Person and group column not updated in SharePoint 2010

Question

I am testing SharePoint 2010. I am trying to create a local user (workgroup user or not AD user) in Windows Server 2008 R2 and create a new list. The list would contain a person and group as column, and show their name (with presence).

I read an article somewhere, where I can override user profile or data from a local user that I create. This looks kind like Domain\username (workgroup\john.doe) in the person and group column to display John Doe.

I have done this a couple of times and it changes after about 40 minutes after I have changed a user profile. It just changes without me noticing it, it is not directly changed when I add an item to the list.

Can you explain what is happening?

Answer 1

User fields are really a Lookup to hidden UserInfoList on every site collection. Information on this list is synchronized with User Profile Service using timer job. This job is probably executed every hour. That's why your changes apply after about 40 minutes.