Administrators Account

[Rosie]

Just need clarification - I am the only user of my computer. As
administrator, I have setup a password. Should I now set up a second
account that I can use for just casual surfing etc? (Hope I made myself
clear!)

 

[Jan Hyde (VB MVP)]

"Rosie" <[email protected]>'s wild thoughts were
released on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:46:18 +0100 bearing the
following fruit:

Just need clarification - I am the only user of my computer. As
administrator, I have setup a password. Should I now set up a second
account that I can use for just casual surfing etc? (Hope I made myself
clear!)

Shouldn't be necessary since even as administrator you will
be running programs with normal privileges (unless you've
specifically chosen to run something with admin privileges)

If you do set up a normal account and need to give something
admin privileges you will have to enter your admin password
each time, but as an admin user you will only need to click
accept.

Having said that I guess it is good practice to do what you
suggest.

 

[Malke]

Just need clarification - I am the only user of my computer. As
administrator, I have setup a password. Should I now set up a second
account that I can use for just casual surfing etc? (Hope I made myself
clear!)

Absolutely. One of the main reasons that UAC was created was in order to
make it easier for Windows users to run as Standard users instead of
with administrative privileges. Another thing you should do is create
another user account with administrator privileges and keep it for
emergency use in case your single administrative user account gets
corrupted or you forget the password. This will save you from a
complicated repair process if that happens since the built-in
Administrator account is disabled by default, unlike in previous
NT-based Windows operating systems. The "Administrator" account you
presently have is not the same thing.


Malke