User, Deleting a
When to Delete a User
Diet Power can set up and handle files for as many as nine users (more if you've bought a special license¾see Diet Power, Other Versions of.) Since only one user's files can be open at any moment, however, the program will run just as fast with nine users as with one. Deleting users offers only two advantages:
1. It frees up space on your hard drive. A typical user accumulates about 200 kilobytes of personal files for each month of use. (The figure can be a lot higher if the user writes voluminous calendar notes.)
2. If nine users are already enrolled, deleting one of them will open a slot for a new user.
Who Can Delete Whom
The first person to register as a user on your copy of Diet Power (by filling out the Personal Information Form) is User No. 1¾the Master User. He or she is the only user who can delete other users' records. The Master User cannot delete her own records, however, except by going outside Diet Power and following a special Windows procedure. (See "To delete the Master User," below.)
What Happens to a Deleted User
All of that user's personal records will be erased from your hard drive. and the user will no longer be able to log onto Diet Power except as a new user. In that case, Diet Power won't remember any of the user's previous records¾with one exception: any foods, recipes, or exercises that the user added to the dictionaries will still be there, since all dictionary entries automatically become the property of all users. (Some dictionary entries can be deleted, but only from within a dictionary window or the Recipe Box. See Food Dictionary, Deleting Foods from; Exercise Dictionary, Deleting Exercises From; and Recipe Box, Deleting Recipes From.)
Once you delete a user, his or her records cannot be restored, except with special tools like the "unerase" functions in DOS or Norton Utilities¾and then only if the records haven't yet been overwritten by some other program.
If you delete all users, Diet Power will be restored to its condition when first installed on your hard drive. That is, the first person to use the program will become User No. 1¾the Master User.
Safer Alternatives
Before deleting a user, you might want to save all of her personal records for possible restoration later. See Travel Disk, Copying Records to or from a.
To delete a user:
1. From the Home Screen, open the User Menu (by clicking the word User) and click "Delete User." (You won't be able to do this unless you're the Master User.) The Delete-a-User dialog will appear, showing a list of all current users except the Master User. (As explained above, the Master User cannot delete himself from within Diet Power.)
2. Highlight the name of the user you want to delete, by clicking it.
3. Click the button labeled "Delete this user!" Diet Power will ask you to confirm your decision before carrying it out. If you're sure, click Yes.
4. When you're finished, click Close. Diet Power will take you back to the Home Screen.
To delete the Master User:
(Note: Since the Master User is the only one who can delete other users from within Diet Power, after you delete him or her, you won't be able to delete other users except by following the same Windows procedure described below.)
1. Save these instructions by clicking the Print button at the top of this window, so you'll have them after closing Diet Power.
2. Close Diet Power in the usual manner, by clicking its X button or double-clicking its Control Menu icon¾or by choosing "Exit" from the User Menu.
3. From your Windows desktop, open My Computer.
4. Double-click the folder in which you installed Diet Power. (Unless you deliberately specified some other name, it will be c:\Program Files\Diet Power 4.0.) This will open a list of Diet Power files and subfolders.
5. Scroll the list, if necessary, until you find the subfolder containing the records of the user you want to delete. Its name will usually be the user's first name followed by the MMDDYY form of the user's birth date. For a user named Carrie born on August 21, 1983, for example, the subfolder would be named \Carrie082183. Do not open the subfolder, however.
6. Highlight the user's subfolder, by clicking it.
7. Press the Delete key. Before carrying out your decision, Windows will ask you to confirm it. If you're certain, click Yes.
8. Close My Computer. You are now free to restart Diet Power.