Patent ID: 8732284

Claim:
A method for switching user sessions, the method comprising: in a first session of a first user, serializing session information of the first session of the first user, wherein the serialized session information includes session settings of the first session and login credentials of the first user in a byte stream separate from a system password file, and the session settings of the first session include a plurality of documents open in a plurality of applications; in a currently displayed session of a second user, receiving a request to switch from the session of the second user to a session of the first user; deserializing the serialized session information; and establishing a second session of the first user based on the deserialized session information, including: authenticating the first user using the login credentials of the first user deserialized from the byte stream and retrieved from the deserialized session information, without requiring the first user to be authenticated using the system password file, configuring the second session using the session settings deserialized from the byte stream, wherein configuring the second session includes the plurality of documents open in the plurality of applications of the first session, and switching out the currently displayed session of the second user to display the second session of the first user, including providing for display the second session of the first user including providing for display the plurality of documents open in the plurality of applications of the first session.