Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Five Ways Life Is Different on a Domain

As described in Chapter 18, the domain and workgroup personalities of Windows XP Professional are quite a bit different. Here are some of most important differences.

Logging On

What you see when you log onto your PC is very different when you’re part of a domain. Instead of the standard Welcome screen (which shows a list of people with accounts on your PC), you generally encounter a two-step sign-in process:

• First, you see a Welcome to Windows dialog box. It instructs you to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to begin. (As noted in Section 17.6.1, this step is a security precaution.)

• Now the Log On to Windows dialog box appears (see Figure 19-2).

Tip

You can turn off the requirement to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete at each log on, if you like. Log on using the local Administrator account (or another administrator account), and then choose Start→Control Panel→User Accounts. Then click the Advanced tab and turn off the “Require users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete” checkbox.

As you see in Figure 19-2, the Log On to Windows dialog box provides a place for you to type your user name and password. To save you time, Windows fills in the User Name box with whatever name was used the last time somebody logged in.

UP TO SPEEDKnowing What You’re Logging Onto

You may remember from Chapter 18 that there are two kinds of accounts: domain accounts, maintained by a highly paid professional in your company, and local accounts—accounts that exist only on the PC itself. It’s actually possible ...