Administrator name vs. User name in Vista

Hi,

A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
It was a "demo" at Staples.
They said they will restore it to its original state.

But.
While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
shows my correct name (as the administrator)
AND there is no other account except disabled guest.

Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3):
Guest, Public and Staples.
I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
Any advise?

Uzidengineer wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A new Dell Studio 540S, Vista Home premium.
> It was a "demo" at Staples.
> They said they will restore it to its original state.
>

They apparently lied.

> But. While the Administrator (control panel, user accounts)
> shows my correct name (as the administrator)
> AND there is no other account except disabled guest.
>
> Staples shows up, though, in another "key" place - C:\Users.
> Specifically, under users C:\Users I see three (3): Guest, Public and
> Staples.
> I'll like to change the Staples folder name to mine.
> Any advise?
>
>
>


With second-hand computers (among which one would certainly have to
include a store demo unit), especially if acquired from strangers but
perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest
course of action would definitely be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP/Vista, you
can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some read
the registered owner information dynamically, while others read it only
during installation.

However, the user profile folders (C:\Users\Username) _cannot_ be
renamed, without risky registry editing, even if the associated user
account has been. So, if you don't really want to restore the machine
to its original, ex-factory state, your best course of action would be
to log on using the built-in Administrator account, create a new user
account, with the username desired. Once you've logged in using this
new account (and transfered any data you need to preserve, you can then
delete the old user account(s).