user account

user account: In Active Directory, an object that consists of all the information that defines a domain user, which includes user name, password, and groups in which the user account has membership. User accounts can be stored in either Active Directory or on your local computer.

For computers running Windows XP Professional and member servers running Windows Server 2003, use Local Users and Groups to manage local user accounts. For domain controllers running Windows Server 2003, use Active Directory Users and Computers to manage domain user accounts.