Overview Transcript

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Using password-protected Windows user accounts is the easiest and most secure way to share a computer.

The first time a user signs in, a Windows user account and personal workspace is created on the computer.

After multiple users have been added to the computer, they can each sign in to access their email in Outlook.

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When you are sharing a computer with people at work or home, you can create your own protected space with a Windows user account.

If you have an IT department at your workplace, check with them to see if your computer is connected to a Domain.

If it is, any user can share the computer by clicking Other user and signing in with their company User name and Password.

The first time a user signs in, a Windows user account and personal workspace is created automatically on the computer.

If the computer is connected to a Workgroup, such as on a small business or home network, you can do it yourself.

First, make sure you sign in to the computer with an account that has Administrator permissions.

Otherwise, you won't be able to add users.

We'll use Windows 8. But you can add users in previous versions of Windows by going to the Control Panel, and clicking Add or remove user accounts.

In Windows 8, open the Charms bar, open Settings, and then PC Settings.

Tap or click Users and Add a user.

You can create an account using the email address of a Microsoft account.

However, we'll create an account from scratch without a Microsoft account.

Click Local account, type a User name, type a Password, and add a Password hint.

If you are creating a user account for other people, assign a password now, and tell them they can change it after they sign in for the first time.

On the last page, you can add Child Safety Features to the account, if you want.

Click Finish. Then follow the same process to add a user account for each person you share the computer with.

After multiple users have been added to the computer, they can each sign in to access their email in Outlook.

When you want to hand the computer over to another person, go to the Start screen and click your name.

Then choose whether to Sign out, or switch to another user account. If you sign out, all of your programs close.

But if you switch accounts, the next user can sign in with his user name and password and your programs keep running in the background.

The new user can open Outlook and set up his email account, and work with his email.

Then, when it comes time to hand the computer back to you, he clicks his name and selects your name in the list.

Now, all you have to do is type your password, and everything comes back just as you left it, including your email.

Even though both user accounts are running on the same computer, each one is completely separate.

Each user has Outlook, but each Outlook program is personalized with different email accounts.

And the only way for one user to access another user's email is to sign in with their password.

Using password-protected Windows user accounts is the easiest and most secure way to share a computer.

Up next, we'll look at a way to protect your email when sharing a public computer.