click Users tab to view
currently logged on human users. Click Processes tab, and look in the User
Name for other users, like "SYSTEM" and "LOCAL SERVICE". (How many of the
processes under your user name did you personally start?

And let's see, Start> Run> msinfo32 for System Information> Software
Environment> Services> Start Name (column) we have NT AUTHORITY\Network
Service and NT AUTHORITY\LocalService, and LocalSystem. Apparently the
computer does not have "A" mind of its own, but several.

Oh, almost forgot, there is an All Users and a Default User folder in
Documents and Settings also.

And how many people, when asked how many users on their computer have said:
"I'm the only user of My Computer"? (Yeah, sure, uh huh, you betcha.

And if malware gets a foothold in your computer while connected to the
internet and holds the door open for other malware, you could end up with a
whole "Legion" of "Users" possessing your computer.

FWIW. --Richard

 

[John]

No such thing as typical in this respect. There is initial size and
larger. ;-)

So does the Profile contain all the data files that the person has stored?

 

[John]

Hi John,

Let's see, right click My Computer, click Properties, click Advanced.
Under User Profiles, click Settings, and... Yes, here it is:

Administrator profile size: 965 KB
Richard profile size: 7.81 MB
Richard2 profile size: 1.19 MB

That properties dialog does not show all the users. There is also a Guest
user, and I have a "Help Assistant" user for Remote Desktop Help, and a
Microsoft vendor account user for the Help and Support service. Those are
found here: click Start, click (all)Programs, click Accessories, click
System Tools, click Computer Management Console, expand System Tools in
Console (if not already), expand Local Users and Groups, click Users.

Also, press Alt+Ctrl+Delete keys for Task Manager, click Users tab to view
currently logged on human users. Click Processes tab, and look in the User
Name for other users, like "SYSTEM" and "LOCAL SERVICE". (How many of the
processes under your user name did you personally start?

And let's see, Start> Run> msinfo32 for System Information> Software
Environment> Services> Start Name (column) we have NT AUTHORITY\Network
Service and NT AUTHORITY\LocalService, and LocalSystem. Apparently the
computer does not have "A" mind of its own, but several.

Oh, almost forgot, there is an All Users and a Default User folder in
Documents and Settings also.

And how many people, when asked how many users on their computer have
said: "I'm the only user of My Computer"? (Yeah, sure, uh huh, you betcha.


And if malware gets a foothold in your computer while connected to the
internet and holds the door open for other malware, you could end up with
a whole "Legion" of "Users" possessing your computer.

FWIW. --Richard

Many thanks. Will take a look tonight - I have a utility called "Autoruns"
which I was told is good for clearing up autostarts.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I just looked at the user profiles on my PC - in System Properties.

I found that my profile as Administrator is 1.67MB
I also have one for my name which is 878MB

My wife has one which is 1.1GB

Are these sizes typical?

No such thing as typical in this respect. There is initial size
and larger. ;-)

So does the Profile contain all the data files that the person has
stored?

C:\Documents and Settings\<username> is a user's profile directory in
Windows XP. By default, it contains all of the user specific registry
entries in the file "ntuser.dat" (found in the root of the directory), all
of the users "My Documents" stuff (music, pictures, etc), all of the users
Internet Explorer favorites (found in the "Favorites" folder in the root of
said directory), all of the users Desktop items (except those shared with
everyone in the "All Users" desktop folder, the "Desktop" folder is just
like the "favorites" folder in location), all of the users Start Menu items
(except those shared with everyone in the "All Users" start menu folder, the
"Desktop" folder is just like the "favorites" folder in location), and also
all of the users temporary files (such as the Temporary Internet Files and
such) and specific applications settings (like settings for Microsoft
Office, Apple Quicktime, Adobe products, etc and so on.

It contains a lot and grows as a user utilizes things, it *is* - by
default - each users' main place for everything.

You mentioned 1.67GB like it was big - In my Windows 2000 days, I saw people
with more used than that with the registry entries alone (the single
NTUSER.DAT file that is.) You throw in a few pictures, a few internet
favorites, some Outlook Express or Outlook email, and the profile can climb
into the multiple GB range - even the 100's of GB range. Example - on this
WIndows XP machine - my profile is 8.49GB.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

So does the Profile contain all the data files that the person has stored?

If that's where each individual user _chose_ to store his/her files,
and all of the installed applications stored their related data there by
default, yes.


--

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