Well password, are usefull if you need to protect your documment from other users, if you'll be the only user, I'd say use a password who you wont forget, because if you do, it is har to recover it.

I am at home using vista without a pass word.

As GioAguilar said if there is no one else using it and if you do not have anu "sensitive" issues it would be easier and better not using a ppass word. This is just my opinion.

snow

Yes I too am new to Vista on a new XPS laptop I bought for my wife.  I set her up as a user - she didn't want to have a password - and accidently hit the lock button a short while later.  Try as I might I can't find anyplace in Vista "Help" to figure out how to switch her to an unlocked user.  Hopefully someone on this forum will know how to do it.

that is what I was trying to find out froglick what would happen if you got locked out by accident  it seems it would be better to set up a passworded account even though I would rather not.

 

sandavis

sandavis,

 

The " Lock Button " doesn't Lock the user without a password out of the computer. All it does is take the PC to the Login Screen or Welcome Screen. If the user doesn't have a password set then all they have to do to get back in is hit enter on this screen or click the mouse on the user square and bingo you are back in Windows Vista Desktop.

 

If the USer has a password set and presses the lock button they can get back in by clicking their user block and then entering the users password.

 

There is no hidden danger or worry about locking yourself out by pressing the lock button. I just checked this myself on my own PC.

 

FrogLick,

 

There is no way clicking the locked button alone can lock out the unpassworded user. Your wife is not a locked user what ever was meant by this??? All the lock button does it dump the os to the Welcome Screen where another user could login ( switch user ). It is meant to be a safety if you are going to step away from your PC for a while, It will prevent non-users from seeing what you're working on and meddling in your PC.

 

pcgeek11 

pcgeek11 thanks so much for your explanation of how the "Locked" button operates in Vista - much appreciated.  It certainly doesn't lock her out as you correctly stated, hence  my previous confusion about what it actually did as I'm trying to learn this new OS.  It would certainly seem more logical to me that this control would be set in the User Account setup as an option.  One just has to wonder why MS would place buttons in locations where they could be easily and inadvertently activated (without any apparent way to "unlock") while making things like "Shutdown" harder to find.  So far to me it just seems that some names of function and other things were just changed because they could.  More consistency with previous OS versions where possible would lessen the learning curve without compromising other enhancements.

froglick,  I have been reading dummy books and trying to cram I hope the system will be easier than it looks in those books.  I think I have a lot to learn xp is so simple to use.

 

sandavis

Thank you pcgeek 11  and froglick..  Froglick did you wife get in her computer now?

Actually her account wasn't really "Locked" (despite what it says on the screen) since she wasn't set up with a password as pcgeek11 stated.  Since we just got this laptop last week and this is our first experience with Vista we've got a lot more to learn.  Just wish things were more intuitive - hopefully that will come with time and experience.

sandavis, froglick,

 

Vista isn't hard it is just different. Just like driving a small car your whole life then getting into a big truck. Driving is the same the controls are just different.

 

pcgeek11