Multiple Users and
Fast User Switching
A highly touted feature
of XP is the ability to have multiple users logged on to one machine
and switch quickly between them. Like Windows 2000, this is
certainly possible, but is it really a very worthwhile feature? The
theory behind it is if you step away from the computer and somebody
else wants to use it in your absence, they can sign in to their own
settings without closing the programs you are running. The
usefulness of Fast User Switching really depends on the type of work
you do, how long each session lasts and how many users access each
machine. Bear in mind that each additional user logged in is going
to eat away at overall performance, especially if resource intensive
programs are being run by multiple users.
To activate Fast User
Switching:
Log in as Administrator
[Start] [Control Panel] [User Accounts]
[Change the Way Users
Log On and Off]
Click [Use Fast User
Switching] then click [Apply Options]
Fast User Switching is
now enabled. To change users, click [Start] [Log Off] and [Switch
User] when the [Log Off Windows] selection box appears. To log
yourself off and leave the computer available for another user to
log on, click the [Log Off] button. The Log On screen with the
available users will be displayed.
7/12/2005 - A Note from Don
My home Lan is a mixture of Microsoft and
Novell servers. When the Novell client is used the fast
user switching is NOT available! A note to this effect under
the 'fast user switching service' would have saved me
several hours! Just a suggestion for a small improvement.
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