Click the Change the account type link, choose Administrator, and then click the Change Account Type button. Now, you can see as in Figure 12-10, that this other Microsoft account is an administrator too.
Figure 12-10: The secondary Microsoft account has been transformed from peasant to lord.
• Manage User Account Control: In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced what was then a very controversial feature called User Account Control, or UAC, which took advantage of Microsoft’s efforts to
But then there are those other components that do require an administrator-class account to actually work. Those components are a bit trickier. These components will trigger a UAC dialog, or prompt, that must be bypassed before you can continue whatever task you are trying to complete.
UAC is theoretically annoying, but it’s been refined over the past two Windows versions to be, well, less noisy. That is, it doesn’t rear its head very often anymore, and if you’re logged in with administrator privileges—and chances are, you are—it will rarely do more than interject a small “Are you sure?” type dialog to interrupt your workflow.
This interruption will vary according to what you’re trying to do—a UAC prompt appears when you try to install an application, for example—and according to what type of user account you’re using. But the important thing to note is that the presentation of UAC prompts hasn’t really changed since Windows 7. So unless you’ve been using Windows XP for the past few years, you already get the drill. It works much as it did in Windows 7 and is much less annoying than it was in Windows Vista.
Configuring User Account Control works as it did in Windows 7, via the User Account Control Settings control panel. So there’s no need to waste time on it: UAC works as before, isn’t annoying, and shouldn’t be messed with.
Okay, there is one interesting side note about UAC in Windows 8: One place you’ll never see this prompt is in any of Windows 8’s Metro experiences. That’s because UAC is a desktop technology, and the Metro environment has its own more pervasive protections built in and designed to protect the OS from exactly the kinds of issues that UAC, too, is aimed at.
• Enable and configure Family Safety: Microsoft first provided pervasive Windows-based parental controls functionality in Windows Vista, providing parents with a way to create and enforce settings related to computer usage, including a web filter (for allowing and disallowing individual websites and downloading), time limits, games, and applications (including which can and cannot be used).
Parental controls are not available when you sign in as a domain user.
In Windows 8, Microsoft is carrying forward the parental control functionality from its predecessor, and it works almost exactly the same way, with a few useful improvements. Parental controls, called Family Safety in Windows 8, can be applied only to non-administrator accounts—including Microsoft accounts, which is indeed new to Windows 8—and is administered one account at a time.
There are two ways to add parental controls to an account. You may recall that when you add a new account to the system, it’s silently created as a standard user account, and not as an administrator. So as an added nicety, Windows 8 provides a check box option, shown in Figure 12-11, which lets you enable Family Safety right when the account is created.
Figure 12-11: You can enable parental controls when you add a new account to the PC.
Or, you can add parental controls to an account after it has been created. To do so, select Manage another account from the main User Accounts control panel, select the account you want to manage, and then select Set up Family Safety. The Family Safety interface resembles Figure 12-12.
Figure 12-12: Family Safety helps you protect your children online and on the PC.
If you’re familiar with the parental controls functionality that was included in Windows 7, all of the functionality from that release carries over into Windows 8. But there are a few useful additions in this release, too. For example, where the Windows 7 parental controls allowed you to specify the hours of each day that the child could use the PC—this feature is now called “curfew”—Windows 8 adds the ability to limit how many hours they can use the PC each day as well. Additionally, Family Safety integrates with Windows Store so you can see and control which Metro-style apps and games your child downloads, based on country-specific ratings; in the United States, we use ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) ratings.
• Enable the Guest account: While you can go to great lengths to protect standard user accounts with parental controls, sometimes all you’re looking for is a single, temporary user account with standard user privileges that anyone can use. As with previous Windows versions, Windows 8 includes such an account, called the Guest account, and it’s a safe and easy way to let others use your PC without worrying that they’re going to view, modify, or delete any crucial data, uninstall or change an application, or perform other dangerous tasks.
To enable the Guest account, select Manage another account from the main User Accounts control panel. Then, in the Manage Accounts screen, choose Guest. (Its icon will note that the Guest account is off.)
The control panel will ask you whether you’re sure you wish to enable this account, noting that password- protected files, folders, and settings are not accessible to guest users. Click Turn on to enable the Guest account.
Now, when you leave the computer, you can lock your account (easiest way: Winkey + L). And then your children or actual guests can browse the web, run apps, and perform other common duties using the Guest account while you’re away: A new Guest option will appear on the lock screen.
Remember that the Guest account is temporary to each sign-in. So when the user signs out of the Guest account, any settings changes or documents they’ve created will be deleted. Each time you sign in to the Guest account is like the first time that account is used, and nothing is retained.
• Reset EAS Policies: When you sign in to a Windows 8 PC or device with a Microsoft account, you’re using a technology called Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) under the covers to provide push-based access to your Hotmail-based e-mail, calendar, contacts, and other data. EAS is a Microsoft-created corporate standard that is used by Hotmail and Microsoft’s Exchange- and Office 365-based services, and also by competing services from Apple, Google, and other companies. (In this way, it’s a de facto standard for all modern mobile devices.) And one of its big advantages is that it supports the notion of EAS policies, which can set restrictions on the device—smartphone, tablet, or PC—that you use to access the underlying services. For example, your workplace may want to ensure that you sign in with an account that has an acceptable password (from a length and complexity standpoint) and then auto-locks after a certain period of inactivity.
