should log in as administrator or create a user?

A

autumnheart

Guest
i'm the only user to my laptop running with XP Pro.
should i login as administrator or should i create a user and login as that?
which is better and what are the benefits?
will logging in a user prevent me from a lot of applications?

also, if i continue to use "administrator", can i remove the password?
it's kind of troublesome :p
i tried going to control panel >user account, then i press ctrl-alt-del to change password.
i type in my old password and leave the field for new password blank, but it doesn't accept.
what should i do?
(i've checked the help file, but the task button (at bottom left corner of window) mentioned in the help file does not appear on my screen.
 
if your the only user it really won't matter, just use the microsoft powertoys Tweak UI to auto login and you should be good to go
 
no offence, but only do that if you are mad.

i've had a run in with xp corrupting the user profiles.

so even though i'm the only user, i have a total of 3 accounts.

one guest, one using account, and the backup admin account should anything happen or in case i break something.
 
i'd think it all depends on how competent you are with your computer. if you have a lot of knowledge about your system and programs, then go ahead and log as administrator. if you're a beginning user to computers or xp, set up another user that way you wont mess up your system settings altogether.
 
I created an account called matt and disabled administrator.

I agree some what with dijital, he/she made a valid point. However, a newbie can mess up a system without being logged in as admin. =)
 
MY user has been corrupted before, fortunatly it still lets you klogin, but you lose any customisations that you might have made. Does give you teh opportunity to retrieve your data, tho I didi have to create a new user profile.
 
You can log on as an administrator?...I can't do it, at least unless dirk finds a miricle
 
thanks for all your replies.

i'm not so technical competant, so in case i do something very wrong to my laptop, i guess i better add a user to my laptop and use it to login.

please help and see if this is correct:-
1. set up new user e.g. "autumnheart"
2. add it to "user account" in control panel
3. use the tweak to change the default user to "autumnheart" and also put in the default password (so that it's auto login"
4. reconfigure my settings e.g. desktop, placement of icons etc

can i install software when i'm login as autumnheart?
or must i login as admin?

sorry for so many questions, cos none of my friends are using xp...
:p
 
as far as installing as a user........

you will generally run into 1 of 3 situations.

1... The app will install jsut fine

2... You may be prompted as to whether an app is for 1 user or all users

3... You may not be allowed to install as a user.

Which event happens is dependent on the software you are installing and the permissions you have set for yourself
 
I have been pondering the same question,ever since i installed XP at the start of the year.
I did start off opening a new user account to use but found it a pain whenever i had to change anything on my computer.So now i use only the admin one and i really dont see what the fuss is all about,i am the only one who has access to my computer,so i cant think why you shouldn`t use admin only,anyone know different i would love to hear why.
 
I am the only user on my XP and I created a user, with full admin rights- when I installed it. NEVER had a problem. NEVER had to log in as administartor (although I have just to see any differenes- none)

Oh on XP Home you can only login as admin in safemode (if you have another user). I have tried all know tweaks and settings, and it just doesn't work
 
I did the same as Khayman: I created a user, with full admin rights, when I installed XP. And I also never had a problem, and have never had to use the administrator mode directly!!

Btw, I think the Home edition stinks, just had to say that, couldn't help myself.

Regards

Kvag Raddamoss
 
@madmatt,

i'm a guy :D

@autumnheart,

it all depends upon the type of software you want to install. some are specific as you need to have admin access to install them. if you need to have the admin access, just make sure you have system restore enabled. that way if incur an error, you can just restore the system to a previously working state.
 
Originally posted by autumnheart

please help and see if this is correct:-
1. set up new user e.g. "autumnheart"
2. add it to "user account" in control panel
3. use the tweak to change the default user to "autumnheart" and also put in the default password (so that it's auto login"
4. reconfigure my settings e.g. desktop, placement of icons etc

can i install software when i'm login as autumnheart?
or must i login as admin?

If you are the only user when you setup your autumnheart account leave the password blank and then you will not have to logon when you boot up.

You should not have any problems installing software from your user account as long as your user account is in the administrator group (this is the default when you setup a user account). The only thing that I have had to install outside of my user account were some drivers that had to be installed from safe mode. Once you have your user account setup you will probably never have to login to the Administrator account unless you want to create another user account.
 

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