Unknown Account On Vista Welcome Screen - Can't Delete!!?

I have an account on my vista home basic welcome screen which is
labelled 'other user', this account is not listed in user accounts in
control panel. Anyone got any ideas how to get rid of it?

It is not possible to log into the account in question as it asks for
username & password.

There is also no sub folder in c:\users for 'other user'.

Well, that's pretty strange. I'm trying to envision how that might have
happened. It's almost as though a suggestion for creating an "other user" in
a dialog of some type resulted in creation of a user with that name.

You said that it asks for user name and password when you try to log on to
this account. What I think you really mean is that you click on the "Other
User" entry on the welcome screen, and it asks you for a password. Forlorn
hope, here -- have you tried leaving the password blank and proceeding with
the logon?

If the account exists, it really should show up in the User Accounts dialog
of the Control Panel.

The fact that there is no "Other User" folder under C:\Users only means that
no one has yet logged on to the Other User account. (In other words, the
folder for each user only gets created the first time the user logs on.)

Did you install this operating system, or did your computer come with the
operating system installed in this manner?

Just for grins, have you tried (logged in as administrator) entering
"control userpasswords2" in the Start | Run dialog? (Leave out the quote
marks.) If that dialog comes up, do you see Other User listed in it?

"trevaaaaaaa@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

> I have an account on my vista home basic welcome screen which is
> labelled 'other user', this account is not listed in user accounts in
> control panel. Anyone got any ideas how to get rid of it?
>
> It is not possible to log into the account in question as it asks for
> username & password.
>
> There is also no sub folder in c:\users for 'other user'.
>

Hi,

No it definitly asks for a username & password, if I leave both blank
I get an error, I tried entering administrator as the username I then
get an error saying that account has been disabled.

It definitly doesn't show up in user accounts.

It doesn't show up in control userpasswords2.

This has only happened recently, the only thing I can think off is
that I have a beta copy of Windows Steadystate, don't really want to
uninstall it.

There must be a way to remove from welcome screen.




On 17 Dec, 19:20, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Well, that's pretty strange. I'm trying to envision how that might have
> happened. It's almost as though a suggestion for creating an "other user" in
> a dialog of some type resulted in creation of a user with that name.
>
> You said that it asks for user name and password when you try to log on to
> this account. What I think you really mean is that you click on the "Other
> User" entry on the welcome screen, and it asks you for a password. Forlorn
> hope, here -- have you tried leaving the password blank and proceeding with
> the logon?
>
> If the account exists, it really should show up in the User Accounts dialog
> of the Control Panel.
>
> The fact that there is no "Other User" folder under C:\Users only means that
> no one has yet logged on to the Other User account. (In other words, the
> folder for each user only gets created the first time the user logs on.)
>
> Did you install this operating system, or did your computer come with the
> operating system installed in this manner?
>
> Just for grins, have you tried (logged in as administrator) entering
> "control userpasswords2" in the Start | Run dialog? (Leave out the quote
> marks.) If that dialog comes up, do you see Other User listed in it?
>
>
>
> "trevaaaa...@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

>

>

>
> - Show quoted text -

Windows Steady State? I didn't know there was such a thing for Vista. Beta,
huh? If I were you, I'd at least examine the possibility that this phenomenon
is being caused by the beta software.

I'm curious. What benefit does that software have for Vista? Windows XP was
in dire need of such protection, but I would think that Vista was a little
better able to take care of itself, given proper assignment of user account
types.

"trevaaaaaaa@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> No it definitly asks for a username & password, if I leave both blank
> I get an error, I tried entering administrator as the username I then
> get an error saying that account has been disabled.
>
> It definitly doesn't show up in user accounts.
>
> It doesn't show up in control userpasswords2.
>
> This has only happened recently, the only thing I can think off is
> that I have a beta copy of Windows Steadystate, don't really want to
> uninstall it.
>
> There must be a way to remove from welcome screen.
>
>
>
>
> On 17 Dec, 19:20, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>
>

I think I will have to remove it and see what happens.

It is quite a good piece of software, lets you customize most aspects
of a users account, vista does handle accounts better than xp, but
doesn't give as many tweaks as steady state.

I installed as I was looking for a vista equivalent to the xp shared
computer toolkit.

As I said I will try to remove and see if that works and if it does I
will inform the ms steady state beta team.

Thanks for your suggestions by the way.



On Dec 20, 6:20 pm, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Windows Steady State? I didn't know there was such a thing for Vista. Beta,
> huh? If I were you, I'd at least examine the possibility that this phenomenon
> is being caused by the beta software.
>
> I'm curious. What benefit does that software have for Vista? Windows XP was
> in dire need of such protection, but I would think that Vista was a little
> better able to take care of itself, given proper assignment of user account
> types.
>
> "trevaaaa...@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

>

>

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That's very interesting. I hope you'll post back to this thread to let us
know what happens. I, for one, am very interested. Might give that software a
look. Could come in handy for preparing some kiosk machines at some point.

