Admimistrator account or Standard user account?

**OldGrantonian** · 07 Feb 2009

I planned to try the frequent advice to do as much work as possible in a "Standard user" account, rather than in the "Administrator" account.

I created a new account, "me_Standard". On opening the account, I found that I could not access any of "my" personal files. That seems fair enough. I should probably have guessed that would happen

So, I deleted the new "me_standard" account. I'm now thinking about the possibility of downgrading my "me_Administrator" account to a Standard account.

But is that going to make any difference?

Here is the description of UAC from "Help and Support":

"User Account Control (UAC) is a feature in Windows that can help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. UAC does this by asking you for permission or an administrator password before performing actions that could potentially affect your computer's operation or that change settings that affect other users."

Currently, as Administrator, I need to click the UAC popups that appear frequently. (I'm not complaining. I know the reason for the UAC.) If I downgrade to a Standard user, I will still need to click the UAC (and probably need to give an Administrator password). Again, I don't mind doing that. But what will I gain in terms of security?

Another frequently-mentioned reason to use a Standard account is that it restricts viruses and malware to the account of the current user.

However, I'm the only user of this laptop, so there are no "other users" to protect.

Any comments?
.

**Freelancer852** · 12 Feb 2009

My best advice is to simply avoid infection and contamination by getting yourself a good Anti-Virus and Firewall. Your common sense should be the first line of defense when it comes to downloading and executing programs on your computer though, Anti-Virus and Firewall protection are to be considered a last line of defense.

I've never heard of using a "Standard" account to improve security coverage, but I can see how it would help. Though I've used administrator accounts forever and never had any problems with viruses or other infections. I personally disabled UAC after a week or two of using it on Vista, it's to obnoxious, intrusive, and completely useless. It's quite a bit better on Windows 7 though, especially since you can set a "drag-bar" to the level of protection you want.

**barman58** · 12 Feb 2009

Hello, Oldgrantonian,

I used to follow this procedure with operating systems before Vista.

That is I had a "Standard" user account which was used for day to day use plus an Administrator account for when I was performing a lot of Admin tasks. This of course related to a large Multi-PC/Multi User system. The Admin account was also set to log off if not used for a very short time, as a further security measure

What this meant for me is that If for any chance I left a session open nobody else could use that account to potentially damage anything. If I needed to perform any task I could Right click and "Run as Administrator"

The other advantage with running as a standard user is that if somehow you are subject to a malware attack the worst It can do is damage files in your "Standard" account.

With the UAC in Vista this process is automated so In my opinion It is not needed to be implemented manually. This is especially true in a single user system such as you use.

What I personally advise is

Use the UAC controlled "Standard/Admin" Account

Create a spare administrator account so to provide a back door in case you are ever "locked" out of your normal account.,

Try to avoid the temptation to Click OK to the UAC without reading why it is prompting you.

Hope this helps

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Admimistrator account or Standard user account?

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