Adinistrator Logon ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Willard
  • Start date Start date
W

Willard

Among Documents and Settings folders is one "Administrator" and another
"MyName"..

"MyName" is the folder active after startup..

Is there way to delete "MyName", and instead have the "Administrator"
folder active after startup??
 
Willard said:
Among Documents and Settings folders is one "Administrator" and another
"MyName"..

"MyName" is the folder active after startup..

Is there way to delete "MyName", and instead have the "Administrator"
folder active after startup??
Click to expand...

No. "The Administrator" is just that - a User account with the Username
"Administrator". You can disable it but not delete it. It is bad practice to
use that account on a daily basis.
 
Willard said:
Among Documents and Settings folders is one "Administrator" and another
"MyName"..

"MyName" is the folder active after startup..

Is there way to delete "MyName", and instead have the "Administrator"
folder active after startup??
Click to expand...

If this is Windows XP Home then the answer is No. If it is Windows XP
Professional then you need to log on as Administrator instead of "MyName".
It's possible but not recommended for security reasons.
 
Pegasus said:
If this is Windows XP Home then the answer is No. If it is Windows XP
Professional then you need to log on as Administrator instead of "MyName".
It's possible but not recommended for security reasons.
Click to expand...
Windows XP pro SP3 starts up with no window to select "Administrator"..

How do I change the start up??
 
Gordon said:
No. "The Administrator" is just that - a User account with the Username
"Administrator". You can disable it but not delete it. It is bad practice to
use that account on a daily basis.
Click to expand...
Is it bad practice, if I am the only one that has access to the computer??
 
Willard said:
Windows XP pro SP3 starts up with no window to select "Administrator"..

How do I change the start up??
Click to expand...

What does it display when you start it up?
 
Willard said:
Is it bad practice, if I am the only one that has access to the computer??
Click to expand...
The Administrator account is intended to be used to solve dire emergencies.
The less one uses it, the less it is likely to be hit by a mistake.

Jim
 
Ctrl-Alt-Del shows a window which can be used to login to any account.
Jim
Click to expand...

Correction... pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL twice will bring up the classic
logon prompt where you can then logon as the Administrator.
 
Willard said:
Among Documents and Settings folders is one "Administrator" and another
"MyName"..

"MyName" is the folder active after startup..

Is there way to delete "MyName", and instead have the "Administrator"
folder active after startup??
Click to expand...

You should *never* use the Administrator account except in emergencies. You
should create an alternate admin-level account and use that one for normal
admin tasks, like installing software or editing the registry.

If you always use and only have the Administrator account, how are YOU going
to recover when its profile gets corrupted and you can no log into Windows?
You won't have another admin-level account for recovery.

Logging on under an admin-level account means the programs you run,
including malware, will have full admin privileges on your host. Logging on
under a limited user account (LUA) severely reduces the privileges of
programs executed while logged under a LUA, like downloaded files through
your web browser. There is some software that will force a program (started
by you or as a child process of another program) to run under a LUA token so
you can remain logged under an admin-level account, like Online Armor's Run
Safer feature. You would logon as an admin but still be protected for
Internet-facing programs that run under a LUA token.
 
Willard said:
Is it bad practice, if I am the only one that has access to the computer??
Click to expand...

Yes because if that is the ONLY User account on the machine and it gets
corrupted, and yes User accounts DO get corrupted, then you have NO way into
the machine other than by doing a repair install of Windows...

Plus the fact that the Administrator account has the highest level of
permissions, so you are laying yourself open to all sorts of nasty stuff
being installed without your permission or even knowledge.
 
VanguardLH said:
Willard wrote:



You should *never* use the Administrator account except in emergencies. You
should create an alternate admin-level account and use that one for normal
admin tasks, like installing software or editing the registry.

If you always use and only have the Administrator account, how are YOU going
to recover when its profile gets corrupted and you can no log into Windows?
You won't have another admin-level account for recovery.

Logging on under an admin-level account means the programs you run,
including malware, will have full admin privileges on your host. Logging on
under a limited user account (LUA) severely reduces the privileges of
programs executed while logged under a LUA, like downloaded files through
your web browser. There is some software that will force a program (started
by you or as a child process of another program) to run under a LUA token so
you can remain logged under an admin-level account, like Online Armor's Run
Safer feature. You would logon as an admin but still be protected for
Internet-facing programs that run under a LUA token.
Click to expand...
I never use recover..
If I make a mistake or if something is corrupt, I just clone my latest
backup drive..
 
