Use an Administrator Standard account

[chipandegg]

Hi

I'm just wondering, I am sole user of the Mac usually and use an admin account.

Though I've read in a few places that you should set up a standard account and use that for day to day activities.

What does everybody else do?

Thanks

 

[robbieduncan]

I have a standard account for day-to-day and a separate admin account.

 

[pit29]

I use an admin account as well - I'm the only user, and that's the only account. But I am curious as well - what is the advantage of seperating them?

 

[robbieduncan]

I use an admin account as well - I'm the only user, and that's the only account. But I am curious as well - what is the advantage of seperating them?

(Apparent) security. Even if something nasty managed to take over your account it is limited in what it can do as it's not admin

 

[pit29]

I kind of figured that it was security. But can you give any example? If I want to do something to the system, even when I am logged in in my admin account, I need to enter the password.

What is the nastiest thing someone could do in an admin account without having to enter the password that that person could not do in a standard account?

 

[angelwatt]

I kind of figured that it was security. But can you give any example? If I want to do something to the system, even when I am logged in in my admin account, I need to enter the password.

What is the nastiest thing someone could do in an admin account without having to enter the password that that person could not do in a standard account?

It's not so much about the examples you can think of, but the ones you can't come up with. I use standard account for my daily things and never need to log into my admin account ever unless I just want to test something. Some companies (like mine) require you to use a standard account and only access the admin one when necessary. It's mostly a just-in-case thing, but it does offer some extra security since admin accounts can do more with or without entering a password, and some people use admin accounts with no password.

 

[MarcusH]

I'd like to have separate accounts, but I use a piece of music software that creates difficulties unless the user has full admin rights. Guess I should complain.

 

[roadbloc]

I am the only user, so i guess i am on an admin account.

 

[maflynn]

I'm using the admin account. Now that my girls are getting old enough to use the computer, I'll be setting up some standard accounts but I'll remain the admin user and not set up a standard account for myself.