Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Deleting User Accounts

It happens—somebody graduates, somebody gets fired, somebody dumps you. Sooner or later, you may need to delete an account from your PC.

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You’re supposed to do most of your account-editing work in the User Accounts pane of the Control Panel, which is basically a wizard that offers one option per screen. That requirement may not thrill veteran Windows 2000 fans, however, who are used to the much more direct—and more powerful—User Accounts screen.

Actually, it’s still in Windows 8. To make it appear, press +R to open the Run dialog box, type netplwiz, authenticate yourself if necessary, and then press Enter. You see the program shown here.

Most of the functions are the same as what you’d find in the User Accounts control panel—it’s just that you don’t have to slog through several wizard screens to get things done. Here you can add, remove, or edit accounts, all in a single screen.

This older Control Panel program also offers a few features that you don’t get at all in the new one. For example, you can turn off the checkbox called “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.” When you do so and click OK, you get a dialog box called Automatically Log On, where you can specify a user name and password of one special person. This lucky individual won’t have to specify any name and password at ...