Help Yourself Centre How to Add Users to Your Windows 7 Computer

Users are the account profile settings used to separate each person who logs in to your Windows 7 computer. These profiles are especially helpful for home users who have children. You can separate your children accounts from the adult accounts, which lets you set specific blocks on Internet browsing, set the times children can use the computer, and block some programs from younger users. Windows 7 also has internal parental controls you use to limit computer usage for children. Before you can use account-specific settings, you must set up a new user on the computer.

Creating a New User Account in Windows
User accounts are controlled by the system administrator. The administrator account is set up when you install Windows. You can also create accounts with administrator privileges. The administrator is a type of account that has full control of all settings on the computer. To create a user, you must have administrative privileges on the account, or you can log in to the computer using the “administrator” account name.

To create a new user account, follow these steps:

• Click the Windows 7 “Start” Orb in the main task bar. Click “Control Panel.” The Control Panel in Windows 7 is much different than older Windows versions such as XP. It takes a little bit of navigation to find your target, if you are used to the Windows XP interface.

• In the Control Panel, click “User Accounts and Family Safety,” and then click “User Accounts.” This window shows the current user settings. You can also click “Manage another user” to manage other user accounts on your system.

• Click “Create a new account.” The form for a new account opens. Microsoft has streamlined the new user interface, so only a user name and account type for your new profile.

• Type a new user name for the account. When the login screen appears after booting Windows, this is the user account you enter into the text box.

• Select a user account type. There are two types of Windows accounts: standard and administrator. An administrator account has full control of the computer. Because this type of account has full control of the computer, only assign administrator rights to adult accounts. A standard user has restrictions, and this is the account type you typically assign to any other user on the computer.

After a new user is created, you can give it rights on your network shares and assign restrictions and parental controls if the account is a child’s profile. Creating a new user account also separates the other user’s settings and preferences, so each user on the computer can have its own background, task bar preferences and screensaver.