Administrator Account Confusion

[satointl]

I heard that staying logged on as the Admin (my account) is bad, because you can get hacked easily. So I decided to make an Administrator account and make mine standard following these steps -

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080127172157404&mode=print

I successfully made one, but I can't check off my account to standard. Any reasons why? And is this just replacing the "root"?

 

[aristobrat]

It looks like those instructions are for 10.5/10.4.11. Are you running one of those versions of OS X?

Why don't you just:
Create account#2 and give it admin rights.
Logoff account#1, logon as account #2.
Remove admin rights from account#1.
Log back on as account#1.

 

[satointl]

yeah 10.5.8

 

[angelwatt]

I heard that staying logged on as the Admin (my account) is bad, because you can get hacked easily...

And is this just replacing the "root"?

"Easily" is an overstatement. There's not a ton out there that attacks Macs and most of the really bad stuff requires a user to give it their user name and password to attack, and that's a requirement of the admin or standard user to enter their credentials. Though, with a standard account, it would not be able to do as much in comparison to an admin account that gave it its credentials.

An admin account is not the same as the root account. Root is something different and not something to worry about.

Common sense is always the best defense because the user is the weakest link in most security setups. Though, added security like not using an admin account for day-to-day activities, certianly helps you keep vigilant.

 

[satointl]

Thanks for the replies guys!

But can you guys help me reverse this crap? I got the Hidden Users list and the SHOWOTHERUSERS out of the way. All I need to know is how to delete this Administrator account I made since it doesnt appear in Accounts in System Preferences.

 

[satointl]

@aristobrat - as stated, i cant check off that. But never mind that. I just want to reverse what i did.

WAIT!!!!!! If I change the User ID and stuff, will it become visible and be able to delete it?

 

[satointl]

I got it