Your user profile stores everything your computer knows about the environment for your user account: your desktop icons and wallpaper, Start menu configuration, My Network Places shortcuts, and so on. Windows 2000 has four types of profiles:
The local user profile is the default profile type. It sits on your computer; unlike some other kinds of profiles, it doesn't follow you when you use another computer. In other words, you have a separate user profile on every computer at which you log on locally (as opposed to over the network).
As described on Section 14.1.1.1.3, a roaming profile is a user profile that's stored on a network server, which lets you sit down at any computer on the network—or even dial in from the road—and be treated to the same profile settings (desktop, Start menu, and so on) you'd see if you were actually sitting in front of your regularly scheduled PC.
A mandatory profile is essentially a read-only roaming profile. When the administrator gives you a mandatory profile, you're allowed to make changes to your desktop environment, but they're not saved. The next time you log on to the network, the server again downloads the mandatory profile's settings to your computer.
When a new user logs on, Windows 2000 creates a new user profile, which inherits its settings from the default user profile. In other words, the default profile is like a template that serves as a starting point for a new user's environment.
If several people use the same computer and you want to create identical profiles for each user, you'll save time by modifying the default user profile. Users will be able to change their individual profiles, but you'll avoid having to set up the basic settings over and over again.
To customize the default user profile, follow these steps:
Set up a new user on your computer with a name like Profile.
See Section 17.3.4 for guidance in making a new account.
Log on as Profile, and set up the computer the way you want it to appear.
Create necessary shortcuts, dial-up settings, and network places; map drives, set wallpaper, and so forth.
When you're finished, log off. Log on again using an account with Administrator privileges.
Right-click My Computer and select Properties.
The System Properties dialog box appears.
Click the User Profiles tab.
POWER USERS' CLINIC : Using Multiple Accounts for Security
If you're the administrator on your computer, it's a good idea to use the Administrator account only when performing administrative tasks; spend most of your time on the computer logged on with a normal user account.
The reason is that administrative accounts are the favorite target of hackers; if you're constantly logged on as an administrator, you provide a bigger target. If you should walk away from your machine without logging off, for example, anyone who sits down at your computer has full power over your system.
Fortunately, you don't have to log off your normal account and log on again as an administrator every time you need to perform an administrative task. Instead, you can capitalize on a clever time-saver called the Run As feature.
It works like this: While pressing the Shift key, right-click the program you want to run (its icon or even its name in the Start menu); then choose Run As from the shortcut menu. The dialog box shown here appears, offering you the chance to run the program with the security credentials of a different user account—such as an account that as Administrator privileges.
You've just saved yourself a time-consuming log off/log on.
Find the profile called Profile and click Copy To. Click Browse, and save the profile into the Documents and Settings→Default User folder, as shown in Figure 17-6.
Figure 17-6. Browse to the Default User folder under Documents and Settings. Change the "Permitted to use" setting to Everyone. You'll be warned that Default Users already exists, but don't let that put you off. Click Yes.
Tip
Inside the Documents and Settings folder, you'll find another very useful folder called All Users. This folder doesn't contain a complete user profile, but it does contain certain key subfolders that you can use to configure the environment for every user of the system, even after their user profiles have been created. For example, if you copy a folder full of shortcuts to the Documents and Settings→All Users→Start Menu→Programs folder, for example, those shortcuts will appear in every user's Start menu.