"trevaaaaaaa@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

> I think I will have to remove it and see what happens.
>
> It is quite a good piece of software, lets you customize most aspects
> of a users account, vista does handle accounts better than xp, but
> doesn't give as many tweaks as steady state.
>
> I installed as I was looking for a vista equivalent to the xp shared
> computer toolkit.
>
> As I said I will try to remove and see if that works and if it does I
> will inform the ms steady state beta team.
>
> Thanks for your suggestions by the way.
>
>
>
> On Dec 20, 6:20 pm, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>
>

I uninstalled Steady State and the 'phantom' account vanished from the
welcome screen, will pass this on to the SS group.

Another thing I have noticed is that on the welcome screen I have no
shutdown icon, only a blue ease of access icon.

Any ideas?


On 20 Dec, 22:20, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> That's very interesting. I hope you'll post back to this thread to let us
> know what happens. I, for one, am very interested. Might give that software a
> look. Could come in handy for preparing some kiosk machines at some point.
>
> "trevaaaa...@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

>

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Without having any familiarity whatsoever with the Steady State beta you were
using I reduced to guessing about this. A couple of observations / musings:

1. I have seen non-Microsoft security software from quite some time ago
which replaced the logon user interface of Windows in part or in toto. This
software was designed for locking down Windows 95 and 98 systems. You have
mentioned two issues which "sound" as though they could be symptoms of this
type of replacement. Obviously, it is much more difficult, from a developer's
perspective, to replace this part of the OS in NT-based operating systems.
Just as obviously, MS certainly has the resources to do it. I would check to
see if the beta Steady State does something like this -- either replacement
of standard logon-associated components or deliberate modification of their
behavior. I'm thinking it's possible that the Other User account item might
exist to give access to a separate list of users to whom Steady State
settings don't apply. This is PURELY conjecture on my part. But I remember a
similar feature in one of those early third party Windows 95-98 security
packages. The disappearance of the shutdown control from the logon screen
upon removal of the Steady State beta sounds like it could be a fault in the
restoration of the normal logon user interface by the uninstaller for the
beta. That might be especially prone to happen if the Steady State software
does actually change these components.

2. If there is a newsgroup for Steady State beta, you may very well find a
better source of help there. (You could hardly find someone less informed
about it than me. I hadn't even heard that there was such a thing for Vista
until you mentioned it. This IS a Microsoft beta program, right?)

Please post back to let us know what's happening! I'd also be interested in
any URL which has information on this program. I'm a TechNet Plus subscriber,
but not a developer. (I haven't done real development work since I wrote
assembly for Motorola 6502 and Zilog chips.

"trevaaaaaaa@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

> I uninstalled Steady State and the 'phantom' account vanished from the
> welcome screen, will pass this on to the SS group.
>
> Another thing I have noticed is that on the welcome screen I have no
> shutdown icon, only a blue ease of access icon.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
> On 20 Dec, 22:20, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>
>

I have posted a message on the SS forum
http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsT...7201&SiteID=69

There are details on the official SS site
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...s/default.mspx




On 22 Dec, 12:07, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Without having any familiarity whatsoever with the Steady State beta you were
> using I reduced to guessing about this. A couple of observations / musings:
>
> 1. I have seen non-Microsoft security software from quite some time ago
> which replaced the logon user interface of Windows in part or in toto. This
> software was designed for locking down Windows 95 and 98 systems. You have
> mentioned two issues which "sound" as though they could be symptoms of this
> type of replacement. Obviously, it is much more difficult, from a developer's
> perspective, to replace this part of the OS in NT-based operating systems.
> Just as obviously, MS certainly has the resources to do it. I would check to
> see if the beta Steady State does something like this -- either replacement
> of standard logon-associated components or deliberate modification of their
> behavior. I'm thinking it's possible that the Other User account item might
> exist to give access to a separate list of users to whom Steady State
> settings don't apply. This is PURELY conjecture on my part. But I remember a
> similar feature in one of those early third party Windows 95-98 security
> packages. The disappearance of the shutdown control from the logon screen
> upon removal of the Steady State beta sounds like it could be a fault in the
> restoration of the normal logon user interface by the uninstaller for the
> beta. That might be especially prone to happen if the Steady State software
> does actually change these components.
>
> 2. If there is a newsgroup for Steady State beta, you may very well find a
> better source of help there. (You could hardly find someone less informed
> about it than me. I hadn't even heard that there was such a thing for Vista
> until you mentioned it. This IS a Microsoft beta program, right?)
>
> Please post back to let us know what's happening! I'd also be interested in
> any URL which has information on this program. I'm a TechNet Plus subscriber,
> but not a developer. (I haven't done real development work since I wrote
> assembly for Motorola 6502 and Zilog chips.
>
> "trevaaaa...@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

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Thank you for the information. I'll wait and watch.

"trevaaaaaaa@yahoo.co.uk" wrote:

> I have posted a message on the SS forum
> http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsT...7201&SiteID=69
>
> There are details on the official SS site
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...s/default.mspx
>
>
>
>
> On 22 Dec, 12:07, jimmuh <jim...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: