{"id":936,"date":"2014-07-17T13:55:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T13:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.secure-bits.com\/?p=936"},"modified":"2014-07-18T14:27:44","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T14:27:44","slug":"change-user-account-type-in-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.secure-bits.com\/?p=936","title":{"rendered":"How to change user account type in Windows…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my previous blog, I’ve emphasized the importance of not using administrator account for everyday tasks, such as reading your email, browsing the web, running your programs etc. In this blog, we’ll look at how to remove the administrator access from the first account\u00a0that you have created during the Windows installation process. <\/p>\n

By default, Windows installation proceeds with the administrator account, amply named “Administrator”. This is the initial account that has full access to the system and installs all the necessary drivers, programs, etc. When the installation is about to be completed, Windows will force you to create a user account with a password. This account name cannot be the name of existing accounts, but other than that, you’re free to choose a name. This first account created is assigned “Administrator” rights by the installation routine and the initial “Administrator” account is disabled. This installation routine first appeared in Windows Vista and continued with Windows 7, Windows 8.x, and presumable will be the same in Windows 9.<\/p>\n

Back to the subject on hand and let’s remove administrator access for the first user account created in Windows…<\/p>\n

The process is simple enough and the basic steps are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Create a new administrator account<\/li>\n
  2. Login with the new administrator account<\/li>\n
  3. Change account type for the “%Default first user%”<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There’s no way to know the name of the first account that you’ve assigned on your system. For the purpose of this blog, the name of the first account is indicated by the variable of: <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    “%Default first user%”<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Please substitute this name with your first account you’ve created during Windows installation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Step 1:<\/strong>
    \nOpen up the “Control Panel” and you should see this, if you have “Category” listing selected:<\/p>\n

    \"Control<\/a><\/p>\n

    Select “Add or remove user accounts”, note the little shield front of it, under the “User Account and Family Safety” category. The little shield indicates, that using this step will require local administrator access, if your system had not been modified since installation. In which case, the User Access Control (UAC) warning like this will pop up first:<\/p>\n

    \"UAC\"<\/a>
    \n<\/em><\/p>\n

    The UAC window on your system will have your first account’s name prepopulated, instead of the shown “%Default first user%”<\/span> variable. You will not see this warning, if the UAC is disabled.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Enter your password for the account, click “OK”, to see the current accounts on your system:
    \n    \"Windows<\/a><\/p>\n

    In this window, click on “Create a new account”:<\/p>\n

    \"Administrator\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Choose a name for the new account that is meaningful for you. it can be anything you’d want. For the purpose of this blog, the account is named “Test admin”; substitute this name with your choice. Select “Administrator” for the account type and click on “Create account”, that\u00a0brings up the current user accounts listing window, with the new account:<\/p>\n

    \"Default<\/a>There’s no\u00a0requirements\u00a0for creating a password for the\u00a0new\u00a0account and it is created\u00a0by the system with no password.\u00a0In the computer world, no password is<\/span> a password. Depending on the password policy on the system, you could:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n