setting up 2nd user

Technical Support Forum

I want to set up a second user on XP so my games dont lag. How do I do it?

In the Control Panel, "User's" or "user accounts," I think it's called. You can add another user there.

But I don't think it will stop your games from lagging not sure

if you do set up a second account strictly for gaming, you might want to check out this page: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

it can give you some help on turning off a lot of the uneeded background services.

after you do all this you can do a quick "ctrl+alt+del" to end most of the processes beside your user name. but leave the ones logged in under "system" alone. you can even end the "explorer" process if you want. if you do end the "explorer" process then after playing just "ctrl+alt+del" again, go up to "file" "new task" and type "explorer" and you're golden. if you do end your explorer.exe process, before you do, place a shortcut to whatever game you want to play into the "c:\windows\system32" directory and name it something easy to remember. after you end the "explorer" process your start bar will disappear so all you'll have is the "ctrl+alt+del" task manager window. from there you can go up to "file" "new task" and type in the easy to remember game shortcut name and viola your game will begin.

there used to be an older app called gameOS for win98 that would do all of this for you but there's not a winXP version. i'm sure there's other apps for winXP that do basically the same thing. maybe if Ron comes in here he can point out one, he's the local app Guru.

Wont all that stuff come back when I restart?

the services may or may not depending on whether or not you disable them or have them set on manual or automatic.

all the processes under "ctrl+alt+del" will return upon a reboot unless you make changes to "msconfig" (start, run, type "msconfig" and hit ENTER) under the "startup" tab. creating a second user will probably have minimal startup processes under the user name, though. i just threw that stuff in for good measure depending on how much effort you wanted to put into it.

What I want to end up with is a second user with only the things I need to play 1 player games. Im a bit afraid to start shutting down programs because I dont want to affect the other user profile

you are correct. the services are global and not a per user setting. all my computers are single user account machines and i forgot about that. sorry.

the simplest thing would be to leave the services alone and just shut things down (including "explorer.exe") from the "ctrl-alt-del" task manager. anything you shut down in here will return upon reboot (or logoff/logon). the good thing about creating a second user is that there won't be much else but "explorer.exe" to shut down. with the exception of any anti-virus software you may be running. i would just try this first and see if it helps.

if it doesn't then the next question i would ask you about would be what kind of machine you have (processor, ram, and video card) and a specific game you have noticed lag with.

there was lots to shut off, I couldnt shut off ''explorer exe'' and still start up my game though

mr. f: check out paragraph #3 in post #3 up above.

I dont know how to put my game in the directory

Just shutting down the other programs is helping a lot, not perfect but way better

OK , I can shut off everything except the ''system '' programs. Is there a way to only run the stuff I need to play without reconfiguring the other user settings

ps its XP pro, if it makes a difference

You cannot shut off system programs. You can force some of them to quit, but it will cause problems.

Anyway, I don't understand how would you affect other profiles while you are running your programs. Is your computer a server to which other people are logged in remotely?

normally i would just leave the "system" programs alone. if you "end task" on certain ones, it will lead to your system giving you a "please close all open programs, windows will shut down in x seconds." or something like that. most of the "system" processes can be controlled through the "services" console. if you have admin tools enabled they will be in the start menu somewhere. either on the main start menu on the right hand side, or a sub-menu of the "all programs". if they aren't there then you can go to "my computer" and right click and select "manage". then go to services (check the attachment. "services" is selected with a gray highlight.) that black viper link i posted up in post #3 is an excellent reference for the services and what they do and if you should or shouldn't turn a specific service off. don't just go in there turning them off. there are some that just waste resources, others are only needed periodically, and others are mandatory. if you decide services management isn't for you then that's probably for the better. if you go through viper's site and are interested in changing some of your settings then that's good too. you are one step closer to computer independence. most of viper's suggestions are pretty straight forward, but i'm always here to help.