Switching Quickly between Users
Windows enables an entire family, roommates, or employees in a small office to share a single computer or tablet. The computer keeps track of everybody's programs while different people use the computer. Mom can be playing chess and then let Jerry sign in to check his e-mail. When Mom signs back in a few minutes later, her chess match is right where she left it, pondering the sacrifice of her rook.
Known as Fast User Switching, switching between users works quickly and easily. When somebody else wants to sign in to his account for a moment, perhaps to check e-mail, follow these steps:
- Open the Start menu.
To open the Start menu, click (or tap) the Start button or press the keyboard's Windows key. - Click your user account photo in the screen's top-left corner.
A menu drops down. - Choose the name of the user account holder who wants to sign in.
Windows leaves you signed in but immediately fetches the other person's account, letting him type in his password.
When that person finishes with the computer, he can sign out just as you did in Step 2 - by clicking his user account photo in the Start menu's upper-right corner. This time, however, he'll choose Sign Out. Windows closes down his session, letting you sign back in with your own password. And when Windows reappears, so will your work, just as you left it.
Tip Keep these tips in mind when juggling several people's accounts on a single PC:
With all this user switching, you may forget whose account you're actually using. To check, open the Start menu. The current account holder's name and picture appear in the menu's top-right corner.
To see other accounts currently signed in, open the Start menu and click the current account holder's name. A drop-down menu lists the other user accounts but places the words Signed In beneath the name of each account holder who's currently signed in.
Warning:
Don't restart the PC while another person is still signed in, or that person will lose any work he hasn't saved. (Windows warns you before restarting the PC, giving you a chance to ask the other person to sign in and save his work.)
If a Standard account owner tries to change an important setting or install software, a window will appear, asking for Administrator permission. If you want to approve the action, just step over to the PC and type your password into the approval window. Windows lets you approve the change, just as if you'd done it while signed in with your own account.
Changing a User Account's Picture
Okay, now the important stuff: changing the boring picture that Windows automatically assigns to your user account. For every newly created user account, Windows chooses a generic silhouette. Feel free to change the picture to something more reflective of the Real You: You can snap a photo with your computer's webcam or choose any photo in your Pictures folder.
To change your user account's picture, head for the Start menu and click your picture in the screen's top-right corner. When the menu drops down, choose Change Account Settings. Windows presents the screen shown.
The Accounts page lets you change your picture two main ways:
- Browse:
To assign a picture already on your computer, click the Browse button. A new window appears, showing photos in your Pictures folder. Click a desired picture and click the Choose Image button. Windows quickly slaps that picture atop your Start menu. - Camera:
This option, available only for people with a camera attached to their computers, lets you take a quick selfie for your account photo. - Other Accounts You Use:
Choose this option to grab your account photo from social media accounts you've shared with Windows 10.
Tip:
Here are a few more tips for choosing your all-important account photo:
- After you've chosen an account photo, it attaches to your Microsoft account and anything you sign in to with that account: Your Microsoft phone, for example, Microsoft websites and programs, and any Windows computer you sign in to with your Microsoft account.
- You can grab any picture off the Internet and save it to your Pictures folder. Then click the Browse button mentioned earlier in this section to locate the picture and assign it as your account photo. (Right-click the Internet picture and, depending on your web browser, choose Save Picture or a similar menu option.)
- Don't worry about choosing a picture that's too large or too small. Windows automatically shrinks or expands the image to fit the postage-stamp-sized space. (Account pictures must be square, though.)
- Only holders of Administrator and Standard accounts can change their pictures. (Guest accounts are stuck with the faceless gray silhouette.)
Setting Up Passwords and Security
There's not much point to having a user account if you don't have a password. Without one, Charles from the next cubicle can click your account on the Sign In screen, which gives him free reign to snoop through your files.
Administrators, especially, should have passwords. If they don't, they're automatically letting anybody wreak havoc with the PC: When a permission's screen appears, anybody can just press Enter at the password screen to gain entrance.
Microsoft account holders can change their passwords online by visiting www.live.com. Local account holders can create or change a password by following these steps:
- Click the Start button and choose Settings from the Start menu.
- When the Settings app appears, click the Accounts icon.
The familiar Accounts window appears, showing ways to change your own account and change your account photo. - Choose the Sign-in Options link from the Accounts window's left edge.
The Sign-In Options screen appears. - In the Password section on the window's right side, click the Change button.
People who haven't created a password should instead click the Create a Password button. - Make up an easy-to-remember password and type it into the New Password text box. Then retype the same characters into the Retype Password text box below it, and click Next.
Retyping the password eliminates the chance of typos.
Changing an existing password works slightly differently: The screen shows a Current Password text box where you must first type your existing password.
Creating a Password Reset Disk
A Password Reset Disk serves as a key, letting you back into your computer in the event you've forgotten the password to your Local account. (You can't create a Password Reset Disk for a Microsoft account.) To create a Password Reset Disk, follow these simple steps:
- Click in the Search box by the Start button, type Password Reset Disk, and press Enter.
- Click the Create a Password Reset Disk option that appears below the Search box.
The Forgotten Password Wizard appears and walks you through the process of creating a Password Reset Disk from a memory card or a USB flash drive.
When you forget your password, you can insert your Password Reset Disk as a key. Windows lets you in to choose a new password, and all will be joyous. Hide your Password Reset Disk in a safe place because it lets anybody into your account.
No matter how many times you change your password, your original Password Reset Disk still works, always providing a backup key to get into your account.
