vla61...
Congratulations on your new computer. Quite a change
from Windows98, eh?
What you're describing is by design, to a degree.
If you open Windows Explorer and go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\
you will see folders for all usernames, as well as
Administrator
All Users
Default User
You won't see Default User unless you've enabled "Show
hidden files and folders" in Windows Explorer's View.
Default User is the template from which Windows creates
new users.
XP may be slightly different than 2000, which I'm using.
If you set up a username with Administative privileges,
you'll see that username has its own folder, in addition
to the Administrator folder.
Now, down to issues...
Outlook Express integrates with Windows in order to
separate identities and what they see by using these
folders.
If you drill down into the folders under the username with
administrative privileges that you used to set up email,
you'll find the folder containing all the email folders
and their contents located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\vla61\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{79A016E2-F460-4230-8J1B-2AF89E2CC31F}\
Microsoft\Outlook Express\
If you have another username that has been set up with
a separate account in Outlook Express, drill down to the
same location under that username (with some minor
changes to the address), and you'll see another set of
files having the foldernames and containing the email
available to that user.
"Default User" and "All Users" probably won't have a
"Local Settings" folder, and Administrator will have
"Local Settings" and "Application Data" below that,
but no Identities folder with subsequent email folders.
The same, or even greater separation occurs with regard
to the Start Menu. If you look under each user category,
you'll see that each has its own Start Menu folders.
All programs listed under the Start Menu directory for
All Users will be visible to everyone who signs in,
and even to Guest users who don't.
All programs listed under the Start Menu directory for
Administrator will be visible to all users who have
administrative privileges, but there can be some
interesting differences.
For instance, on my system, which is Windows 2000,
the Disk Cleanup utility is located at:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Start Menu\
Programs\Accessories\System Tools\
for both Administrator and Default User.
It doesn't show up at all under All Users, so a
Guest user won't have access to this utility, and
on the Start Menu for the nickname I use that has
administrative priveleges, I've moved it to a
customized location at:
C:\Documents and Settings\Pooter1\Start Menu\Programs\
Accessories\System Tools\Microsoft\
so, even though it's located in the System Tools folder
in both Administrator and Default User, it actually
shows up in the Microsoft folder for me.
To add to this confusion, some programs will add
themselves to the All Users Start Menu by default,
and will therefore be visible to everyone. Others
will be kind enough to ask you (especially those
which have to do with system security and system
settings) whether you want everyone to have access
or only administrators, or only you. It will then
locate its shortcuts folder accordingly.
Now that you know how this works, you may want to
move certain utilities or programs into the Start
Menu for your username only, or move other programs
which appear under your username so that they are,
or aren't, available to All Users. You can just
cut and paste the shortcuts where you want them.
The nice part about this functionality is that if
another person is setting up bunches of programs
on their Start Menu, they don't have to clutter up
your Start Menu, and can remain invisible to you,
and yours can be invisible to them.
Finally, this same separation is used to provide
each user with their own unique Desktop and also
to separate Application Data relevant only to that
user's programs. They also each have their own
Cookies, IE Favorites, Documents, and more.
I hope that provides a good basis for understanding this
strange new virtual world into which you've entered with
Windows XP.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
vla61-ga
on
23 Jul 2005 18:39 PDT
Very swift and detailed answer, sublime1. Thanks for the insights.
I checked out the Start Menu explanation and advice first - it seemed
the most straightforward, and you were spot on! Thanks for pointing
these things out. I tried looking thru Windows "help" many times, but
found no information that was very helpful...obviously. Do you know
where I could have found anything close to your explanation in the
Help system or at Microsoft.com? How frustrating that's been :(
I think I understand your answer regarding e-mail via Outlook Express.
I didn't set up e-mail under two users, but since it's a shared
program, all users can get to it. My take is that if I use the File
-> Switch Identities... option to move between e-mails, whatever comes
into the 2nd users Inbox will end up in the folder under my
administrator ID (the one I'm signed on as), and thus, I'll see it.
However, if the 2nd user is logged on to their own ID, then they won't
have access to the same Inbox (because it's under my administrator
ID), so basically the superset of e-mails in that person's Inbox is
really the union of what's in the folder under my ID plus the one
under theirs?
If that's true, it seems like a.) it should be well documented if it's
intentional; or b.) it's a blunder that should be obvious to
Microsoft; or c.) something I don't yet understand.
Do you know?
Thanks again for your quick and helpful replies!
|
Clarification of Answer by
sublime1-ga
on
23 Jul 2005 20:47 PDT
vla61...
I see what you're saying now - rather than logging into Windows
as a different user, you've just created a second identity in
OE, under the same logon name. This is different from another
Windows user logging on. In that case, they should not even
have access to the two identities you've created under your
current Windows logon name, which would be a more secure way
to set up different email accounts for different users.
In your current case the second identity will show up under
the same username with a second random string under the
Identities folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\vla61\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{79A016E2-F460-4230-8J1B-2AF89E2CC31F}\
Microsoft\Outlook Express\
and
C:\Documents and Settings\vla61\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{64J016H7-D790-9260-7G1P-1UI65D1HH78G}\
Microsoft\Outlook Express\ for example.
And you can File -> Switch Identities without logging
off of Windows, because they're both set up under a
single Windows username.
Outlook Express informs you that your files may not be
secure from access by others when you go to set up the
second identity, and offers you the option of using a
password, while still noting that others may be able
read your files. It doesn't explain how this may be,
and, if you now go and set up a 3rd identity on your
current system, I doubt you'll see any of the email
from your previous 2 accounts. I suspect that the
shared data may have to do with both identities using
at least one of the same email addresses and having a
mail server from your ISP in common.
When you set up a new identity, you're asked to provide
the mail servers for incoming and outgoing mail. You're
also offered the opportunity to import address book data.
If the two identities you set up have any or all of that
in common, that would explain the duplicate content.
Since both were created under the same Windows logon
account with the same administrative privileges, they
should both have equal privileges. It doesn't really
matter if one of the OE identities has the same name
as the Windows logon name with administrative rights.
The OE identities can have any name you like - the
names you use will simply be the names visible to
recipients of your outgoing mail from those accounts.
The contents of the Inbox should only be dependent on
what email accounts are set up to receive mail under
each identity. If both are set up to receive mail
from vla61@earthlink.com then both will show those
emails in the Inbox. In fact, if both are set up to
receive mail from the same account, one may show the
emails you downloaded while logged into that identity,
and the other may not show these, since they were
already downloaded to the first one. Likewise, when
you log into the second identity, you may receive
emails from that same account which the first identity
will not have access to, since they've already been
downloaded.
If both identities have completely different email
accounts with different addresses, they shouldn't
be showing each others' email in the Inbox.
I hope that clears things up, but, if not, we'll have
another go at it.
sublime1-ga
|
,
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