Adminstering MultiUser Home PC

[durex]

So my sisters computer has been having some severe lock up issues lately and Ive volunteered to take a look at it. They currently have 4 user accounts that are set up (her, husband, 2 kids- all of which are setup as "administrator accounts") and all have had different stuff installed under each account.

Ive never had the need for a multiuser environment on any pc ive owned, so Im not sure what the best way to go about troubleshooting this. I realize theres an "Adminstrators" account, but the only way I can log into it is through safe mode. They also claim, than certain accounts have more issues than others.

This all may be silly questions.. but if uninstall a program under one user account, does it get uninstalled under all? I also complete realize that the only real difference between user accounts is whats under Docs & settings and registry stuff, but I wasnt sure how the reg and files under docs and settings are treated during an uninstall.

Also, whats the best way to install software I want to run under every user account.. i.e. anti-spyware / virus programs? Should I install these as the adminstrator account? If so, what about software that wont let you install in safe mode? If not, does it matter which account I install it as?

Oh.. and its XP Home (another of which I have no experience with - always used professional)

Any other tips you guys can provide for troubleshooting mutli user systems would be much appreciated!

Edited October 25, 2005 by durex

[chilifrei64]

The accounts that are in the administrators group can install applications and it is the same thing as the administrator user. I would install all appliations as an administrative user. you do not need to go into safe mode for this.

Obviously I would not keep all 4 users administrators. I would designate one of them the administrator and the rest limited. This way only the most tech savy person has the rights to do stuff.

as far as different problems with each profile. I would (while they are all still local admins) to run the big 3 anti spyware, and virus scan

Then obviously update to the latest windows

Make sure they have a firewall.. weather or not it is windows firewall or not.. just get them a firewall.. this should run as every user.. administrative or not

Yes.. if the program is written the way it should be then if you uninstall it from one it should uninstall it from all. I have ran into programs where it doestn remove icons from other usres folders.. but those are few and far between.

[durex]

According to this you cant log onto WinXP home as Admin account in normal startup mode...

[Takeshi]

The built in Administrator account (the root Admin as I call it) has the same admin privileges as other admin accounts added later.

So you can use any admin account to do admin tasks.

In XP HE, the Admin acc. is only accessible in Safe Mode, as you know. But in XP Pro you can use it in normal mode.

In XP HE, there're no power user group. So they're either admin, limited or guest.

but if uninstall a program under one user account, does it get uninstalled under all?

A: yes

[chilifrei64]

right you cant log in to XP home under normal mode. you said that all 4 users have admin rights.. log in as one of them and uninstall software and clean the computer as you would if you were to log in as "Administrator"