XP administrator account question

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-13 06:25pm

I heard some people say that doing normal work or internet-surfing with an administrative account is a bad thing.

The question is, how much of a bad thing is it really?

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-10-13 06:45pm

It isn't too dangerous unless you leave your computer and someone gets on there, or someone gains access while you're on the admin account~

For security reasons, most admins create a user account for themselves and run necessary apps as an administrator.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-13 06:52pm

That, and if by chance some sort of autoexecute program gets out your box, it'll run under Admin rather than the normal (restricted) user.

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2003-10-13 11:56pm

I run Windows XP as an admin accross a couple of computers, and I have for a while. I've never had any problems.

If you're worried though, create yourself a user account.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-14 12:50am

phongn wrote:That, and if by chance some sort of autoexecute program gets out your box, it'll run under Admin rather than the normal (restricted) user.

Can a nasty program force itself into admin mode from a user account?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-10-14 04:51am

not unless your both logged on at the same time

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-10-14 04:58am

Shinova wrote:Can a nasty program force itself into admin mode from a user account?

Kill the "Secondary Login" Service to take care of that headake.
BTW running anything as a nonadmin is a pain in the ass.

A shitload of games requires you to be an admin to run for some strange reason.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-10-14 05:04am

Faram wrote:
Shinova wrote:Can a nasty program force itself into admin mode from a user account?
Kill the "Secondary Login" Service to take care of that headake.
BTW running anything as a nonadmin is a pain in the ass.

A shitload of games requires you to be an admin to run for some strange reason.

yes. everything from simcity, to homeworld 2, ANY unreal engine game, most half life mods, the list goes on.

why can't developers stick relevent info in My Documents?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-14 05:10am

Can't you guys just go into the admin account, give yourselves full permission to whatever passes for your games folder?

Note: I keep all my games away in a separate folder, not the Program Files thing.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-10-14 05:49am

Shinova wrote:Can't you guys just go into the admin account, give yourselves full permission to whatever passes for your games folder?

Note: I keep all my games away in a separate folder, not the Program Files thing.

well we could each time we start a game, select "run as..."

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-10-14 05:56am

Shinova wrote:The question is, how much of a bad thing is it really?

If the so called 'Admin' account was as deadly as root, then yes, but there is not that much harm really. Unlike root, there is not that much you can accidentally do to the computer to screw it up, that is the main concern.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2003-10-14 08:22am

I've never had any problems.

If you use common sense stuff like a Firewall, you should be fine.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-14 08:34am

Shinova wrote:Can't you guys just go into the admin account, give yourselves full permission to whatever passes for your games folder?

There might be some registry issues as well; it is not neccessarily limited to ACLs.

Note: I keep all my games away in a separate folder, not the Program Files thing.

Hardly matters.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2003-10-14 07:30pm

phongn wrote:
Shinova wrote:Can't you guys just go into the admin account, give yourselves full permission to whatever passes for your games folder?
There might be some registry issues as well; it is not neccessarily limited to ACLs.

Its ACLs which control who can access the registry, those ACLs are every were!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-14 08:08pm

I meant filesystem ACLs, not individual chunks of the Registry!

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XP administrator account question

XP administrator account question

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