Creating fresh account on windows 7

So I have my main account. I wanted to create another account and use it for different purposes. When I made the new account, everything installed on my main account is on the new account. How can I make a fresh account and basically start brand new?

 

Not sure what you mean by fresh account. When you say everything installed on my main account is on the new account, you mean programs, extras, and the like? Cause those will always be there. When you install just about anything on the primary account, it will default it to all users. You would have to have checked the option to only install for current user if you don't want your 3rd party programs and extras to show up on multiple user profiles.

 

By fresh I just mean like a brand new account with nothing installed. If I uninstall the programs on the new account, it will uninstall on my main as well correct?

 

Yes, it will uninstall the program completely. I'm not sure there's a way to do what you want to do short of installing the programs for a single user on Windows 7 home premium. It is possible for other versions of Windows (pro and up) to restrict program access through gpedit.msc. The programs will still be there, but the restricted user won't be able to start them.

If you want the program to "not be installed" you'd need another install of Windows on a different partition.

 

Not necessarily. If it had/has the option to be installed for a specific user account, it will only be installed for that account. If it was installed for "everyone" then yes, it will be uninstalled on the main admin acct also.

 

^^^What 2.0 said. Some programs will include the below prompt in their advanced setup options:



But most will not. Since all Applications are installed into the same Program Files directory, the installer automatically assumes all current and future user profiles will want access to the installed application. If it's a matter of not having all these programs in your start menu, you can delete all their shortcuts from the Start Menu and Desktop. They'ds still be installed, but you would have to navigate to the actual application file for it to run.

 

Note that the install for x user option may not restrict access to the program, only prevent it from being visible in terms of shortcuts, start menu folders, etc.; a slightly savvy user could still navigate to the .exe location in the file explorer and then run it.

A regular user will not be able to start anything requiring admin privileges though.

 

IIRC, there was an option in the Professional version of Windows that allowed the systems Admin to restrict installed program access to certain users, was there not?

 

What I'm reading, the OP is trying to do what Tijo described, two separate Windows OS installs where no accounts are co-mingled under one OS...
Somewhat inefficient and impractical. If OP wants that, OP should be knowledgeable enough to express that part without help.

Or it could be that OP doesn't know; words like brand new, nothing installed, create a new account and start over - kinda sounds like uninstall some programs, create a new admin account and delete the old one; a little easier.

I have a feeling this is going to get a little more complicated before getting easier.

 

Would it be possible to create a new user, then copy the "default profile" to it. I did this and user profiles displayed the new account as 1.51 MB. But when I tried to login I was not able due to "Group Policy Client Service Failed the logon - Access Denied" I could not find a workaround for this issue

 

See my first post and the part about gpedit.msc (group policies)

 

Things on the C: will be there for all users but all you need to do is delete the shortcuts or such under the other profile so unless they manually navigate to the program its not like its "not fresh"

If you want "fresh" to the extent that the registry is clean and the programs are not even installed on the computer then your going to need to go that alternate partition route.

Some programs install to a specific user profile rather than all users, so it will place those shortcuts in your user directory and not the all users and also register the keys to that one person account but not all programs have this option.

If you need to restrict access to programs and directories that is when you get into group polices, and folder security settings.

Its a big can of worms and it can be handled in many different ways, it just all depends on what your needs are and how much work your willing to put into it.

If you wanted to be like a small company you can use roaming profiles and an active directory service and administer everything like I do at work but this would be overkill for a home and you need the Pro versions of windows.


I would say based on reading what your trying to do all you need to do is delete any shortcuts in you desktop and start menu and go into msconfig and turn off any programs/processes that are set to start at windows startup.

From there if you need some data protection create 2 main folders and lock them so that they can only be accessed from one account.
If you do need this you can look into simlinks and/or mapping a drive letter to a location to make it more user friendly.