I have recently been asked about Fast User Switching by some of my students. This short article has been written for those who are beginners to Windows XP Professional and want to learn more about Fast User Switching.

What is Fast User Switching?

Fast User Switching is a feature that allows fast switching between different users on the same computer, without actually logging off the previous user and closing any running programs This feature is useful at home when you share the same computer with other family members but it is not normally enabled in a working environment

Where do I enable Fast User Switching?

The first step is to check if fast user switching is enabled to achieve this open the control panel (category view) and select the User Accounts icon

From the User Accounts Window click on User Accounts under “or pick a Control Panel Icon” shown in the following screen shot

The existing user accounts will be displayed to you. In this example there is a user called Karen with administrative rights and a user called Fred with limited access as shown in the following screen shot

Click on the option to “change the way users log on or off” this will display the following screen

Fast User Switching and the Windows Welcome screen are enabled. Options can be disabled by un-checking the relevant boxes

Using Fast User Switching

The following exercise has been written to show how Fast User Switching can be used

1. You should be logged on as the user with your name in this example - Karen.
2. Open some applications, e.g. Notepad, WordPad, Command Prompt, from the Start > All Programs > Accessories menu.
3. Now log on using another user account name, in this example - Fred, by selecting Start > Log off > Switch User. (You can also do this by pressing and holding down the Windows logo key and then the ‘L’ key.)
   
4. You should again see the two user accounts on the screen.
5. Log back on by clicking the icon against Fred’s name. You should be able to log on without providing a password.
6. Open some applications, and then log back on as Karen using Start > Log off > Switch User, and clicking on the icon by your own name. Note that on the Welcome screen, you will see how many applications each user has running.
7. You should now be logged back on as Karen, and you should see the original applications are still open.
8. You can also switch users by pressing CTRL + Alt + Del. This will open the Task Manager application and display the Users tab.
9. Highlight the ‘Active’ user and click Disconnect. (Note that the Logoff option will close all programs and log off the current user, rather than off user ‘switching’.)
10. Click Yes to confirm that you want to disconnect this user. The Welcome screen is now displayed.

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NOTE: if you had clicked Logoff and not Disconnect, the current active user will be logged off and all his/her applications would be closed.

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To those who asked I hope this answers your questions

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