What you need to know about Windows 10 accounts

What you need to know about Windows 10 accounts

Few things in Windows are simple, and that includes the various types of user accounts.

As with Win7, Windows 10 creates three types of accounts by default. But it also includes other account options such as Microsoft vs. local. Here’s what you need to know.

Those three primary accounts include the default, admin-level user account and two hidden accounts: guest and administrator. (If you create new user accounts, Win10 automatically sets them to “standard,” unless you change their status.)

With some restrictions, you can alter and delete the default accounts. But I’ll wager that many Win10 users don’t bother, which could leave them more vulnerable to malware than necessary.

If you need a good overview on creating Win10 accounts, EuroSCUG offers a downloadable PDF. As you probably know, Microsoft really wants you to set up Windows 10 with MS-account credentials. Yes, you can run Win10 with just a “local” account (more on that below), but you lose the automatic connection with services that rely on an online connection — e.g., OneDrive and Outlook.

Regardless of the accounts you modify and create, you need at least two accounts on each Win10 PC: an administrator-level account and a backup account with sufficient privileges to repair the administrator account if it breaks. That backup account could be the hidden administrator account or another account you create.

Let’s start with enabling the hidden admin account you already have.

Opening Windows 10’s master account

To enable Win10’s hidden Administrator account, open a command prompt: right-click Start and click Command Prompt (Admin). To see currently active user accounts, enter net user at the command prompt (see Figure 1). Next, enter net user administrator /active:yes and press enter. As you’d expect, you can disable the account by changing the command from “active:yes” to “active:no.” (If you need to enable the guest account, type in net user guest /active:yes and press Enter.)

You can now access the Windows Administrator account — no password needed. But it’s obviously a good idea to password-protect it; you can do so right from the command prompt by entering net user administrator * and pressing Enter. You be prompted to enter a new password and then prompted to enter it again for confirmation. When you’re done, close the command window.

To sign in to the now-active Administrator account, click Start and then your user name at the top of the Start menu. Click Administrator and enter your password. (Note: The first time you enter the account, it might take Win10 a bit of time to set it up.)

For more information on the uses of the Administrator account and how to enable it in Win7 and Win8, see the May 14, 2015, Top Story, “Activate Windows’ hidden, master admin account.”

Choose between standard or admin-user accounts

On numerous occasions, Windows Secrets has recommended setting up a standard-user account for most of your computing activities. As I’m sure you know, should a cyber criminal gain access to your system, it’ll be more difficult for him to install malware on a standard account than on an admin-level account.

Unfortunately, many Windows users never set up and use a standard account. I’ve used one for years, and there are relatively few times when I’ve had to sign in to my admin-level account. Still, the choice is yours.

If you’re new to Windows 10, you might, out of habit, set up new accounts and change existing accounts by opening Control Panel/User Accounts. But the Win10 way is to click Start/Settings/Accounts. Click Family & other users to add another account.(“Accounts” is also where you manage your email and user-account settings, sign-in options, and other account settings.)

True to Win10’s spit settings interfaces, you can change account types via either Start/Settings or Control Panel/User Accounts. But the latter has more account-management controls, depending on the type of account. There, you can, for example, manage your credentials, change account name, and set advanced user-profile properties.

Roughly speaking, Start/Settings is where you do general maintenance Control Panel is where you go for many advanced settings.

Netplwiz: The hidden User Accounts applet

What you can’t do via either UI is set Windows to bypass the sign-in screen on boot. For these and other advanced actions, use the netplwiz Control Panel applet: open a command prompt as described above, enter netplwiz at the prompt, and press Enter.

In the User Accounts dialog box, under the Users tab, uncheck the box next to “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.” Note, before the change is applied, Windows will request the default account and its password. On your next reboot, that account will open straight to the desktop. However, if you switch to another account, you’ll be asked for its password.

There are other user settings you can change in the applet. For example, select a user and click Properties. In the dialog box that opens next, you can change an account’s username, full name, and description; you can also select the account type: Standard, Administrator, and Other — which has a drop-down menu with numerous options such as “Distributed COM Users,” “Guests,” and “Remote Management Users (see Figure 2).”

