Windows XP: Do you run a limited account or admin and why?

[Xon]

On my computer everyone else is a limited user. I run as an administrator (because I'm a poweruser as well as a programmer), but with IE, MS Office, IM & mirc forced to run as a limited user account(even if an admin runs them)

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Admin, and so is everyone else; because it's easier to show everyone what not to do than get woken up at 2AM with them wondering why a program they're trying to use won't run...

[DPDarkPrimus]

Of course I run admin on my computer- I'm the only one who uses it.

[Noble Ire]

Hypothetically, how would one determine whether or not their account was an "Admin" or otherwise?

This a purely hipothetical question, of course.

[Arrow]

I'm admin on my machine and on my parents' desktop and laptop. They're limited on their machines, and they don't have an account on mine. All three machines are WinXP Pro SP2.

I limit them because they only have the most basic idea about what they're doing. It would be real easy for them screw something up with admin rights.

I run admin simply because its easier. I never know when I'll need admin rights to install a certain program or change something in the control panels, and I don't want to have to log out and sign in under a different account to make a quick change. And I know more than enough to not screw up my machine. Although a CWS hijacker once took over my system...

[Uraniun235]

Admin because it's convenient. I keep up with security updates, I'm careful about where I get executable files from, and I don't use IE any more - so far I've yet to catch a single virus.

And if I do - ooh, wipe out the system drive and reinstall, what an arduous task, however could I accomplish such a tremendous feat?

I know it's reckless but whatever.

[Ace Pace]

I run as a poweruser/Admin, though I'm intending to merge the two(just need to sit down for three hours and finsh moving files).

[Argosh]

do you use a limited account for most things, only switching to admin when you really have to, or do you simply use the admin account all the time? Please explain why you made your choice, too.

I use the admin account all the time because being careful with it keeps me from doing silly (stupid) stuff I would do if it were a limited account.

[Tranan]

my bro. (faram) is admin on my calulator.

[Bounty]

Admin, because

- it was set up that why when I got this computer, and me being a total kompootar newbie back then stopped me from messing with it
- it's convenient
- I'm the only user anyway
- I've plugged most security holes and am generally quite careful with what executables I run

[Darth Wong]

The problem with Windows is that there are way too many things that you can't do when you're not an Administrator, so most people run as Administrator all the time.

[Xon]

The problem with Windows is that there are way too many things that you can't do when you're not an Administrator, so most people run as Administrator all the time.

I agree.

Also way too many programs assume you will always be an administrator when running it. Copy protection is a nasty one, I sometimes use no-cd patches so games will run under limited user accounts (no one but me gets an admin account on my computer )

[HRogge]

I run at admin... but only because WinXP is my "game partition"... I work/surf with Linux most of the times.

If something seems to be wrong with Windows, I will just wipe the partition and reinstall it.