Microsoft Windows XP Unleashed

TIP

How do you change the Administrator password? If you have the Welcome screen disabled (as

described in Chapter 1, “Customizing and Troubleshooting the Windows XP Startup”; refer to

the “Switching Between the Welcome Screen and the Classic Logon” section), log on as

Administrator, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to display the Windows Security dialog box, and then click

Change Password. If the Welcome screen is enabled, use the NET USER command (described

later in this chapter). You can also use the Local Users and Groups snap-in, discussed next.

Requiring Ctrl+Alt+Delete at Startup

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete before logging on adds an extra level of security because it

thwarts any malicious program—such as a password-stealing program—that might have

been activated at startup.

To require that users must press Ctrl+Alt+Delete before they can log on, follow these

steps:

1. In the User Accounts dialog box, display the Advanced tab.

2. Activate the Require Users to Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete check box.

3. Click OK.

Working with the Local Users and Groups Snap-In

The most powerful of the Windows XP tools for working with users is the Local Users and

Groups MMC snap-in that comes with Windows XP Professional. To load this snap-in,

Windows XP Professional offers three methods:

• In the User Accounts dialog box (refer to the previous section), display the

Advanced tab and then click the Advanced button.

• Select Start, Run, type

lusrmgr.msc, and click OK.

• Select Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage. In the Computer

Management window, select System Tools, Local Users and Groups.

Whichever method you use, select the Users branch to see a list of the users on your

system, as shown in Figure 6.3.

From here, you can perform the following tasks:

• Add a new user—Make sure that no user is selected and then select Action, New

User. In the New User dialog box, type the user name, password, and confirm the

password. (I discuss the password-related check boxes in this dialog box later in this

chapter; see “User Account Password Options.”) Click Create.

• Change a user’s name—Right-click the user and then click Rename.

• Change a user’s password—Right-click the user and then click Set Password.

CHAPTER 6 Getting the Most Out of User Accounts146