how can I remove all users and only use the original administrator and guest2 people need an answerI do too

This is not very wise. If you have XP Pro or Media Center Edition and use the built-in Administrator for your daily work and it becomes corrupted or otherwise unusable, you will have no way to get into the system to fix things. It's fine to have one administrative user for your daily work (called "truflmakr" for example). Once you create a second administrative user account the built-in Administrator will be hidden from the Welcome Screen and available for emergency work. Do not use the Guest account you see in the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. The Guest account is a special system account, not one meant for when you are feeling hospitable. It is disabled by default in Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux, Unix, and OS X for a reason. From TechNet: "The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to the system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system through this account." http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978(TechNet.10).aspx So if you enabled Guest, disable it now and create a Standard/Limited account (Vista, Windows 7, XP Pro/XP Home) for your visitors. Call the new user account something like "Visitor". XP is a multi-user operating system, no matter if only one person is using it. In all multi-user operating systems - NT, Win2k, XP, Vista, Unix, Linux, Mac OSX - there is the one built-in account that is "god" on the system. In Windows terminology, that is "Administrator". In the *nix world, it is "root". This is a necessary account and is not normally used in everyday work. You cannot delete the built-in Administrator account nor would you ever want to. Perhaps you are seeing other accounts and being concerned about what they are. Here is a brief explanation: C:\Documents and Settings - The "container" for all user settings. Each user will have [username] My Documents, My Music, My Videos, My Pictures. Sometimes there will be an Owner account, or something like "HP Administrator". This is the generic user created by the OEM ("Original Equipment Manufacturer; i.e., Dell, HP, Sony, etc.) when installing the operating system. After all, the OEM doesn't know who is going to buy the computer. If you aren't using this OEM user account, you can delete it from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. It is not the same account as "Administrator". Administrator - Built-in account - Leave alone! Do not use! Do not worry about it! In XP, the built-in Administrator account is only visible in Documents and Settings if you have XP Pro/Media Center. In XP Home, it can only be accessed in Safe Mode. All Users - Section where items common to all users go. You may not ever use the Shared Documents but leave it alone. It needs to be there. Default User - This is the template from which new user accounts are made. You will never put anything in any of those folders but they are needed to create new users. In Linux we use "skel" ("skeleton" - get it?). In Windows, the less-colorful term "Default User/Default" is used. Leave it alone! If you just want to go directly to the Desktop (i.e., log in automatically to your own user account) this is easily done: Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm To remove user accounts that you created (not system accounts), go to Control Panel>User Accounts. Click on the account you wish to remove and follow the wizard. Keep the files if you want them. Make sure you leave one administrator account which is not the built-in Administrator and leave the Guest account disabled. MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

In the same vein, can you delete a user designated as "NT AUTHORITY", in Win XP (SP3)? This user folder was sytem created, when a reinstall of the XP OS was required to overwight corrupted files. Attempts to delete this user folder is denied, as it is a "system" file. Suggestions?

This is a system account, not a real user account. Leave it alone.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!