I have windows xp home edition and when i log out or switch users it doesnt go to the normal screen, instead it opens a smaller window and it says that the computer is locked and can only be unlocked by an admin. everything works fine but its just kinda annoying how can I unlock or switch it back to normal?

You probably have your different user's screensavers set to turn on after a certain amount of time and to require a password to resume. Uncheck the require password option and this should not happena gain.