Fri, 25 Apr 2008

Making easy things really, really complicated: Windows XP

Starting point: a Windows XP system with a single account, named "Administrator", which has worked fine (in Windows terms) for many months.

Aim: Create a second account ("limited", i.e. without admin privileges).

Sounds commonplace, doesn't it. Well, it isn't. Not with Windows XP.

First step, create another account. Turns out it's impossible to create a non-admin account here so I create a 2nd admin one and try to change it to a "limited" account after that. This fails.

So I create a 3rd account, and yes, I can make it a "limited" one. That's not too bad, I think: I've got my non-admin account now, and the 2nd admin account won't do a lot of damage. Right?

Wrong. I log off and try to log on again but my original "Administrator" account isn't displayed on the so-called "Welcome screen" anymore. I log on to my new admin account (the one I never wanted to create but can't get rid of anymore), which is an entirely new account, e.g. it keeps inviting me to "take a tour of Windows XP". I can, however, see that all the files of my original "Administrator" account are still in place. It's not that this account has been deleted or something. Apparently my problem boils down to the fact that my original account isn't displayed on the "Welcome screen" so I can't log onto it anymore.

After a bit of googling, I find that this isn't supposed to be a bug or whatever by Microsoft - it's a feature! I can get around the problem by disabling the "Welcome screen", which is supposed to be an advanced feature of Windows XP because it's so "comfortable". After disabling it, I have to type in the name of the account I want to log on to, I can't just click on an account. I just wonder, what is comfortable about not being able to access one's main account in a comfortable way? What is comfortable about the account one has always used simply disappearing from view? Who on earth would want to have an account which isn't listed when you log on, an account you can't see, an account you can't use? Must be an advanced feature of Microsoft logic.

Oh, and the 2nd account with full admin privileges, the one I never wanted - I still can't get rid of it. Even going back to an earlier "system restore point" (another such "advanced feature") didn't work. I'm forced to live with 2 admin accounts from now on.

And did you know that Outlook can export mailboxes to formats which don't hold the complete data? E.g. when you export e-mails in dBase format, you lose all recipient and date information. That's soooo useful! And you don't even get a warning.

And when you delete shortcut icons on the desktop of a non-admin account, they will disappear from the desktop of the admin account too. When you create new shortcuts in the admin account, however, they will not appear on the desktop of the non-admin account. Isn't that well thought out!

Congratulations Microsoft! You have definitely invented the worst way of spending lots and lots of time to no use whatsoever. It's not even fun.

Posted on 25 Apr 2008 at 13:52 in /technology. -- Permalink