The profile file name must use the file extension .man. Therefore the Ntuser.dat becomes Ntuser.man. Mandatory profiles can be used for an individual user or for a group of users. Administrators generally use mandatory profiles to reduce the amount of system maintenance by ensuring a good desktop configuration. They are also useful in limiting user access and functionality.
Profiles consist of two primary parts.
The first part, kept in the Ntuser.dat file, is the copy of the user's registry settings. Sets of the folders are kept under the profile name. See Figure 3 . Typically these programs are listed in the lower, common section of the Start, Programs pop-up menu. The All Users profile items are added to the actual profile used.