Windows 10: How to change user account

Microsoft is more committed than ever to safety with Windows 10 and that's why he strengthened user accounts so that several people can use the same computer safely and without fear of losing their privacy. Thus, and thanks to the exchange of users on the same PC or tablet based on Windows 10 , we can access and close our session without problem so that another user can access their own account in a simple and easy way. For this, there are several methods that we detail below.

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How to change user in Windows 10

There are two main methods to switch users in Windows 10, one from the windows 10 start screen before connecting and another from Windows 10 start menu once we have logged in. In addition, we are adding a third step to explain the differences between logging out before changing users and not logging out.

Switch accounts from the Windows 10 start screen

By default, Windows 10 offers us the possibility to access our session via a welcome screen, which can be disabled in the account settings operating system. On this screen we find the different user accounts added to this computer, located in the lower left corner of the screen. If we click on one of these accounts, it will appear in the center of the screen, where we can enter our password or access the PIN code if we have enabled this option in the account settings.

Switch accounts from the Windows 10 Start menu

If we have already logged in and are using Windows 10 normally, we can also change user accounts quickly and easily. So, if we click on the Windows 10 Start menu icon, we will display a menu where we will find our profile picture , just above the Start / Stop and Settings icon. If we click on our photo, we will display a context menu with the following options:

• Change account settings: very useful if we want to manage our account settings or just change the profile picture.
• Block: the fastest option to block our account so that once we want to access it again, it is necessary to enter our password or PIN code.
• Log out: disconnect us from the current user and take us back to the Windows Start screen, where we can sign in again or another user can sign in.
• Names of other accounts: space separated from the rest where the other user accounts configured on the same computer are displayed.

So, and through this context menu, we have two options to switch between user accounts, but with a small but no less important difference. If we log out, all programs and applications open at this time will be closed . On the other hand, if we only change accounts, we can retrieve our session at the time of the exchange , with all programs and applications open.

Do I have to log out to change my account?

If we follow the steps mentioned above, we will realize that it is not strictly necessary to log out to change user account. And is that if we close the session, it will be as if we turn off the equipment, with which we would lose everything we were doing at that time . So if we plan to come back later, it will only be enough to block the user account.

On the other hand, if we are not going to immediately return to the same computer and another user wants to access the computer, the best thing to do is to close our current session for greater security of our documents and applications and thus avoid possible confidentiality problems.