This is brief article about how to add new users to Windows 7 Home Premium and how it difference from Windows Enterprise. In both, adding new users isn’t difficult but in Enterprise, you have more room to determine some infos about users.
Why to add new users?
Well adding new users to your computer might slow it a bit, but it can also make your computer more secure. When you aren’t not logged as Administrators account you don’t have all the privileges. And for the best part, usually when you try to install software as a standard user you are asked to tell Administrators password.
Well there are ways to make these password question out of the way. For example making UAC (user account settings) never to notify me when something makes changes to my computer. Also if I try to do, never ask it again. To use UAC, type it to start search in that Windows orb and determine level that is most suitable for you.
Also if you are running programs as standard user, the running programs doesn’t have all access to your home folders. But if you run programs as Administrator, programs will have all the access to your database. No questions ask afterwards.
Notes about new user
New users should be always identified, even in home computer. Like if your user name is “BlueCat” and there are six people in your home, can you tell who it is? Well this is more important in work than in home, but you should see the point. Users should be recognizable.
Also remember to put a good password and hint that you only know the answer. It’s not good password if your password hint tells you it, like “Year I was born and my first car ” . Well only your good friends might know your first car but the hint shouldn’t reveal it so easily.
Adding new user
To add new users, in Home or Enterprise edition, you should first log in as an Administrator account. Then;
- Open you control panel
- Look at the User accounts and Family safety and select submenu Add or remove user accounts.
- There select create a new user account
- Type the user name and select from two, Standard user or Administrator, should select Standard user.
- Select create account and the account has been created
- Select the name of the standard user in the display section of your all user accounts.
- Choose submenu on the left, select Create password and create hint to it.
This list should be usable both in Enterprise and Home edition of Windows 7. But there is a catch, In Enterprise this can be made much more bigger scale. There a lot’s of tutorials for this also, but I try to tell how to add new user in Enterprise.
Enterprise create new user
As in home edition log in as Administrator account and type Computer managment in Windows start search. As you can, there is a tree menu of Local users and groups and there are two sub menus, users and groups.
So what does the group mean? It means that you are able to add users in different groups so they have different privileges in your computer. You are also able to add new groups and determine they privileges. This gives more room to make different type of groups and adding users to them is also possible.
To add new user, go to sub menu Users and right click your mouse and select add new user. Then make all the setting you want. You are also able to give this kind of selection, user must change the password when log on first time. You are able to determine users group afterwards if you like.
Conclusion
Adding new users isn’t not rocket science, but adding them in Enterprise is more time taking. Giving more room to make errs and mistakes opens new security holes but also ables to make much more than average Home Edition.
**Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. GNU License 3 (link)**
Sources
- Studies in Haaga-Helia spring 2013 Course Basics of Computers and networks Teacher Petri Hirvonen
Tuomas Törmä 