Allow the Administrator Account on the Welcome Screen

If you use the Administrator account only when you need to perform administrator tasks, enable the Administrator account on the Welcome screen. Another way to enhance the bootup process is to enable the Administrator account on the Welcome screen. Enabling the Administrator account allows you to log on as an administrator when you need to, and to log on as a standard user or as a guest account when desirable.

Before enabling the Administrator account on the Welcome screen, you must meet certain criteria:

  • You must be part of a workgroup, not a domain.
  • You must be using the Welcome screen.
  • You must not be using Fast User Switching.

First, verify that the Welcome screen is enabled and that Fast User Switching is disabled by going to Start | Control Panel | User Accounts. In User Accounts:

  1. Check Use The Welcome Screen. (If you don’t see this option, you don’t meet the criteria in the preceding bulleted list.)
  2. Uncheck Use Fast User Switching.

Next, download, install, and configure TweakUI. TweakUI is a free PowerToy that lets you do almost anything to your user interface, and quite easily. One of the things you can do with TweakUI is show the Administrator account on the Welcome screen. Here’s how:

  1. Open the program by clicking Start | All Programs | PowerToys For Windows XP | TweakUI For Windows XP.
  2. Click Logon, and check Show “Administrator” On Welcome Screen.

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