Who is this ... account?

[Marco Almenta]

After a few days since Vista Installation an unknown user appeared in my
Videos, Music and Pics folders. I formatted the HD, scared of some
intruders, and again anbther user is around. I do not know if it is the same
one because the name is a long series of numbers:

S-1-5-21-132779530-93896968-1742627343-1000

The fact is i can not delete this account from the security list, and even
there is a red question mark on top of the user icon.

Also in explorer the folders display the following: SHARED WITH: Unknown
Contact, ...

Maybe this is some kind of bug in Vista.
Thanks

 

[nicholas hall]

On some of my shared folders and files I have the same thing.
The said files and folders are shared with my laptop.
I think this is why there is (in my case anyway) a question mark.
I might be wrong, but it seems to be a logical reason (in my case).

NIK

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Hello,

This number represents an account being granted access to that folder.

In Windows, your user account (such as "Smitty") is represented internally
as a long string of numbers (like the one you mentioned). Therefore, a user
named smitty on one installation of Windows will have a different number
than a user named smitty on a different installation of Windows, even if
these installations of Windows are on the same computer.

So, if you look at the security on a file that was created on another
computer, created from a different installation of Windows, or you have
given yourself access to the file from another installation of Windows, you
will see a number instead of an account name, since that number represents
an account on another installation of Windows and is only meaningful from
that other Windows installation.


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/