If you have multiple user accounts on your computer you might find it annoying to have to click on the icon for your username each time you start up the computer. To remedy this problem you can remove one of the user accounts, or you can just hide it with a registry hack.
If you aren't the only actual user on the system, then you can't really hide the other user accounts, although you could set one of your accounts up to logon automatically and then use the Switch User function only when necessary.
This tweak is most useful for when you have extra user accounts setup for file sharing or other purposes, or when there are residual accounts you want to get rid of.
f you are a Windows XP user, we've got instructions for you as well.
Manual Registry Hack
Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
You'll want to right-click on the Winlogon key and create a new Key with the following name:
SpecialAccounts
Then you'll want to create another key right below that one with the following name:
UserList
At this point you should be able to click on the UserList key on the left-hand side, and then create a new 32-bit DWORD value.
Give this value the name of the user account that you want to hide, and then repeat for any additional user accounts. 
Important Note: Make sure not to hide your last administrator account using this tweak, or you won't be able to login as administrator anymore.
At this point the user account should be completely hidden from everywhere.
Delete User Account
Instead of using a registry hack to hide the account from the logon screen, you could alternatively just delete the user account. Just browse down in Control Panel to User Accounts, and then click the "Delete the account" link on their account page. 
You'll be asked if you want to keep the files from that user… you should make sure to have a backup in case you need the files. If you are sure, then delete them. 
Alternate Delete Method
If you are using the Business or Ultimate versions of Vista, you can right-click on Computer and choose Manage, and then just find the account and delete it from the Local Users and Groups section.
At this point you should be back to your normal single logon screen. 
Note that if you hide the user account using the registry hack, you won't even be able to use the Switch User function to get to that user account, and those accounts will be hidden from the UAC dialog prompt as well.
Enjoy.....
0 comments