An established relationship between a user and a computer, network or information service. User accounts are assigned a username. Passwords are optional for computers and networks, but mandatory for registrations and subscriptions to online services.
For personal computers, there are typically two types of user accounts: standard and administrator. A standard user is prevented from performing tasks such as installing applications, while administrators have the complete run of the computer. See
UAC,
user profile,
guest account and
Microsoft account.