Admin account vs personal/limited account in win xp

[Mark Dvorkin]

sorry for basic Qs, but I'm a Unix guy and I'm trying quickly to get up
and running under winXP

I was logged onto my (limited) account as userX, when I decided to
download the latest (stable)
version of Netscape 7.2 (NSSetup-Full). I created a special directory
(folder) in my Applications
partition F:\Netscape\NS7.2 and downloaded the executable into it.

When I attempted to install the ns, the OS warned me I don't have the
administrative privilege.
So I switched user, i.e. I logged in as admin, and I see the same
directory structure as if I would
look at it as userX.

my Qs:
1. who is the owner of the directories "Netscape" and "NS7.2" and of the
downloaded executable
NSSetup-Full? (how to look it up in win xp?)
2. is admin kinda superuser, who can do anything in directories of the
userX even look at the contents
of any file?
3. do I need to delete the NSSetup-Full, which I downloaded as userX,
and download it as admin and only after that to run installation as
admin ?

Thanks in advance for your help and consideration,
/mark

 

[Guest]

1. By default, the owning account is the account which created the
folder/file, however any account which is a member of the administrators
group can take ownership of the folder.

2. Pretty much. An admin can't open a file that has been encrypted though
(NTFS only)

3. You don't need to delete the file. Your initial problem is that, by
defualt, Limited Accounts in Windows XP do not have sufficient privileges to
install any applications to the local computer, hence it prompts you for an
administrator's account and password. However, administrator accounts don't
have this restriction, so can quite happily install any application
downloaded by any account on your PC.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Guest]

Oops - misread Q1.

To find out the owner of a file, log on as administrator. Open the
properties of the file and click on the 'Security' tab. Hit the 'Advanced'
button to open the Advanced Security Settings dialog box. Under the 'Owner'
tab it will tell you which account is the current owner, and which accounts
have the ability to take ownership of that file.