Willard said:
I never use recover..
If I make a mistake or if something is corrupt, I just clone my latest
backup drive..
Click to expand...

But you STILL shouldn't use the built-in Administrator account. If you do,
it is far easier for nasty unwanted stuff to be installed on your computer.
 
Willard said:
1.) PC type
2.) MS flagship, Windows XP
3.) Welcome
4.) Desktop
Click to expand...

This means that you need to undo the automatic logon process that you
implemented some time in the past. There are several methods to achieve an
automatic logon, e.g.
- By installing and running TweakUI, then ticking/unticking the automatic
logon box
- By running this command:
control usepasswords2
then ticking the box that requires users to enter a password.
There are also registry hacks to do the same. Did you make a note which
method you used when you first configured the automatic logon method?
 
Pegasus said:
This means that you need to undo the automatic logon process that you
implemented some time in the past. There are several methods to achieve an
automatic logon, e.g.
- By installing and running TweakUI, then ticking/unticking the automatic
logon box
- By running this command:
control usepasswords2
then ticking the box that requires users to enter a password.
There are also registry hacks to do the same. Did you make a note which
method you used when you first configured the automatic logon method?
Click to expand...
I ran TweakUI and the autologon box was unticked...
When ticked the results were the same for screens 1.,2.,& 4...
Screen 3. changed to ":Loading Personal Settings"..
When restarted screen 3. went back to "Welcome"..
TweakUI showed the autologon box as unticked????
 
Willard said:
I ran TweakUI and the autologon box was unticked...
When ticked the results were the same for screens 1.,2.,& 4...
Screen 3. changed to ":Loading Personal Settings"..
When restarted screen 3. went back to "Welcome"..
TweakUI showed the autologon box as unticked????
Click to expand...

How about "control userpasswords2"? Do you remember what tool you used to
bypass the logon screen?
 
Willard said:
I never use recover..
If I make a mistake or if something is corrupt, I just clone my latest
backup drive..
Click to expand...

Cloning (or backups) will still be infected if the source from which they
were cloned (or backed up) is infected. A clone or backup of a corrupted
set of registry files will still result in the restoration of that same
corrupted registry. Unless you actually do your clone (or backup) and then
also follow with a full restore (to an alternate partition), you don't know
if that cloned image (or backup) is actually usable. I have all too often
seen someone doing regular backups only to find out later when they need
them for restores that they cannot read the image or backup files. They
perform 1-way backups without checking if they can actually recover using
those backups.

So you're going to spend hours restoring an image due to a corrupted profile
(being the only one that you have) instead of creating a new account in a
couple minutes? I save full and incremental images of partitions on my hard
disks, too. That doesn't preclude the need to leave the Administrator
account alone and use an alternate admin-level account to do normal admin
tasks, or of using the security a LUA (account or token on a process)
affords in preventing infection of your host that would necessitate your
image restore. Yes, you may have a clone of your tire in the trunk but
don't you want to avoid running over the nail that flattened your tire in
the first place? Wouldn't it be handy to just pull out the nail and not
even have to swap out the tire?

So why are you bent on logging under the Administrator account? Why not
create your own account to log under? Whether your personal account is a
limited or administrator account is still your choice. I don't have any
limited accounts on my host and I do image backups, too. However, I create
my own personal account in the Administrators group so I have all the
privileges I need to do whatever I want on my host - but I also force
Internet-facing apps to run under a LUA token to improve security. I'm not
looking to deliberately test my tires by purposely running over nails.
 
Pegasus said:
How about "control userpasswords2"? Do you remember what tool you used to
bypass the logon screen?
Click to expand...
Yes, "control userpasswords2" does show a blank box to be ticked for
"Users must enter a password...."..
I do not want to use a password to logon..
No tool was used to bypass the logon screen....
If I recall correctly, on installation I left the "password" space blank,,
 
Willard said:
Yes, "control userpasswords2" does show a blank box to be ticked for
"Users must enter a password...."..
I do not want to use a password to logon..
No tool was used to bypass the logon screen....
If I recall correctly, on installation I left the "password" space blank,,
Click to expand...

You misunderstand the meaning of this tick box. It does NOT relate in any
way to the type of password, blank or otherwise. It simply means that the
user must enter a password (which could be blank) instead of sailing right
past the logon screen without ever specifying a user name. You MUST tick
this box in order to get a choice of user account. You should then make a
not of this setting for future reference.
 
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