Windows XP, administrator confusion

I was reading posts to the effect that for the sake of security, I should not have entered my full name when setting up my Windows XP system for the first time. So if figured easy enough, I changed the name of the administrator account by going to Control Panel-User accounts. I then rebooted. I logged in with my password as per usual, under the new generic name that appeared on the login screen when I started up. When I go to "My Computer", what was once a folder labelled with "[my name] Documents" is now the more generic name that I gave it. However, now when I open that folder, I still end up with a folder that still has my full name on it, and it is full of the items in the "My Documents" folder. If from My Computer, I click on "Preload C", I get, among other things which includes "Program Files" a folder called "Documents and Settings". In that folder are now 4 folders, and I'm pretty sure there weren't 4 in there before this. Those folders are "Administrator", "All Users", "Default User", and a folder with my full name on it. So in terms of privacy, I don't think I did myself a whole lot of good here. The generic name that I changed the administrator account to doesn't show up there at all. I see that when I go to Control Panel--System, my full name also shows up there as being how I am registered with Microsoft. I had been concerned that I wouldn't be able to access Windows Updates. Well, it appears I can, although there aren't any updates for me to get right now.
I just downloaded and installed CCleaner and that went fine.

I'm just confused as to why, under C:\Documents and Settings\ there would be these 4 folders, none of which are labelled with the name that I changed the administrator account to from the Control Panel-User Accounts. I was worried that I somehow did not have administrative rights here anymore, but it appears that I do.

That's for Windows XP SP2. I guess I need "Windows accounts for dummies" type of lesson. Still haven't solved my privacy issue, either, I guess. If I ever needed to post scan logs on the malware forum for any reason, my name would be there, probably. Which I don't really want.

You know, the only place my changed generic name shows up is when I go to "My Computer" and there's a "Shared" folder and then a folder labelled with the generic name, plus the C drive and the DVD drive. Inside that generic folder is the path to documents and settings\[my name]\my documents.

There's only going to be one user on this laptop, there won't be any changing of users going on. If someone doesn't want to take the time to try to explain how Windows XP deals with user accounts, if you know of a link, that would be fine.

Thanks. (I'm feeling like I should have just left it all alone, although I don't think I did anything untoward to my computer, I just confused myself more than anything! rolleyes) I saw a post on the malware forum where someone had changed the name on his logs and that made it hard to get anything fixed, so I thought I would try to deal with mine, just in case the need ever arose.

 

I think you have just found a well known fluke in XP. I have never found a way around it. I'd be interested if anyone does know how to completely change the name of an existing user.

When you change your name on an account the name only changes on the Start menu and on the My Documents folder. So as you have said the true name of the folder is still C:\Documents and Settings\RealName\My Documents but the icon is labeled Generic's Documents. [I have no idea why this is set up this way and have never read an explanation]

I think the only thing to do would be to create a new Account with the generic name and make sure it has Administrative privileges. Make sure it set up the way you like[meaning shortcuts to all your programs are listed in the Start Menu and you move your documents over to the new account] and then delete the old real name account (or if you have a large HD and don't need the space just stop using it, but if your worried about security delete it). I would use the new account for a few weeks to make sure there is nothing I can't find from that account before deleting the old one.

You can change the name of the registered computer user by following this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441.

**Note: If you decide to make a new account and delete the old one...after removing the user the folder in Documents and Settings\RealName may still exist and can be safely deleted. Just a heads up on another quirk in the way XP handles user accounts. Seems like poor programming to me but I've only seen it documented on the web not found a way around it.

 

Oh, wow...Microsoft sure didn't make this easy, did they? And them, eh?

I've read posts from people who have managed to make a real mess out of things if they didn't do this right.

Those folders in My Computer -C drive-Documents and Settings (those folders being Administrator, Default User, All Users, and [my name]--the last one being the one which seems to be the one with the administrative privileges--can't just be renamed, can they? I'm afraid to mess with that, though. I did see from looking at my other computer that 4 user accounts seems to be quite normal, so I guess I didn't add anything to the laptop there after all.

Thanks for your response.

 

It is weird. The real name account still exists and is used but they just show a different name for it in the desktop and on the login screen. Pretty useless. And confusing.

You would be fine just creating a new account with administrative privileges. Start using that for a while and when you realize you don't need to ever login to the realname account going ahead and deleting that realname/generic user from User Accounts in Control Panel.

Just be aware that the Administrator account you see in the list is a hidden account that is only available in SafeMode so you want to leave that one alone. You can give any user administrative privileges but you want to keep the existing account named Administrator for emergency.

 

What I had expected when I changed that real name account name was that it would just change throughout the computer, but I guess that's not the way it works.

Thanks for the information about that Administrator account. I didn't know that. Yup, I'll be leaving that one alone.