Windows 7: Guest Account has some strange privileges

I turned on the guest account so that other folks in the house could use my machine without deleting files / adding new software etc.... Well, yes it does that OK. But, when signed on as a guest, I can go to Control Panel/User Accounts then select Manage Another Account, choose one of the Admin accounts and change it's password !!!

But when I'm signed on as Admin , the only change I'm allowed to make to the guest account is to turn it on and off, or change it's picture. I can't even set /unset the password.

What's the point of putting passwords on Admin accounts when Guests can change them. What sort of crap is this he said (looking for his old XP CD) !!??

Hello sackbut. With Shawn's tutorial you can enable the hidden Admin account in Windows and with it you should be able to configure your own account to have full rights and the guest account to have limited. You should also be able to apply Parental Controls to the Guest account and get things limited for the other guy's at your house.

Hi DW and thanks for your post

I was able to activate the "hidden" Admin account using the tutorial. Now I can choose what hours the guest can use the PC, forbid them from playing games and choose which programs they can run. Sounds good

BUT - and it is a huge and very big BUT - the guest account (with no password set) can still use the User Account function in Control Panel to change Admin passwords so the whole Parental Control thing is a total waste of time, it seems to me. Or I have I missed something ? How can I prevent Guest from getting to the control panel ?

I thought this would take about 5 minutes to set up, but I have been fiddling around now for over 3 hours. Grrr !!

Really sorry - my mistake. Parential controlls CANNOT be applied to the guest account, so you should create a new limited account, you can still name it guest if you want. From your account you can forbid it to do whatever you please. You can even limit the account to be able to only surf the net.
BTW are you SURE that the guest account can do all you mentioned above??? Try to change some system preference via the guest account. As soon as you try that, you should get a UAC popup that will allow the guest user to change a system preference of an administrator ONLY if he already knows and enters the administrator password. Plus, the guest account might be able to change things in the control panel, BUT ONLY FOR ITSELF. This means the guest account has it's own system preferences that everyone can change (since it's not password protected), but no one (accept you lol) will be able to change the setting for your account.
Here's an example:
The people using the guest account wants to turn off ClearType, to make the fonts look sharper. So it can do that, but the ClearType feature will still be on on your account. That's kinda what accounts are for... So that everyone can have his/her own preferences...

Hi DW - been away on holiday, just got back.

OK - I crossed my fingers and actually clicked the button to change the password and I got a message saying "Not allowed" so you're right - and many thanks !

But wouldn't it be so much easier if the interface removed or disabled the options which are not available. The guy that did this probably did the Office 2007 UI - that totally does my head in !

LOL, so... Thread solved? Is it?
Hope I helped. Now only YOU can enjoy the full privileges of your PC
Alright then. Just to mention - I like office 2007 and 2010... But while you get used to it it definitely seems like a whole lot of useless stuff...

Yes - its solved, thanks

But I still think it's a dumb interface that shows you an option which you can click and then pops up a dialog saying "Not allowed to click" !

Best Wishes
sackbut