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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
July 26, 2009
Q.
I received my computer from a friend and now
I want to change the computer name and main
user's name. How can I do this?
A.
This a common request, and whether or not
the computer is a hand-me-down or new, the
computer name is often something that you
want to change. Since changing the computer
name is much easier, we'll tackle that
first. The process is basically the same on
XP and Vista with one extra step in Vista.
Hold down
the Windows key and press the Pause key. On
Vista, now click on "Advance System
Settings. This will open the System
Properties dialog. Click on the Computer
Name tab and then the Change button. Here
you can change the computer name to whatever
you want. A reboot may be required for the
changes to take effect.
Changing
the username is not so easy and straight
forward. Probably the best and cleanest way
would be to create a new user account, test
all installed software to assure that it
will work with the new users account, and
then delete the old account. This will
give the new user a chance to set the
computer up to his/her desires.
To create
a new user account, open the Control Panel
and click on Users Accounts. From here on,
the process is a little different on XP and
Vista but the method is very similar. These
steps are for XP but can also followed with
Vista.
Click
Start, and open the Control Panel. Click on
User Accounts then Create new account. Enter
the name of the new account and click Next.
Select the account type and since this will
be the primary user, select Computer
Administrator. Click the Create Account
button and the account will be created.
Close all
open windows and when back to your desktop,
click Start then Log off then select Log off
again. When back to the Sign on
Welcome screen you will see an icon for your
new account. Click on it to open windows
using your new account.
All of
the programs that were installed for the
previous user will still be listed in the
Start menu, and many will have icon on the
desktop. However, all of the previous user's
configurations will be gone and you will be
at the Windows installation default
settings. You can now set things up the way
you want them.
When you
have tried out all the installed programs
and determined which are working and which
are not if any, you can delete the previous
users account and the transfer will be
complete. To delete the old user's account
first assure that the old account is not
signed on, then open the Control Panel and
select Users accounts. Click on the icon for
the old account you want to delete, and
select Delete account. Delete the files too
and then close the dialog. That's it.
If all
you really want to do is change the old s
name to a new name, this can be done.
However, much more of the old user's
"tracks" will remain. Open the Control
Panel, and click on User Accounts. Click the
icon for the account you want to change the
name, and click on Change My Name.
Whether
you choose to create a new account or just
rename the old one, there will be places
where the old users name will still be
displayed. Any program that was installed by
the previous user that makes note of the
user's name will have to be manually changed
in that particular program. Most do allow
this, but some may not. For those cases you
will just have to put up with the user's
name being there.
In XP
there is one more place you can make similar
changes. If you Right click on My Computer
and select properties then the General tab,
you will see a heading Registered To: Here
you can display a name and company or
organization if you desire. To do this, you
will need a little program I wrote called "changereg.exe"
which can be downloaded from this site's
download section or by clicking
HERE. |
