One user, shall I use the admin account or just a standard account

[chipandegg]

I'm the only one who uses my mac, I have an Admin account which is my main account.

Should I use a Standard account instead as my main account and only use the Admin account when doing major stuff.

What does everybody else do?

 

[fireman13]

i would personally use the admin account. I can't think of why you shouldn't. If it's your computer, you should be the admin. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MacDawg]

I use my Admin Account
But I have a separate Guest account set up just in case someone uses my MBP
No one ever has, and I doubt they ever will... but it is ready just in case

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[sammich]

Admin, only account. Don't see the harm, although someone will eventually say we're idiots for doing this.

 

[bertpalmer]

I don't - it's just that one more security step.

 

[mslide]

I always use admin accounts. I'll only setup standard accounts for others that will be using the computer and don't know what they are doing (like my family).

 

[mathcolo]

Many people have said that even if you're the only person using your computer, you should use a Standard account. It's only really for added security, but it does prevent the installation and configuration of badware.

I, personally, use an Admin account. While the above claim is legitimate, all you have to do is be careful and you'll be just fine.

 

[Mal]

Running as root: bad. Running as admin: normal. OS X is designed to have an administrator user running as the regular setup. Standard users are those who need to be managed or cannot be trusted to install software or change settings, not to provide additional security from malware and the like. That's a function of the permissions system, which actually has little to do with who the active user is, at least in that regard.

jW

 

[Winni]

I'm the only one who uses my mac, I have an Admin account which is my main account.

Should I use a Standard account instead as my main account and only use the Admin account when doing major stuff.

What does everybody else do?

The so-called admin account is not a real admin/super user/root account per se; it's just an account that has the right to request root privileges, equivalent to the 'sudo' Unix command. Before a privileged action is performed, it needs to be confirmed (with the appropriate password) first. That's as annoying as Vista's "Cancel or Allow".

The real root account is disabled in OS X, just as it is disabled in Ubuntu Linux, for example. You cannot login as root. Unless you revive the root account, which is possible but usually unnecessary.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Admin account.

So long as you know what a trojan is and how to protect yourself against them.

 

[ppc750fx]

Admin account.

So long as you know what a trojan is and how to protect yourself against them.

Sorry, but that's pretty bad advice.

You should always run with as few privileges as possible. *nix systems have a strong user permissions model for a reason -- telling people to run with elevated privileges is an excellent way to rid yourself of many of the security benefits that the *nix model provides.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Sorry, but that's pretty bad advice.

You should always run with as few privileges as possible. *nix systems have a strong user permissions model for a reason -- telling people to run with elevated privileges is an excellent way to rid yourself of many of the security benefits that the *nix model provides.

Exactly what I said (perhaps not clearly.)

If you know exactly how your system can be exploited, you'll know how to keep yourself safe, so you can run an admin account safely.

If not, keep to your standard account.

If you don't know if you know enough to safely run an admin account, you probably don't.

At the moment, trojans are the only real threat to OS X that everyday users will come across.

I tried a standard account once, but struggled with it, since I install a lot of UNIX software and use the sudo command daily.

 

[ppc750fx]

Sigh.

Your argument is essentially "running as root is fine -- if you know what you're doing, you won't do any damage". While that's true up to a point, it does remove one of *nix's main safety nets. Since running as an admin user provides little to no benefit to the end user, it seems like a pretty poor trade.

I tried a standard account once, but struggled with it, since I install a lot of UNIX software and use the sudo command daily.

Is there any reason you couldn't just add your standard user to the sudoers file?