User Accounts

User Types

• User accounts can be one of two types on a typical local Windows system: Administrator & Standard User.

• An Administrator can make changes to the system: add users, delete users, modify groups, modify settings on the system, etc.

• A Standard User can only make changes to folders/files attributed to the user & can't perform system-level changes, such as install programs.

• When a user account is created, a profile is created for the user. The location for each user profile folder will fall under is C:\Users.

• The creation of the user's profile is done upon initial login.

• Each user profile will have the same folders; a few of them are:

  • Desktop

  • Documents

  • Downloads

  • Music

  • Pictures

• Each group has permissions set to it, and users are assigned/added to groups by the Administrator. When a user is assigned to a group, the user inherits the permissions of that group. A user can be assigned to multiple groups.

• One way to access the users of a system is by search for Other Users in the search bar. Another way is by Right-click on the Start Menu and click Run. Type lusrmgr.msc

User Account Control (UAC)

• When a user with an account type of administrator logs into a system, the current session doesn't run with elevated permissions. When an operation requiring higher-level privileges needs to execute, the user will be prompted to confirm if they permit the operation to run.

• UAC (by default) doesn't apply for the built-in local administrator account.