Windows 7 / Networking

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Adding users to the workgroup

After you create the groups for your server and as your company hires new workers, you add new users to the workgroup. Windows Server 2008 has only two default users: Administrator and Guest. Because the Guest account is the target for so many viruses and security breaches, Microsoft disables it by default. Consequently, unless you want everyone to use the Administrator account (creating a huge security hole), you want to create new accounts for your machine. The following steps tell how to create a new user:

1. Right-click the Users folder and choose New User from the context menu.
   You see the New User dialog box.
2. Type a username in the User Name field.
   This name is the one the user will use to log in to the system. You should use a single word for the username because most users don't work well with multiple-word usernames. Windows requires a unique name, so you can use something like the user's last name, first initial, and middle initial. Unfortunately, in very large organizations, you may not find that this combination is unique, so you may have to add special identifiers, such as a number or special user characteristic.
3. Type the user's full name in the Full Name field.
   Use the full name that appears on the user's employment record so that you know how the company refers to the user. For example, some companies don't use a middle initial, some use a middle initial, and some use the full middle name. The Full Name field should contain the same name that appears on the user's employment record so that you can refer to the user precisely when necessary (such as when you launch an investigation into unwanted user interaction with the system).
4. Type a description for the user in the Description field.
   This entry is freeform. You can type anything needed here to describe the user. For example, you might use the user's office number, department name, job title, or other information. Anything that describes the user is useful. However, it's important to describe all users in the same way so that the Description field provides truly useful information - don't use a location for one user and a job title for another, for example.
5. Type a temporary password in the Password field. Repeat this temporary password in the Confirm Password field.
   Use the same temporary password for everyone, to make it easier for the help desk to support new users. However, if you use the same temporary password for everyone, make sure to force the user to change the password the first time they log in to the system. In fact, this is the default setup for a new user account, so you generally want to leave alone the other settings. Never let the administrator assign the user password. If you do, users can legitimately say that they don't have exclusive access to their accounts, and any nefarious deeds they commit are hard to prove.
6. Click Create.
   Windows creates the new user and displays a blank user dialog box for you. Follow Steps 2 through 6 to create another user, if you want.
7. Click Close.
   Windows closes the New User dialog box, and you see all the new users you added in the Computer Management console.

The user creation process is designed to create a standard user with limited privileges. All users begin by belonging to the Users group, which means that anything the Users group can access, the new user can also access. If all you want to create is standard users, then the new user creation process works perfectly. Otherwise, you eventually want to modify the users by following the procedures in the "Performing User Configuration for a Workgroup" section of this tutorial.