when you first install windows it asks you to give a name. windows then uses it to set up your personal directories under that name, "ie, pictures, downloads," etc.

Is it possible to rename it without reinstalling windows? TIA

To rename a user account

Bill, that doesn't change the name under Documents and Settings though. I don't think there is any way to do that. All you can do is create a new account with the name you want then copy everything from the old to the new account.

Good instructions for doing this here: Fix a corrupted user profile. This works even though the user profile is not corrupted.

Hmmm, good point. Maybe this will help: FixYa.com - How to rename or move a User Profile folder

That looks very doable Bill. Never seen it before. May have to play with a bit under my VirtualBox XP client, see what happens.

Yeah, I've never done it either. I usually just create a new user and delete the old.