Windows 7: User name remove ?

When the guy built this computer I bought off him he installed Windows 7 and used his name so a file path looks like (eg) C\ James\documents (etc) how can I change this to my name ?, any advice very welcome please

Control panel > User Accounts > Change your account name .

Hi Arc , I did do that but I still have the builders name in file paths ?

The name of the computer given at the time of installation cannot be changed afterwords (as far as I know) . As far as I know, only a Clean Install Windows 7 can provide the naming option (step 12 in the tutorial) .

I hope some experts like Brink ,Ted (Bare Foot Kid) or Greg (gregrocker) may give you some better advise in this issue .

Thanks Arc, I will be doing a clean install in the next few weeks (I have 32bit and 64bit Microsoft DVDs) so I intend to go up to 64bit and I can put my own name in then

Best of luck

Changing the name in user accounts does not not change the directory structure on the hard drive. The only way would be to create a new user, then copy your current profile over and delete the earlier account. Needless to say, you may run into problems of permissions etc. But since you plan to do a clean install anyway, might be fun to try.

Thank you Bill2, I will try that closer to the time I change to 64bit, appreciate your help

You might be able to change your name through the registry by changing RegisteredOrganization and RegisteredOwner. Navigate to:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion

Attachment 117236

Click on CurrentVersion and in the right pane you should see RegisteredOrganization and RegisteredOwner. You can double-click one of the values to open a dialog box called Edit String. Edit the Value Data box with whatever name you want to use (or leave it blank) and OK you way back out.

Attachment 117237

Thank you marsmimar , is there any risk ? as I can try close to the time I change to 64bit