Managing User Accounts

Every person who logs on to Windows Vista must do so with a user account. If the user account has been granted greater rights and permissions, the user can access resources on that computer that otherwise would be inaccessible. Problems arise in productivity when users are not able to access the resources that they need to conduct their jobs. One alternative is to allow users to have unrestricted rights to the computers and resources. However, this can result in an even greater loss of productivity because a user could unintentionally render the computer inoperable in any number of ways. The trick to effective management is to create a balance between rights granted to users and those denied.

One of the top concerns regarding user rights is file and folder access, especially the rights configured for shared folders or on computers that are shared by multiple users. Because multiple people potentially can access a file at any time on shared folders and shared computers, a misapplied right can compromise a file containing private data.