Administrator Account'

  • Thread starter Thread starter Summer1
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Summer1

I am the only one using this computer and it has two accounts: Admninistrator
and User.

When I bought this pre-owned computer, it was signed in as an
'Administrator' (which I did not know at the time).

I installed programs and customized settings under this account. When I
realized that it should all be under the 'User Account,' I copied everything
but now have 'duplicate' files on both accounts, taking up unnecessary space.

How do I delete programs on the Administrator' account and go back to the
'original' Windows XP settings before I customized them or should programs
be installed/settings be customized in Administrator mode?
 
Summer1 said:
I should have added that I am using Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 3 and
IE 7.
Click to expand...

You do not delete programs under user accounts. Programs are global. You can
delete *data* from the Administrator's My Documents if you have duplicated
it in your own user account's My Documents. You can also run CCleaner in
the Administrator account to get rid of temporary files. Caveat: do not use
the registry tools or any of the other tools in CCleaner or there is a good
possibility you will break your system. Just use it to get rid of temporary
and Temporary Internet Files. There is no need to play about with any
settings in that account since no one will be using it and any settings
such as browser favorites take up basically no room.

To access the Administrator account simply log into it from the Welcome
Screen. Do whatever you need to do and then log back out and into your
regular account. If you can't see the Administrator account on the Welcome
Screen, since you have XP Pro:

At the Welcome Screen do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic logon box.
Enter "Administrator" (without the quotes of course) for the username and
whatever password you assigned. If you didn't assign a password, leave that
field blank and hit Enter.

Malke
 
How do I delete programs on the Administrator' account and go back to the
'original' Windows XP settings before I customized them or should programs
be installed/settings be customized in Administrator mode?
Click to expand...

1. Programs (software) are not peculiar to certain accounts.
They are installed under WinXP and available to everyone.
2. Default settings permit only Administrator accounts to
instal or uninstal software. (You may have more than one
Admin. account if you like.)
3. Because you transferred your everyday desktop and settings
from Admin to User, you may find it useful to create a new
Admin account, and customize it differently (done via / Control
Panell / Users.) It would be wise to keep the old Admin account
for some weeks, until you are sure it is genuinely not needed
because the new one does what you want (and the everyday
User account does what you want.)
 
Hiya :)

I definitely have XP Pro.

I do not want to 'delete' data.

I want to make sure that I am being clear: I installed programs and
customized settings under Admin. Since I should not be signed in as Admin on
a regular basis, I created a 'User profile but then realized that I had to
'copy' my progrtams from Admin. Now I have 'two' accounts with the 'exact'
same info-Isn't that taking up space?
 
o, the fact that I have th same programs in both Admin 'and' User accounts
does not mean that the programs are using ip'double the amount of space?'

When installing programs, should I do it in Admin or User settings? Since I
use 'User' primarily, if I installed under 'Admin,' it would mean having to
'copy' that program to 'User' every time I installed something.
 
Oh wait!

I am getting mixed up.

Here is what I was thinking: I installed programs under Admin. Then, I
created a User account and could not 'see' the same programs in the 'same'
order on the 'desktop' so I 'assumed' that I had to 'copy' the programs to
the 'User' account but like you said, programs are available to 'every' user
account so I should have just created 'icons' on the desktop for the 'User'
account.

The fact that programs are available on 'every' account (example:
Administrator and 5 User accounts) does not mean that the program is taking
up 'extra space' in each account.
 
o, the fact that I have th same programs in both Admin 'and' User accounts
does not mean that the programs are using ip'double the amount of space?'

When installing programs, should I do it in Admin or User settings? Since I
use 'User' primarily, if I installed under 'Admin,' it would mean having to
'copy' that program to 'User' every time I installed something.
Click to expand...

Not so: when Administrator instals software, it is available by
default to any User. (You can then customize to restrict this.)
Try it and see. E.g. download the excellent graphic viewer
from www.irfanview.com instal it as Admin, and you will find
it on the /all programs (newest installations at the end.)

You can then customize the programs menus for Admin.
and User for your own convenience. E.g. something Admin
uses rarely or never can be left under / all programs but if
User uses it every day you probably want to /Pin it (feature
it in the left column.)
 
Should I be installing programs in 'Admin' or 'User' mode or does not matter?

The fact that the 'programs' are available to all does not mean that they
are 'taking up' more space then.

