IF THE CREDENTIALS ARE VALID, WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL CREATES AN AC...

3. If the credentials are valid, Windows XP Professional creates an access token for

the user, which is the user’s identification for that local computer. The access

token contains the user’s security settings, which allow the user to gain access to

the appropriate resources on that computer and to perform specific system tasks.

Note In addition to the logon process, any time a user makes a connection to a computer,

that computer authenticates the user and returns an access token. This authentication pro-

cess is invisible to the user.