Dell OptiPlex GX50 User Guide - Page 149

What Happens When a Fast User Switch Occurs? When a fast user switch occurs, the original user is not logged off the computer as previously happened on other Microsoft operating systems. On Windows XP, the user's logon remains active, but is replaced by the new user. Users can switch between login IDs as often as they want. However, user applications active during a user switch remain active and running in the background while the new user is working; this can result in a slower computer until the process finishes. For example, if one user is downloading a large file from the Internet and another user logs on to the computer, the file download continues in the background until it is complete. While most applications continue to run in the background during a fast user switch, multimedia applications do not. Because multimedia applications use resources that cannot easily be shared between different users on a single computer, those applications terminate during the user switch, allowing the new user to take full advantage of the multimedia capabilities. Special Considerations With Fast User Switching Considerations when using Fast User Switching include: • Some older Windows games may not operate with a fast user switch. • Multimedia games may shut down on a fast user switch. • DVD software shuts down and requires a restart when the user comes back. • Computers with low memory configurations can experience problems. The computer uses memory to keep the first user's programs running in the background while the second user is logged on. On computers with limited memory, this can cause the entire computer to run slowly. Fast User Switching is off by default on computers with less than 128 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM). Fast User Switching is unavailable if the computer has Windows XP Professional installed and is a member of a computer domain. M i c r o so f t ® W i n d o ws ® XP Fe a tu r e s 147