Administrator/Limited User Accounts

[Mary]

XP 2 Home Edition SP2 Fully Updated
A couple of months ago I took to heart the recommendation that
"administrator account" should not be used for everyday Internet usage. The
reasoning made sense to me, and I immediately began to add a 3rd Admin
Account, and a Limited Account. Could not get the latter two to work in
IE7. Can go into a long list of the problems, but I don't think it's
necessary here.

After reading some comments in today's and yesterday's .
conversation, it would appear I have been safe all along because I have and
use:
Account in my name, which is an administrator acct.
The administrator account provided by Windows, and which can only be
accessed through Safe Mode

Is my logic correct, or do I need more user accounts for
myself?

Thank you..

 

[Harry]

Hi,

Any administrator should be able to make system-wide changes, so it would be
a good idea to create 2 accounts on your PC:

1. Administrator (You should call it something else) - only to be used for
installing software, and if XP isn't working etc.
2. Limited - to be used for everything that can be done with it.

Unless you have more users, adding any more user accounts won't do any good,
and will just make your system slower and slower every day.



Hope this helps
Harry

 

[Malke]

Hi,

Any administrator should be able to make system-wide changes, so it
would be a good idea to create 2 accounts on your PC:

1. Administrator (You should call it something else) - only to be used
for installing software, and if XP isn't working etc.
2. Limited - to be used for everything that can be done with it.

Unless you have more users, adding any more user accounts won't do any
good, and will just make your system slower and slower every day.

I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. Having more user accounts will not
slow down Windows.

Mary - It is best practice to not use an account with administrative
privileges for everyday work. The reasoning behind this is that a
limited user can't install software and is therefore more protected from
"drive-by" malware installation. In reality, it is often difficult to
get things done in XP from a limited user account. This is one of the
few areas in which Vista is better than XP.

"I want to live in Theory. Everything works in Theory."

Another reason that it is suggested not to use the built-in
Administrator account for everyday work (and you can't do this anyway if
you have XP Home since that account is only accessible from Safe Mode)
is that if you only have the one user account and it gets corrupted,
you're out of luck when it comes to fixing things.

So on my clients' machines which are used by only one person, I always
create at least two accounts, one for them and one called "Tech" as an
extra. With the built-in Administrator account, that makes three. They
never have to use the Tech account, but it is there for repairs if
necessary as a backup to the built-in Administrator account.

I don't know why you are having difficulties with IE because I don't
have enough information about your computer's current state. Try running
IE without any add-ons (Tools>Manage Add-ons).

The most important factor in staying safe on the Internet is not how
many user accounts you have; the user needs to practice "Safe Hex".

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971 - So How Did I Get
Infected Anyway?
http://www.getsafeonline.org/
https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/
http://www.getnetwise.org/
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron/archive/2006/02/05/82584.aspx - MVP
Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - Eric Howes on
Rogue Antispyware Programs


Malke

 

[Mary]

Malke, thank you for responding. I tried using IE7 with my Limited Account
with add-ons disabled. In the address bar, an url called "run once"
appeared. I ignored it because in the bottom left hand corner was the word
"done" with a yellow triangle over it. I double-clicked on the triangle,
and got a script error screen.

The screen read: Line (blank)
Character (blank)
Altogether 5 lines, but none of them contained any data.
Event View does not contain any information, either.

I will take advantage of the links you sent, but I have my doubts that they
will be of help.

Thanks again for responding
Denver Mary

 

[Malke]

Malke, thank you for responding. I tried using IE7 with my Limited Account
with add-ons disabled. In the address bar, an url called "run once"
appeared. I ignored it because in the bottom left hand corner was the word
"done" with a yellow triangle over it. I double-clicked on the triangle,
and got a script error screen.

The screen read: Line (blank)
Character (blank)
Altogether 5 lines, but none of them contained any data.
Event View does not contain any information, either.

I will take advantage of the links you sent, but I have my doubts that they
will be of help.

The links I gave you are obviously for staying safe online and not for
fixing Internet Explorer.

Post your question about IE in its newsgroup, with all available details
so the IE experts (of which I am not one) can help you.

microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general


Malke

 

[huangsy]

I'm the only user of my home PC running on WinXP (SP2 pack), IE7, Sygate
firewall.
As precaution, I have 1 Admin and 1 Limited User accounts.
Have been able to regularly watch streamed video from this site
http://news.kbs.co.kr/asx/news_play...jAuYXNm&url2=LzIwMDcvMTIvMDIvMzAway8yMC5hc2Y=

Then several days ago, I no longer could. An error msg would pop up and the
page would close itself or hang and I have to go to Task Manager to close the
unresponding webpage.

However, only if I am logged into my Admin a/c, I can still watch video on
that same webpage.

I'm unable to troubleshoot what's wrong. Could it be Active-X that requires
installation everytime I visit that webpage and can be installed only on
Admin a/c ?

I dont recall doing anything other than allow Realplayer as apps in Sygate
Firewall.

Managed Add-Ons in my Admin a/c has a shorter list and yet I can view the
streamed video while my Limited User a/c has a longer list of Add-Ons but yet
I can view the video.

I even upgraded my Limited User a/c to Admin, then visited the same webpage,
in hope whatever active-x or add-ons would install. They seemed to have bec I
could view the video.

BUT the moment I reverted from Admin to Limited User for that same user
name, the problem is back.

Help pls !

Thx.