Rookie Windows question

Post Reply New Topic

Bit silly question maybe... In Windows (I got Vista) every user of the computer has his own username and login, and his own My Documents folder. Purpose is that the content of one user's My Documents folder is not accessible by other users of the computer.

However, I notice that I (the administrator account) can just open and browse through the files stored in the My Documents folder of the other users of the computer. That is not the purpose of course.

Is there any way to change that, so that the My Documents folder of a specific user really can be accessed only by that user?

PS: I live on my own but at work several people use the same computer. Although I am computer administrator I feel a bit uncomfortable by the thought that I can just access the files other users store...

Not to my knowledge. The administrator account has to be able to access all non-administrator accounts so that he or she can do things that the other accounts can't do, such as install add-ons. The administrator account is usually only given to the owner of the computer, the IT dept., or a very trustworthy person so hopefully the issue of abuse won't arise. No one said you have to access these accounts just because you can. If you're truly uncomfortable with this responsibility, I would suggest asking your boss to have the administrator account given to someone else.

OK, thanks for advice.

I thought of creating myself a second user account without admin rights then, but the issue there seems to be that I cannot change the settings of my keyboard (I am not used to German keyboards yet and prefer to set them to Dutch or UK settings, but the small icon on the bottom right of the lowest bar on the screen is missing when it is not an Administrator user account)

Unless there is a solution for that I guess I'll just continue using the administrator account for all means ...

Yes, that's a typical example of something only an administrator can do. Windows is set up that way so that only a few select people can make major changes to the system. If everyone could do everything, then someone who was clueless or dishonest could really mess things up. I'd take it as a compliment that your boss allows you to be an administrator.