Vista - Running as an Admin with prompts vs Standard?

If I'm the only user of my notebook computer, what are the advantages of
using a standard account if I have UAC enabled in an administrator account?

Or is the standard account really only useful for individuals who need
someone to look over their shoulder, to prevent the users from installing
unauthorized applications?

I was wondering if we had to make a new account to run with UAC whilst
browsing as Defender is reporting Protected Mode off. Defender is still
working but services etc are not fully protected - wish it we could
enable/disable without all the reboot or the need to make another user
account for surfing.

I think a standard user account might be one single users could setup for
general browsing. I haven't created one but this may be an advantage as there
would be more restrictions within IE.




"Grant" wrote:

> If I'm the only user of my notebook computer, what are the advantages of
> using a standard account if I have UAC enabled in an administrator account?
>
> Or is the standard account really only useful for individuals who need
> someone to look over their shoulder, to prevent the users from installing
> unauthorized applications?

If you keep UAC enabled, the only difference between a standard user account
and an administrator account on a home PC is when a program needs
administrator permission.

With an administrator account, a window will pop up asking you for
permission to run. You will click Continue, and that program will be given
the admin permissions that your account allows.

With a standard user account, the window that pops up will ask for the
username and password of an administrator, and then the program will get
whatever admin permissions that admin account allows.

- JB

Vista FAQ
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/