stu said:
I have one user account (Home) and one called Guests (which is never used).
when is go to User Accounts in Control Panel they are all that are seen.
When I use Windows Explorer there is a duplicate account (Glenardis) which
appears to have exactly the same files as Home, including photos I have
downloaded, scans, and music.
Is it ok to delete the shadow account...it sure seems to be slowing my
computer down?
Don't go deleting user accounts! It sounds to me like you originally had
a user account called "Glenardis" which you (or someone else) renamed
"Home". If this is the case, they are the same account. You cannot
simply rename user accounts. No harm has been done and you can leave
things the way they are, but if this is really what happened and you
delete the so-called duplicate, I believe there may be Tears Before
Bedtime. Since I can't see your computer, that's just a guess of course.
Do not use the Guest account you see in the User Accounts applet in
Control Panel. It is not there for when you are feeling hospitable. It
allows someone without a user account on the local system to log on and
do some work. It runs with elevated privileges which is why it is a
security hole and normally disabled. If you ever want to allow visitors
to use your computer, make a Limited account instead and call it
something like "Visitors".
Here is a brief description of the XP user accounts to give you a better
idea of what you are really seeing.
XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is
using it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Unix,
Linux, Mac OSX - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the
system. In Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix
world, it is "root". This is a necessary account and is not normally
used in everyday work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator
account nor would you ever want to.
My Computer - represents your entire computer, showing drives and shared
folders. Shared Folders are folders where you can put files you wish to
share with other users on the system. You don't need to use these
folders if you don't want to, but leave them alone!
[some name] C:\ - your first hard drive, usually the system drive.
Document and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user
will have [username] Documents, Music, Videos, My Pictures.
Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry
about it!
All Users - Section where items common to all users go. In a multi-user
operating system, users have separate accounts. This is the place where
if you want to share files with all the other users on the system you
would put those files. You don't ever have to use those folders but they
need to be there. This is where programs you install that are meant to
be installed for all users put settings. All the "Shared Documents" type
of folders you see at the root of C:\ are shortcuts to the shared
folders in here. Leave them alone!
Default Users - This is the template from which new user accounts are
made. You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are
needed to create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get
it?). In Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User" is used. Leave
it alone!
[OEM] Administrator or Owner - This is the generic user created by the
OEM when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't
know who is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user
account, you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. It is not the same account as "Administrator".
Hope that helps,
Malke