Lastly, because I did not see 'all' the icons in 'User' mode that I saw in
'Admin mode,' I figured that I had to 'copy' the programs. Am I correct that
I just had to make 'shortcuts' for those programs under 'User?'
 
Summer1 said:
Should I be installing programs in 'Admin' or 'User' mode or does not
matter?

The fact that the 'programs' are available to all does not mean that they
are 'taking up' more space then.

Lastly, because I did not see 'all' the icons in 'User' mode that I saw in
'Admin mode,' I figured that I had to 'copy' the programs. Am I correct
that
I just had to make 'shortcuts' for those programs under 'User?'
Click to expand...
You should always install programs with an account that is a member of the
administrators group.
You did not see the icons (i. e. shortcuts) in the 'User' account because
they were added to Desktop folder in the folder tree for the 'Administrator'
account.
The easy way to overcome this problem is the move the desired shortcuts from
the Desktop folder for the 'Administrator' account to the Desktop folder for
the 'All Users' folder tree.
Windows Explorer show shortcuts from the Desktop folder for the particular
account and the shortcuts from the Desktop folder for 'All Users'.
Jim
 
Sorry Everyone for not being clear.

Here is what I want to know:

I installed programs and customized settings under the 'Administrator
account.'

Since I am the 'only' user and I know that I should be in 'User' mode for
daily use, I created a 'User' account. Is the 'User' account a 'duplicate'
copy of the 'Admin' account in terms of programs installed and settings
customized? OR: Should I have created a 'User' account first and installed
and customized everything without going into the 'Administrator account-This
way both accounts would not be duplicates of each other?'

After I created the 'User' account, I went to the Microsoft 'Help Article'
at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151 and
followed the instructions for 'Copy Files to the New User Profile.'

Does the fact that I have 'two' accounts' with the same info mean that
'extra space' is being taken up? Can I 'leave' the two accounts as they are?
 
Summer1 said:
Hiya :)

I definitely have XP Pro.

I do not want to 'delete' data.

I want to make sure that I am being clear: I installed programs and
customized settings under Admin. Since I should not be signed in as Admin
on a regular basis, I created a 'User profile but then realized that I had
to 'copy' my progrtams from Admin. Now I have 'two' accounts with the
'exact' same info-Isn't that taking up space?
Click to expand...

You have posted some version of this exact same question multiple times and
you have gotten the same answer multiple times. I just don't know how much
more clear anyone can make this for you.

Delete any data you don't want in the Administrator account's My Documents.
If you have copied the data to your regular user account's My Documents,
you will still have it there. It doesn't magically get deleted from two
user accounts simultaneously. Delete any Temporary and Temporary Internet
Files in the Administrator account. Leave everything else alone.

If you still can't figure it out, do as another poster suggested and have
either a knowledgeable friend or a computer professional come on-site and
straighten things out for you.

Malke
 
Summer1 said:
Sorry Everyone for not being clear.

Here is what I want to know:

I installed programs and customized settings under the 'Administrator
account.'

Since I am the 'only' user and I know that I should be in 'User' mode for
daily use, I created a 'User' account. Is the 'User' account a 'duplicate'
copy of the 'Admin' account in terms of programs installed and settings
customized? OR: Should I have created a 'User' account first and installed
and customized everything without going into the 'Administrator
account-This
way both accounts would not be duplicates of each other?'

After I created the 'User' account, I went to the Microsoft 'Help Article'
at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151 and
followed the instructions for 'Copy Files to the New User Profile.'

Does the fact that I have 'two' accounts' with the same info mean that
'extra space' is being taken up? Can I 'leave' the two accounts as they
are?
Click to expand...
The way you did it requires a certain amount more space than the one I
described. Shortcuts don't take up much space though.
The other files that you copied take up twice as much space though. There
is one set of files in the administrator folder tree and another set of
files in the user folder tree.

To answer your questions: There is only one set of programs that are
installed. There are two sets of shortcuts. There are two sets of whatever
files may be needed for customization.
If you did as I described, there would only be one set of shortcuts (which
all accounts can see),

If you create the 'user' account before loading all of the programs, there
only needs to be one set of customizations.

The way that you did this will result in a divergence between the two
accounts regardless of how careful you are. What you have really done is to
add unnecessary complications.

Jim
 
Summer1 said:
Hiya :)

I definitely have XP Pro.

I do not want to 'delete' data.

