When is a user considered "Everyone" in the "Access this computer from the network" policy

Question

I am a bit puzzled by the existance of the "Everyone" group in this policy.

Per http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd637754.aspx:

The Everyone identity All interactive, network, dial-up, and authenticated users are members of the Everyone group. This special identity group gives wide access to a system resource.

All these constitutient identities, however, are only granted to a user if the user is currently logged on through that method.

Which makes me wonder, if I set Everyone as the only entry in this policy, does it mean only users already logged onto a computer (through other means) will be allowed access via network or does it mean anyone with a valid account will be allowed?

Similarly, if I put "Network" as the only entry, does it mean everyone or no one?

Answer 1

It depends on which version of windows. I am going to assume you are not on XP and\or windows 2003. Everyone means everyone with a valid account has access, including guest. Network does not include people logging in locally to the console.