Many program settings and behaviors can be changed using Preferences.
The Preferences window is accessible via the Preferences button in the Settings section of the Home ribbon.
The Preferences window enables you to work with all preferences in the system. Just choose the desired preference on the left side, and the option(s) for that preference will display on the right side. Some preferences are set with a simple choice, others may have multiple settings.
Preferences are divided into categories representing the area of the application most affected by the setting. Things that do not fit a specific area of the application are found in Miscellaneous preferences. Within each category there are normally one or two types of preferences:
User Preferences - identified by the "user" icon, are specific to a given user name. If you log in as "bob" and set a user preference to "A", someone else can log in as "john" and set the same preference to "B". The system will use the appropriate setting based on whether Bob or John is logged in at the time.
System Preferences - identified by the "computer" icon, are global across the application, and apply to every user. Following the above example, if user "bob" logs in and changes a system preference to "A", and later user "john" logs in and changes the same setting to "B", the setting "B" will be used the next time Bob logs in as well, because John has changed the setting for everyone.
Note: In a multi-user installation, a change to a System preference made by one user may not be noticed by the other users until they log in again. This is because preference settings are stored in memory at Startup, and only refreshed from the database periodically.
If you're the only user on the system, then there isn't really any difference between User and System preferences. You just need to be aware that if you create a new user and start logging in under that ID, it will have its own set of preferences.
Note: your security settings may prevent you from editing system preferences