Do I need a password for my user account?

[Gary King]

Right now, I have a Mac with Panther on it. Whenever I install something, I need to enter my user account password again. It gets a bit annoying, especially since I never had to do this on Windows. Do you guys suggest that I should keep this password for added security? Or that I don't need it? Do you guys use it?

My computer is in my bedroom, and my Windows computer is in my other bedroom. I don't really see how the password would help me much - I mean, if someone could physically access my computer, then they could do a lot more damage, anyways.

 

[Applespider]

It's a security feature that prevents software being installed on your system without your knowledge or permission. It's one of the reasons that there aren't the security woes on Mac OS X that there are on Windows.

Yes, I use it. No it's not blank. It follows my usual system of letters/numbers mixed together. I found myself typing it in a lot when I first got my Mac. Now that my applications are more settled, I need it less.

Get used to it. Longhorn will use a very similar system when software is installed.

 

[yellow]

=My computer is in my bedroom, and my Windows computer is in my other bedroom. I don't really see how the password would help me much - I mean, if someone could physically access my computer, then they could do a lot more damage, anyways.

Is it on the internet 24/7? Is it on the internet at all? If so, please, for the love of pancakes, have a Strong Password™. I don't want my boxes hacked from your box because you were too lazy to put in a password. It's 2005, a password is just one of the many important lines of security that you have.