How to add temporary user on XP Pro laptop

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My girlfriends computer died, the link is here: http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//165028-Computer-Died
Since I am not making much headway with the seller as to getting the computer parts/or fixed any time soon, I was wondering how to set her up with a temporary user account on my older XP laptop with XP Pro on it.
I would like to be able to let her use it and then be able to just delete her info off of it when she doesn’t need it anymore and not let her into any of my info on the laptop.
Any suggestions would be appreciated as I’m certainly no expert at any of this.
Thanks

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Right click on My Computer, then choose Manage. Expand Local Users and Groups, then click on Users.

Right click on the Guest account, then click Properties. Uncheck Account is Disabled. At the bottom, click OK.

She can now use the Guest account to log in.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Right click on My Computer, then choose Manage. Expand Local Users and Groups, then click on Users.

Right click on the Guest account, then click Properties. Uncheck Account is Disabled. At the bottom, click OK.

She can now use the Guest account to log in.

Does she need my password to login or is this after I have booted the laptop and she just uses the Guest account?
I assume that when she isn’t using it anymore that I disable the Guest account and all her info is gone?
Thanks

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Simply disabling the account won’t remove her info, only access to it. To completely remove her information, you have to delete the account. Rather than use the Guest account, I would just create a new account for her. You can then assign a password for it and set it to never expire.

Jerry

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Thanks Jerry,
So when she’s not using it anymore, I just delete the account?

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Thanks Jerry,
So when she’s not using it anymore, I just delete the account?

Yes. That should wipe out all her information including documents and pictures. Programs she installs will probably remain. When you get it back I would run the following:
Full anti Virus scan wit the AV app you are using
Full Malwarebytes scan (Download from http://www.malwarebytes.org)
AdwCleaner scan (Download from http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ )

Jerry

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Thanks again Jerry. That is probably the course I will take.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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IIRC with Windows XP when you delete a user account it gives an option to save personal data from the account to a folder on the desktop, maybe useful for a backup?

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If you create an account for her, make it a standard account, not an administrative account. And make sure that her folder structure under C:Users is gone after you delete her account.

My reason for giving her the guest account was so that she wouldn’t have rights to anything.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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My reason for giving her the guest account was so that she wouldn’t have rights to anything.

Uh Oh, now I’m confused again.
Basically I was looking for an account for her so that she could check email, facebook, etc. and ask her to not save anything to the computer and I could delete all presence of her when her computer is back up and running.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Uh Oh, now I’m confused again.
Basically I was looking for an account for her so that she could check email, facebook, etc. and ask her to not save anything to the computer and I could delete all presence of her when her computer is back up and running.

No problem.

Go to Control Panel/User Accounts then create a new account for your girlfriend. Set a password if you want. If you want her to be able to install programs etc. then make it an “Administrator” account, otherwise “Limited”. Once you are finished with the extra account then go back into Control Panel/User Accounts and delete the account (you will be presented with an option to “delete all files”).

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Uh Oh, now I’m confused again.
Basically I was looking for an account for her so that she could check email, facebook, etc. and ask her to not save anything to the computer and I could delete all presence of her when her computer is back up and running.

Making a temporary account for her is exactly the same process as making a permanent account. When she’s finished with it, you just delete the account. You’ll get asked whether to save her documents and settings; that’ll be your call.

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The folder under C:users will get deleted when you delete the account but it doesn’t hurt to check. IE Browser data should be deleted as well.

Jerry

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The folder under C:users will get deleted when you delete the account but it doesn’t hurt to check. IE Browser data should be deleted as well.

Jerry

Actually Jerry, OP was asking about “XP Pro laptop” so is not C:users[username]

Rather it is C:Documents and Settings[username]

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You could, of course, make an image copy of the system drive(s), then create the temporary account. When she’s finished wit it, restore the image copy and she was never there!

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Making an Image before letting your guest use the computer and then restoring to that Image after she finishes has one possible downside. If you make any changes, like updating browsers, plugins or software, during the time the guest is using the computer, restoring to the original Image afterwards would wipe out all those updates. Just something to keep in mind when deciding how to proceed.

-- rc primak

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True. But if she’s only using it for a month or two, you will just have a couple of Windows Updates to do and possibly one browser update. No big deal.

Jerry

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Just curious, is the procedure the same if adding her to my win 7 Pro 32 bit computer as a “standard user” ( no administrative privileges )?
When deleting the account I would just check to make sure the account wasn’t left in C/users?
Basically I just want a simple method of adding her as a user with no way to download or install anything and be able to remove all traces of her after she gets her computer back. Just so she can do email and Facebook but not make a mess of my computer and registry.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I can’t test this for XP, because I don’t have XP available, but here’s what you would do in Windows 7 Enterprise: To give her an account with no rights, right-click on My Computer, and choose Manage. Expand Local Users and Groups. Click Users. Then, in the right pane of the window, right click and choose New User. Assign a username and a password. Check or uncheck the options, and then click Create.

Now right click on the user you created, and choose Properties. Click the Member Of tab. Click the Add button, and type Guests in the window, then click OK. You will now see that she is a member of “Guests” and probably of “Users”. Highlight and remove all but “Guests”, then click Apply then OK.

She will now have an account with “Guest” rights — i.e. as few rights as possible. You can either disable or delete the account when she has finished using the computer.

Hopefully this will work with XP.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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The limited account with guest level status described in post #19 is a great way to accomplish what you want. I have this type of account on my XP Pro computer as a Visitor account. If anyone visiting wants to use my computer, I put them in that account where they can’t wreck anything. Since you have the Pro version of Windows, you also have access to the Software Restriction Policy (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310791). When enabled, it prevents any downloaded programs, including malware, from executing.

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