Next choice: Microsoft or local account

Again, it’s obvious that Microsoft wants you to sign in to Windows 10 with a Microsoft account. If you have an Outlook, Hotmail, Live, or MSN email address, you already have an MS account you can use for Win10 credentials. Using an MS account lets you sync desktop themes, browser settings, passwords, OneDrive files, and other Windows settings between machines and devices. You can’t sync Windows Store apps or Start menu layouts.

So why would anyone choose a local account in this Internet-centric world of ours? Mostly for an added layer of privacy. As David Auerbach wrote in a Slate article, Microsoft grabs “loads” of information off your system, not to mention helping itself to some of your Internet bandwidth.

The company essentially treats the data on your system in much the same way it treats your data in the cloud. In fact, components of Windows 10 such as Cortana are mostly cloud-based. Since Win10’s inception, Windows Secrets has recommended that you don’t use Express settings when installing the OS, and that you review your Win10 privacy options after Win10 installation and updates. For more on that, see the Sept. 10, 2015, LangaList Plus column, “Working through Win10’s many privacy settings.”

Switching to a local account breaks many of Win10’s live PC-cloud connections. You can either create a new local account or switch an MS account to a local version. To change an account, click Start/Accounts and select Your email and accounts. Next, click the “Sign in with a local account instead” link. You’ll be prompted to enter the current account’s password; you’ll then enter a local account name and password (twice). Choose Next and then “Sign out and finish.”

Note: You can change a local account to an MS account or create a new MS account.

A quick look at guest accounts and child accounts

If you’ve unhidden the Windows 10 guest account, you can switch to it by clicking your username in Start or by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and choosing Switch User. Guests can’t access your personal files, install software or hardware, change system settings, or add a password.

To limit guests to a single application, see the WonderHowTo article, “How to restrict guest users to on app in Windows 10;” it describes Win10’s Assigned Access feature, also known as Kiosk Mode.

Another approach to creating a restricted-access account is to set up child accounts. These accounts let the user customize the desktop, browse the Web, and use applications. But the account’s “parent” can receive activity reports on the child account, set browsing permissions, limit use time, and restrict access to games and other programs.

To create a child account, open Settings/Accounts and choose “Family & other users.” Click “Add a family member” and then “Add a child” in the next window; step through the wizard.

Unfortunately, you have to provide an email address for the child account because it has to be a Microsoft account. As you can imagine, this has not pleased many parents, as have some of the other changes to family accounts introduced in Windows 10. Paul Thurrot outlines the changes in his article, “Inside Microsoft Family and Windows 10 Parental controls,” and he notes the complaints from parents.

A plethora of account options. As you can see, Win10 makes managing user accounts only more flexible — and complex. Along with different types of accounts, the new OS also gives you many ways to sign in to those accounts. Check out your options by clicking Start/Settings/Accounts/Sign-in options. Setting up a PIN can make switching between accounts a bit faster.

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Preview build highlights future Win10 changes

There are numerous ways that Windows 10 is unlike previous versions of the OS. One of the more interesting is the Insider Preview program.

Most of the past preview builds have focused on business and under-the-hood changes. But a tour through build 14316 highlights some possible enhancements.

Windows development adds a bit of crowd sourcing

Windows 10 is often described as a continuous work in progress. The operating system is no longer updated in monolithic releases such as XP, Vista, Windows 7, and the digression that was Windows 8. Microsoft apparently plans an ongoing evolution of Windows 10 — somewhat like Apple’s OS X, though with better backward hardware compatibility.

To aid with Win10’s transformation, and to elicit public feedback, Microsoft initiated the Windows 10 Insider Program (more info), which lets nearly anyone download and review preproduction builds of the operating system. I keep the latest build of Win10 Pro Insider Preview on an Oracle VirtualBox VPC.

Most of the past builds had little to catch my attention; they were mostly of interest to developers. But the current preview build 14316 has some interesting UI and settings changes that could be winners — if they actually show up in a future official Win10 release. (The next big update for Win10 is the “Anniversary Edition,” reportedly due out in July.) “If” is the key word here; new features that show up in a preview build can easily end up on the cutting-room floor.

Here are some changes that will probably show up in the next major update of Win10.

