How do I change the desktop's appearance?
Changing Win2K's desktop appearance isn't much different from changing Win9x's. The Control Panel Display applet controls such cosmetic items as appearance and wallpaper. Win9x users will see minor changes in wording, and the Web and Effects tabs are reversed. Also, Win2K offers some cool new wallpaper, which now resides in \%systemroot%web\wallpaper, not in the \windows directory. However, Win2K doesn't offer desktop themes.
Win2K lets you hide desktop items. To do so, right-click on the desktop, select Active Desktop, and clear the Show Desktop Icons check box. You'll see another option to Lock Desktop Items. Enabling this option doesn't prevent you from adding or removing items on your desktop. Rather, it prevents you from removing or resizing Active Desktop items (e.g., a Web-based news ticker). The option doesn't affect other shortcuts or applications that aren't dependent on the Active Desktop.
User Account Management
How do I add or delete locally stored user accounts?
You might have locally stored user accounts. By default, Win2K creates an Administrator account and a disabled Guest account. You can manage these local user accounts from Local Users and Groups (part of the Computer Management tool in the Administrative Tools folder) or from the Control Panel Users and Passwords applet. Local Users and Groups gives you more discretionary control over user accounts.
To permit a user who already has a domain account to use the local computer, open the Users and Passwords applet and go to the Users tab. Click Add to start a wizard in which you specify an existing user account to log on to the machine. To add a local account, you'll need the Local Users and Groups tool in Computer Management. (You can also access Local Users and Groups by clicking Advanced on the Advanced tab of the Users and Passwords applet.) Open the Users folder so that the accounts are visible in the right pane, then right-click within the pane and choose New User from the context menu. Enter the user's name and password. After you add the new account to the list, right-click the account and choose Properties to add the new account to a group. By default, all new accounts are members of the local Users group.
Adding or removing a user account from the Users and Passwords applet will automatically update Local Users and Groups, and vice versa. The Users and Passwords applet and Local Users and Groups are accessing the same information database; they're simply presenting the information differently.
How do I disable locally stored user accounts?
Disabling a user account prevents anyone from using it to log on. To disable an account, find its entry in Local Users and Groups, right-click the account name, and open its Properties sheet. On the General tab, select the Account is Disabled check box. In the list of user accounts, the disabled account will have a red icon with a white X on it.
How do I change the password on a local account?
To change the password on a nonadministrative account, find the account's entry on the Users tab in the Users and Passwords applet. Click Set Password, and type in the new password. Administrators need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del, then choose Change Password. Alternatively, you can open the Local Users and Groups tool in Computer Management, right-click an account, and choose Set Password from the context menu.
How do I set a profile or home directory path for locally stored accounts?
To set the profile or home directory path for a local account, open the account's Properties sheet and go to the Profile tab. Type in the path to the profile and home directory.
Network Settings
How do I change my computer's name and domain or workgroup affiliation?
In Win9x, network settings are all available from the Control Panel Network applet. In Win2K, however, network settings are available in two locations: the System applet and the Network and Dial-up Connections folder. All settings related to your computer's identity on the network are accessible from the System applet.
To change your computer's name or join a domain or workgroup, you can walk through the Network Identification wizard. However, power users will probably find the following method faster: Open the System applet, go to the Network Identification tab, and click Properties to open the Identification Changes dialog box that Figure 5 shows.
Anyone can join a workgroup. (In fact, if you're not careful about the spelling of the workgroup you choose to join, you'll inadvertently create a new one.) However, to join a domain, you'll need the name and password of someone who has administrative privileges on the domain controller and can therefore add your computer's name to the security database—part of the process of joining a domain.
How do I add protocols, network drivers, and services?
To add a new protocol, open the Network and Dial-up Connections folder and right-click Local Area Connections. Select Properties to access the dialog box that Figure 6 shows. To add a service, client, or network protocol, click Install. As you do in Win9x, choose the type of software you want to install.
In Win2K, you don't install network cards or update drivers from the same place that you install protocols from. Instead, click Configure to edit the current settings of an existing network card or to update its driver.
How do I enable Offline Files?
Win2K Pro includes support for Offline Files, a caching system in which copies of documents residing on a file server also reside on your local hard disk. When you log off the file server, you still have access to the file you're working on—and it's available using the same path information you would use to connect to the file on the file server. Offline files simplify the use of laptop clients and help ensure that all the files you need are with you—not back in the office. Offline files also prevent data loss that results from failed network connections.
Register
