I tried to "copy user account profile" but don't understand Steps 4 & 5. Where I want the copy to go is my second user account... so I can use all the personal settings, except 'administrative rights'.1 person needs an answerI do too

Ignore any steps you've already done. For this example I'm going to call your current user account, the one you wish to copy, "OldTodd". 1. Create the new user account. We'll call it "NewTodd". For simplicity's sake, create it as an administrator for right now. Log into it once to so the profile files/folders are created. 2. Create another administrative user account. We'll call it "CompAdmin" for this example. Log into it. Please note that if you have XP Pro or Media Center you don't need to create CompAdmin. You use the built-in Administrator account instead, logging in as Administrator and using whatever password you assigned to the built-in Administrator account when you first set up Windows. If you didn't assign a password, leave the field blank. In XP Home the built-in Administrator is only available in Safe Mode so you should just go ahead and create CompAdmin if you have XP Home. a. In Windows Explorer, click Tools, click Folder Options, click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK. b. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\OldTodd folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed. c. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files : * Ntuser.dat * Ntuser.dat.log * Ntuser.ini d. On the Edit menu, click Copy. e. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\NewTodd folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed. f. On the Edit menu, click Paste. g. Log into NewTodd and all your stuff will be there except a few cosmetic things like wallpaper, etc. See the Note about email, etc. Once you know everything is the way you want log back into CompAdmin and go to Control Panel>User Accounts and click on NewTodd to change the account type from Administrator to Limited. You can leave CompAdmin as an extra administrative account for emergencies if you like. If you are sure you have everything in NewTodd, you can then delete OldTodd from CompAdmin if you want. Note that if you have XP Pro/Media and were using the built-in Administrator as your daily account you can't delete it. You can log into it and delete the data from My Documents so it isn't duplicated in NewTodd though. Note: You must import your e-mail messages and addresses to the new user profile before you delete the old profile. For additional information see 313055 OLEXP: Mail Folders, Address Book, and E-mail Messages Are Missing After You Upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Hello Malkeleah, and Thank You for your Reply... Sorry I haven't replied until now. I have one question before I proceed, "Do I close each identity as I progress through the process?" After I create NewTodd>set to admin. Do I then: log out of OldTodd, log into NewTodd, create CompAdmin>set to admin, log out of NewTodd, log into CompAdmin and log out, log into OldTodd?? {Later on, you ask tell me to log into NewTodd, as if I had logged out... thus the "Question." Or, am I merely "switching" users?} Assuming the above steps are correct, I then right-click My Computer, click Exlpore>Tools>etc. (Are there 'plus signs' I should click before I Control+click each file and subfolder?)... Copy&Paste to the new identities, log out of OldTodd, log into NewTodd, make adjustments 'to the way I want' (having an issue with OE 6), log out of NewTodd and log into CompAdmin?? After dealing with Admin/Limited options and passwords, do I then restart computer to clear the clipboard? [Does having a password for an Admin account make it more difficult for hackers??] Thank You Malkeleah, Todd P.s. Should I start another thread regarding my issue w/OutlookExpress6 ?? I can't get it to work. Has Hotmail changed so much that it can't use OE6 ?? Is it not HTTP ??

Well, that was confusing. I'm not even going to try and untangle that. Let's go over the process once again. 1. Create a new user called what you want. Obviously you have to do this from a working administrative account. 2. Log off the account you're in and into the new account so the user profile's files/folders will be created. 3. In order to copy the settings/data from your old user account to the new one you must do the copying from a user account which is not the one being copied from or the one being copied to. So if you only had the old user account on the system and made the new one (giving you two user accounts) you must create a third user account from which to work. If you have XP Pro or Media Center you can use the built-in Administrator account. Since the built-in Administrator is only available in Safe Mode in XP Home, the easiest thing to do is make an extra third administrative user, which I have called CompAdmin. 4. So you have logged into the old account, created the new account, logged into the new account, created CompAdmin, and now you log into CompAdmin. From the CompAdmin account you do the copying of the old account to the new account. Then you log into the new account and all your stuff should be there. You will need to change some cosmetic things like the background but essentially all your settings and data will now be duplicated in the new account EXCEPT for email as previously mentioned. 5. After you have all your stuff in the new account and it is the way you want it, log out and log into another administrative account; it doesn't matter which one but if you've made CompAdmin you might as well use it. You must have at least one administrative user account on the system. Once you are logged into CompAdmin you can change the new account type to Limited if you like and also delete the old user account. You don't have to delete the old user account but there is no point in having duplicated data. I have no idea what clipboard would be cleared. The clipboard is cleared every time you log off. Running as a Standard or Limited user is safer than running as Administrator. I can't answer questions about Hotmail. For Hotmail and all Windows Live programs, post in its forum here: http://windowslivehelp.com/MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!