Vista - Creating user accounts...

Hello,

I've read a lot about not logging into your computer as the
administrator so was wondering what I should do when I install Vista??

When you install I assume it asks you to create a user account. Is
this account an administrator?
If so, are you then meant to create a new, no administrator account
and log in as that?
If not, are you meant to create a new, administrator account to use
for installing??

Thanks

Gareth

The easy thing to do is create on administrative user account. Then create
one standard account for each user. Everyone uses their standard account for
day-to-day computer. There's rarely any need to log into the administrative
account because you can just elevate your privileges temporarily on an
as-needed basic. Though it might get old when you're first configuring the
system, because a lot of system-level things need admin privileges. (They're
marked with a shield in Control Panel pages). But once all the basic
configuration is done, everyone (including administrators) can use standard
accounts for everyday stuff.



You can name that first account Admin or something (but not Administrator).
Then create standard accounts with peoples' first names. If you already
created an administrative account with your first name, you can create
another administrative account names Admin or whatever. Then log into that
account and change your day-to-day account to a standard account.



A lot of people in here will tell you it doesn't matter and UAC is just a
big pain in the butt. But if you go into any high-security setting you'll
see that's exactly how people do things. It's a well known security best
practice in the pro leagues.





"gareth" <garethrichardadams@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1172754942.491776.218990@30g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Hello,
>
> I've read a lot about not logging into your computer as the
> administrator so was wondering what I should do when I install Vista??
>
> When you install I assume it asks you to create a user account. Is
> this account an administrator?
> If so, are you then meant to create a new, no administrator account
> and log in as that?
> If not, are you meant to create a new, administrator account to use
> for installing??
>
> Thanks
>
> Gareth
>

"gareth" <garethrichardadams@gmail.com>'s wild thoughts were
released on 1 Mar 2007 05:15:42 -0800 bearing the following
fruit:

>Hello,
>
>I've read a lot about not logging into your computer as the
>administrator so was wondering what I should do when I install Vista??
>
>When you install I assume it asks you to create a user account. Is
>this account an administrator?
>If so, are you then meant to create a new, no administrator account
>and log in as that?
>If not, are you meant to create a new, administrator account to use
>for installing??

Even if your an admin user, programs you run will be run
with 'normal' privelages.

If something needs admin privelage then you will be prompted
and you will have to give permission for it to proceed.

Thus it's a lot safer running under admin than it used to
be.

That said it's still wise to create normal accounts for
users since a normal account will be unable to give
permission to things unless they know the admin password.

If you are the only one using the PC then I would stick to
the one admin account. If you let other people use your
computer, create normal accounts for them to use.

Geta, Jan,

thanks for the replies, both very helpful!! I know what to do now!

Gareth

"gareth" <garethrichardadams@gmail.com> wrote
> Hello,
>
> I've read a lot about not logging into your computer as the
> administrator so was wondering what I should do when I install Vista??
>
> When you install I assume it asks you to create a user account. Is
> this account an administrator?
> If so, are you then meant to create a new, no administrator account
> and log in as that?
> If not, are you meant to create a new, administrator account to use
> for installing??

When Vista is installed it will have you name one account, which is an admin
level account. If you have other users on the computer, create a standard
user account for each one.

Even when running in the admin level account, you are still running as a
standard user. Doing something that requires elevated privileges will
trigger a UAC (User Access Control) prompt where you have to give consent.

From a standard user account UAC requires the user to enter the credentials
for an admin level account (username and password) to authorize the action.

Here are some links on User Access Control.

http://www.jimmah.com/vista/security/uac.aspx

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]