Setting up User Accounts

windose · 23 Jan 2020

Hi, I'm a new refugee from Windows 7, with not much computer knowledge.

On W7 I had one admin account and one user account, so that I could use the latter for daily use and just go admin for downloads and backups. I'd like to do the same with W10, but this new system with accounts linked to email addresses has me pretty confused.

I bought a new laptop and set up W10 with my Hotmail account, and then tried setting up another user account using a different alias on the same Hotmail address. It accepted it, but the login page displayed user name and not email address, so I couldn't readily see the difference between the two accounts. Ideally I'd set Hotmail with different usernames for each alias, but I don't think I can do that, and I didn't really want the muddle and inconvenience of having different emails for each account if I can avoid it.

I suppose another option is to use a local account, but I don't know what functionality I lose by doing that.

Are there any simple ways to set it up like I had W7?

Also, if I want software downloaded by admin to be available to user, does the user account need to be family, or is that option just for children and parental controls?

Thanks.

Caledon Ken · 23 Jan 2020

Hi windose. Welcome to the TenForums @windose

As you aren't going to do anything with the admin account other than authorize activities I would set it to local account.

You lose the functionality to sync devices and you lose the functionality to reset password online. Local accounts usually ask for security questions to be answered for password forgets. I usually set up two local admin accounts on a device as administrators so I have an alternate path in, sort of like two sets of keys to the car.

When you set up additional accounts the title is "Family and other users". This is where you set up others as standard users.

If you use this account and it requires admin privileges then you get a box where you can determine what admin account to use and an entry box for password.

Ken

windose · 24 Jan 2020

Hi Ken, thanks.

So if I use local, I won't get thwarted by a situation where the admin account has privilege but not functionality, and user has functionality but not privilege? Could the admin a/c be switched to web-based after setting up? If I were to set up a secondary email address for the user and set it to forward all emails to the first , are there any pitfalls with that? As I type that, I've just realised that I've got this admin a/c on my everyday email, but if I have a user a/c I'd prefer that to use the primary email instead, is it switchable retrospectively?

What are the risks anyway, is it unwise to use an admin a/c for everyday use, or am I bothering about nothing much?

Caledon Ken · 25 Jan 2020

Think you are making this to complex.

I explained what functionality you would loose by using local account, no syncing and no online password reset.

Yes you can switch to online account afterwords but not sure why you would if you all ready have it online now. Now I'm confused

Yes it is better to run as standard user but to be honest people that do this are few and far between, in my opinion. It is the right ting do do but as you have pointed out MS isn't making this easy by using their accounts.

I would switch the original admin account to local. Make sure it maintains admin privileges. Add another local account and make it an administrator, call it something like Alt_Admin. Give it admin privileges. Write password down and then forget about this account, use only when absolutely necessary.

Create the standard user using your account and setup up mail for the account you regularly use. This will be the computer account is your account which I think you would regularly use. There is no reason to be in either admin accounts except for maintenance. If you try to install something in the standard account it will prompt for an admin password.

As I said most people just run as admins. You sound like you know what you are doing. You likely don't click on links just because someone sent to you, you likely aren't fool by emails with attachments that say you owe us money.

NavyLCDR · 26 Jan 2020

With UAC enabled, it's perfectly safe to use an administrator account for daily use. You have to give specific permission for anything requiring administrator access. Unless you have a "click happy" user who will just click on everything that pops up on the screen - might want to leave them on a standard user account.

windose · 27 Jan 2020

Ok, thanks all.

I spent some time reading about this on Saturday, and decided that I was just becoming more confused rather than less, so I registered a new email address for the user account so that I can stick with what I know. I'm not confident enough to start something I don't really understand, it just seems to be a recipe for trouble later.

I now have two new problems, but it's probably better to start new threads.