Microsoft → WinXP-Pro:Power User Vs. Administrator-help???

I just got a new Dell Optiplex computer at work with Win XP Pro; it's great but challenging. I'm on a LAN and this is the first PC in the office with XP. The network administrator set me up with passwords for administrator and power user. When I'm an administrator, I can't log into the network. But when I'm a power user, I can't seem to install things or change any settings. It is not a huge deal, but confusing. Is there a short list somewhere of what the Administrator can do that the power user can't? Thanks in advance!!!

There are two things that matter:

1) The rights assignments, listed here (run secpol.msc). The power-user rights are usually a subset of the admin rights.

2) Protections on all system objects, e.g., files, registry keys. Typically, many objects permit 'write' access to admins, maybe not to power users.

quote:

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When I'm an administrator, I can't log into the network

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This would be because you are attempting to log into the network using a local account rather than a domain account. If you log into the machine with the local administrator account, you should be able to give your domain account permissions on the local system. You can then log in with your normal (domain login) account and have the permissions that you set.