Tweaking colors on the Windows 10 desktop

Microsoft seems unable to settle on a color scheme for the Start menu, desktop, and application windows. For example, under Settings/Personalization/Colors, build 14316 adds a new “Dark” mode to the Settings menus. It turns the windows from essentially black letters on a white background to white letters on black, as shown in Figure 1. Sure, it’s a small change, but it’s one more option for customizing Win10 to your preferences.

In the above screenshot, you’ll see another minor change. Setting whether a window’s titlebar has color is now separate from showing color on Start, the taskbar, and the action center. This had to be someone’s pet change at Microsoft — or a frequent request from Win10 Preview users.

A side note: It’s worth taking the time to go carefully through all Win10’s Personalization settings. There are layers of them, and they offer far more customization options than any previous version of Windows. It’s one of the features I like best about the OS.

Making Windows Update a bit more flexible

Anyone who follows Windows updates spends a fair chunk of time in Windows Update. But early Win10’s automatic patching seemed to make using Windows Update pointless. But bowing to loud criticism from both users and IT pros, the company gave back some user control. The ability to remove problematic updates was quickly added, though it’s somewhat hidden under the View your update history window. Pro editions now include the Defer upgrades option, which delays nonsecurity changes for a few months.

But compared to previous versions of Windows, Win10’s options are still limited. Build 14316 gives a bit more control over when the OS reboots, following update installation. Instead of giving you a reboot warning, it includes Change active hours and Restart options (see Figure 2).

Change active hours lets you set the hours you’re typically using the PC. If an update restart is required, the OS will reboot when the system is likely to be inactive (see Figure 3).

The new Restart Options might get more controls in the future, but in build 14316 it does one thing: let you set a specific time for update restarts. However, in my copy of the build, the feature is disabled.

Another change you might have caught in the above screenshot: there’s a link to your update history — it’s no longer hidden under Advanced options. In fact, the Advanced options screen is trimmed down. Not surprisingly, the “Notify to schedule restart” option is missing. Also, there’s a link for more information on the latest Windows update; it should take you to the online “Windows 10 update history” page.

Other Win10-settings changes of note

Update & Security/Backup looks like it’s getting a rebuild. There is a new option for adding a backup drive, but there’s almost nothing under “More options.”

The Windows Defender window has two notable revisions. There’s a new “Open Windows Defender” button, though it did nothing when I clicked it. More useful, Windows Defender Offline is — or might be — a future built-in option. Defender Offline is a good on-demand scanner, but currently it must be downloaded from Microsoft and installed on optical media or a USB flash drive. On my copy of build 14316, pressing the Scan Offline button simply popped up an error message (Figure 4). But this is another feature I hope shows up in the July Win10 upgrade.

The For developers section has several new options, including controls over File Explorer such as showing file extensions and hidden files. (File Explorer is mislabeled as Windows Explorer in the build — some habits are hard to break.) There are controls over Remote Desktop and, apparently, PowerShell settings to come.

For anyone who follows Windows changes, this build is definitely worth a look. For more information on this release, see the official Microsoft announcement page and MS Developer site that lists change to the new Edge browser.

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Rated download speed versus actual speed

Lounger cornfield set up a new router; now he wonders why he’s not getting better download speeds.

That sets off a discussion about how to measure the download performance you’re actually getting. Join the discussion.

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions for which you might have answers:

Office Applications
General Productivity	Open Libre Office doc as active window
Word Processing	Create combined documents in each folder
	Count occurrences of word
Spreadsheets	Excel 2010 hangs with problem-event name: AppHangB1
Visual Basic for Apps	Word versions for macro writing
Microsoft Outlook	Outlook 2013: Safe mail won’t stay in inbox
Non-Outlook E-mail	WLM: Ribbon covers top two messages
Windows
General Windows	Win10 — what am I missing?
Windows 10	Need help removing obsolete OEM recovery partition
Windows 8	No longer able to run ESET’s on-line scanner
Windows 7	No April updates
Windows Vista	Windows Update just keeps on checking
Internet/Connectivity
Application Servers	Changing ISP: Email implications
Networking	Changing modem/router
Other Technologies
Security & Scams	Bitdefender releases ransomware vaccine
Maintenance	How to wipe deceased person’s locked laptop
Hardware	How to fix sticking keyboard keys
	Advice on selecting DDR4 to match motherboard

starred posts: particularly useful

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right into today’s discussions in the Lounge.