Tech Support > Microsoft Windows > Customizing > User Accounts
User Accounts
Posted by Lizzie on November 15th, 2005


Hurricaine Rita did a job on my pc's. My new one has all users, Compaq_Owner
and Default User. Each account has different folders, programs, etc. Whic is
the correct account and how can I delete the others.

Posted by Doug Knox MS-MVP on November 15th, 2005


You don't want to delete any of them. All Users folders are common to all users of the machine. Default user contains the "templates" for any new user accounts that are created.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
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Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
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"Lizzie" <Lizzie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:4019AFF3-30BB-4B01-AC73-10E215753801@microsoft.com...
> Hurricaine Rita did a job on my pc's. My new one has all users, Compaq_Owner
> and Default User. Each account has different folders, programs, etc. Whic is
> the correct account and how can I delete the others.

Posted by Sharon F on November 15th, 2005


On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 06:29:04 -0800, Lizzie wrote:

> Hurricaine Rita did a job on my pc's. My new one has all users, Compaq_Owner
> and Default User. Each account has different folders, programs, etc. Whic is
> the correct account and how can I delete the others.


These are all normal accounts. "All Users" holds items that appear for all
users. "Default User" is the template used to create new user accounts.
Don't delete these accounts or folders.

Compaq_Owner is a user account created by Compaq - targeted to be used by
the new owner of the Compaq system. This is probably your active everyday
account. To check, type %userprofile% into the Start> Run box. Explorer
will open, displaying the folders of the user that is currently logged on.

When your account is logged on, it pulls the info from All Users and its
own folders to create your start menu and desktop and shared documents
lists.

The only editing that I would recommend doing is moving items from All
Users that you do not want appearing for all users into your own folders.
Leave items created by Windows in place -they're usually there for a reason
- but items added from software installations can be moved.

When you install software designed for XP, one of the installation
questions is if the install is for all users or just for yourself. The
answer determines where shortcuts for the program will be placed - All
Users or your folders.

Personally, I answer "all users" - if I ever add a user to this system
(even a second account for myself), the program will be readily available
and will not have to be reinstalled.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User


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