I want to make sure that I am being clear: I installed programs and
customized settings under Admin. Since I should not be signed in as Admin
on
a regular basis, I created a 'User profile but then realized that I had to
'copy' my progrtams from Admin.
Click to expand...

Actually you don't have to do this. You only need a *shortcut* to the
program, you do not have to copy the program itself, and there is a big
difference between a shortcut and a program.

You could have no shortcuts at all, and just use the command prompt to
navigate and launch programs. The inconvenience of that approach will
show you why shortucts exist.

Even if you reinstall to the new user account, as long as you use the same
destination folders, there is no real increase in drive space use.

Applications that are aware of user accounts (like MS Office apps) will
sometimes want you to enter a little bit of information the first time you
run them under a new account.
Now I have 'two' accounts with the 'exact'
same info-Isn't that taking up space?
Click to expand...

If you've done what I suspect you've done, copying shortcuts, it's an
insignificantly small amount of space. These files generally take up the
smallest amount of disk space a file can; on my system, a shortcut is under
700 bytes and takes 4K of drive space.

Settings files also tend to be very small. Frankly, this just isn't worth
your time.

If the shortcuts are in the All Users desktop folder, there's only one copy
of the shortcut for all users. Anything specific to those apps and user
accounts will still apply - it doesn't matter where the shortcut is, it
matters what account it's run under.

HTH
-pk
 
Summer1 said:
Oh wait!

I am getting mixed up.

Here is what I was thinking: I installed programs under Admin. Then, I
created a User account and could not 'see' the same programs in the 'same'
order on the 'desktop' so I 'assumed' that I had to 'copy' the programs to
the 'User' account but like you said, programs are available to 'every'
user
account so I should have just created 'icons' on the desktop for the
'User'
account.

The fact that programs are available on 'every' account (example:
Administrator and 5 User accounts) does not mean that the program is
taking
up 'extra space' in each account.
Click to expand...

Correct. If you install it five times from five different accounts to the
same place, for example:

c:\progam files\Microsoft Office

You wind up with *one* installed copy.

If you need an application on all accounts, install it once, then move the
shortcut to the All Users folders. This will make it available for
everyone, and use the smallest amout of drive space (though the five copies
use an insignificant amount anyway).

HTH
-pk
 
Based on my current setup, step by step, what is the 'easiest' way to create
one set of shortcuts?

Is it a long process?

In the future, when I get a new computer, should I be signed in as Admin or
User, which account should I install programs to, and which account should I
create shortcuts to?
 
To clarify:

Under My Documents/User:

It shows the following folders: Contacts (empty), Desktop(8 shortcuts),
Favorites(lots), My Documents (My Music, My Pics, My Received Files, My
Videos, and My Sharing Files) are all empty, and Start Menu-Programs
(Accessories, Admin Tools, HP, Startup, and 3 shortcuts).

Under My Documents/Admin:

Folders: Contacts (empty), Desktop (8 faves), favorites (lots), Start Menu
(same as for 'User'), and XP Documents (empty).
 
Replies inline---
Summer1 said:
Based on my current setup, step by step, what is the 'easiest' way to
create
one set of shortcuts?
Click to expand...
Move all of the shortcuts to the Desktop folder in the "All Users" folder
tree. If there are shortcuts which require administrator permissions, the
don't move them.
Is it a long process? No

In the future, when I get a new computer, should I be signed in as Admin
or
User, which account should I install programs to, and which account should
I
create shortcuts to?
Click to expand...
Install all programs with an account which is a member of the administrators
group.
When complete, move the shortcuts to the Desktop folder in the "All Users"
folder tree if the installation procedure did not do this.
Jim
 
Hi,

Learning something new, especially on a computer, is often a seemingly
complex though actually simple set of concepts which, once the
structure and semantics are worked out, turn into knowledge that will be
useful for a long, long time.
IMO Summer1 has done a great job of clear, concise postings,
otherwise actually known as clarification/verification, and Jim has
shown an outstanding incidence of responding in kind, and avoiding the
"confusion by facts" that a lot of people get bogged down in. This is
the meeting of two thinking minds and refreshing to see these days.
KUDOS to both of you, especially Jim for his willingness to answer
the questions without judgement or muddy water. Thanks to Summer1, the
answers to the questions he asked are going to be useful to many, many
people for some time to come via Google and other such repositories.

Best Regards,

Twayne
 
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