How do I delete an unwanted Administrator?

[Jumbo]

Microsoft Baseline Security says that I have to delete one of two
administrators for security reasons but when I try to follow the
instructions there is no delete facility on either Administrator only change
picture or password.

Guest is disabled.

XP Home +SP2 and all updates.

Please advise.

Jumbo

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Microsoft Baseline Security says that I have to delete one of two
administrators for security reasons but when I try to follow the
instructions there is no delete facility on either Administrator only change
picture or password.

Guest is disabled.

XP Home +SP2 and all updates.

Please advise.

Jumbo

Run this command from a Command Prompt:

net user xxx /del

where xxx is the name of the account you wish to delete.
Note, however, that deleting the second admin account
may create more problems than it solves. Every week you
will find several posts in these newsgroups from people who
are unable to log on to their own PCs because they cannot
recall the main administrator's password or because they
believe that it got corrupted. Having a second admin account
is an easy way to solve such problems.

 

[Jumbo]

Run this command from a Command Prompt:

net user xxx /del

where xxx is the name of the account you wish to delete.
Note, however, that deleting the second admin account
may create more problems than it solves. Every week you
will find several posts in these newsgroups from people who
are unable to log on to their own PCs because they cannot
recall the main administrator's password or because they
believe that it got corrupted. Having a second admin account
is an easy way to solve such problems.

Thank you Pegasus

I'll leave it alone but I do wonder why MS advises this action if it is
going to cause problems.

Jumbo
Silver Surfer

 

[Rock]

Microsoft Baseline Security says that I have to delete one of two
administrators for security reasons but when I try to follow the
instructions there is no delete facility on either Administrator only
change picture or password.

Guest is disabled.

XP Home +SP2 and all updates.

Best not to go down to just one admin level account. Set a strong password
on the built in Administrator account and set that aside to be used if
something damages the working account. Have at least one other account with
admin level privileges, and whatever other number of limited user accounts.
If you can operate on a daily basis in a limited user account that's best,
but unfortunately some software doesn't work in a limited account ( a result
of bad programming practices).

 

[Jumbo]

Best not to go down to just one admin level account. Set a strong
password on the built in Administrator account and set that aside to be
used if something damages the working account. Have at least one other
account with admin level privileges, and whatever other number of limited
user accounts. If you can operate on a daily basis in a limited user
account that's best, but unfortunately some software doesn't work in a
limited account ( a result of bad programming practices).

Thank you Rock I'll do that and stay safe.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thank you Pegasus

I'll leave it alone but I do wonder why MS advises this action if it is
going to cause problems.

Jumbo
Silver Surfer

Microsoft's advice relates to security: The fewer admin accounts
you have, the smaller the risk of getting hacked. I tend to take a
more pragmatic approach: After reading countless posts about
unusable admin passwords, I prefer to have at least two admin
accounts, with strong passwords as Rock recommended.