Really! need nuts-bolts-low-down on creating new user accts

[avery2000]

I am/have tried to create a new user account, specifically to take the place of a suspected corrupt user account (per [FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] Moderator posts re Excel not responding repeatedly when copying). I have looked around the web, [FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] support sites, and read posts all over a couple of forums and am trying to get things straight.

Below I describe the nature of my need, but first can you confirm the following?:

A) a person should have at least two UA's on their computer, one standard, to be used regularly, and an admin for admin purposes

B) in order to create a new UA and copy any part of the old UA to the new one, one must create a third UA, as an admin, so you can use it to accomplish working with both accounts

Problem-Start
[FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] has a web page entitled "Fix a corrupted user profile" at Fix a corrupted user profile
While the document pertained to Vista, recent posts from users with [FONT=&quot]W7[/FONT] have received responses from [FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] moderators with instructions to access this webpage to fix a corrupted UA. Also within [FONT=&quot]W7[/FONT]'s help, these same instructions come up. When I followed the instructions, a number of issues came up and recently a [FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] Moderator told me not to use the instructions.

In essence, [FONT=&quot]MS[/FONT] instructs you to copy the contents of C:/Users/CorruptAcct to C:/Users/NewAcct, but to exclude all ntuser files from the copy.

Questions to Resolve Problem and Finally Get Some Clarity!!
1) I can't know what part of the CorruptAcct is corrupt, so why would I copy anything over?

2) When you do follow the copying instructions, not everything copies over, e.g. AppData. From my searches, this is to be expected. What other parts of the CorruptAcct or just an OldAcct users' file should be expected to not copy over? And why?

3) What does this (starting with a brand new or incompletely copied over UA) mean in terms of what will change about your computer and what you will have to do to "rebuild" the computer the way you had it or on your other account? What kinds of things will you have to re-download?

4) So isn't there, shouldn't there be a way to share desktop, start menu, taskbar, and other applications between users if keeping both UAs (not deleting a corrupt UA). How do you do this? I know there is a shared users folder, but am unsure re copying, from where, junctions, if they are even related to the Doc&Settings/Users--Shared connection, and also how to identify individual files to share, such as a setting or icon file.

5) What is the difference between a user account and a user profile? And is any difference related to creating new accounts just so have another or to replace a corrupt account? Maybe related to copying apps, settings?

With answers to these questions, I will be able to finish the task of no longer maintaining only one account on my computer, having this account be an admin account, create a new account, designated as standard, to be used everyday, and have an admin account, also newly created

I pretty much have the know-how to do whatever needs to be done, but I need to know if any part of corrupted can be copied, and if so, how -- and -- how share rebuilt (assuming will have to) desktop, prior computer configurations, etc. between the two new users I will have.

I really want to settle this issue! After looking for so long for clarity, I want to know what I'm asking simply because now I both have to know! and I need some help to put this to rest!

Any input would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Avery

 

[Petey7]

I'm going to try creating a new account and tell you how it goes. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard. You should be able to copy everything from the old account to the new one. As you personal files won't effect too much, you are safe to copy everything from the users folder of that account.

 

[Petey7]

Here's what I did, which worked perfectly. I set up a new admin account called "testdummy" and password protected it. Every program I had set to be available to all users are already here. I'm currently copying my Documents folder to the new account. All I had to do was tell the computer to give me access to the files on the old account.

Set up a admin account. I don't know why many say to give yourself a standard account. It just seems like extra work to me. After you copy all your personal files over, you can delete the old account. You will have to change all your settings back to how they were on the old account, but I'm sure you can do that without too much fuss. Really, it was pretty easy. Now I just have to decide if I want to hang on to this account for testing out other stuff or not.

 

[avery2000]

Petey7, thanks for helping out. You said,

Every program I had set to be available to all users are already here.

How do I do that - set every program to be available to all users?

Thanks,
Avery

 

[Petey7]

It asked me during the install of all my programs. I found a way but I don't want to mess up the steps or anything else that might mess you up, so I'll just give you the link to the original source.

How do I Make a Program Available to All Users If the Program Was Installed for One User