Normal XP Operation

Hi,

I have been using Windows XP Pro for some time now which is configured with a single account (administrators) which I log onto daily to do my work. I have been thinking about this recently and wondered if I should use a less priviledged account for day-to-day use and perhaps use the administrators account for admin purposes only.

This would be new to me and I wondered how easy it would be to transform my current setup which has had all of its applications installed by the administrator. Would it be a case of simply adding a new user with less priviledges and everything would work as it does now or would I need to re-think application installation and security settings and perhaps need to re-install various applications or possibly the entire OS?

Can any application that has been installed by an administrator be used by non administrator user accounts? If not how would such an application be used by non administrator users?

What type of account should be set up instead of an administrators account for normal day-to-day use?

Maybe there are some good tutorials on the most secure method to setup an XP box, if so any recommendations would be usefull.

Regards Farmer Jo

 

Create user FarmerJo

In security for Program Files, give the FarmerJo account rights enough to run any items in the folder.

 

Hi,

Are we saying then, that the administrators account would be used to install new software and the FarmerJo account would be used to run that software.

OR

Should the user be able to install some software. For example suppose there is an application that does not need administrators rights to install should that application be installed by the administrator or by the user?

Regards FarmerJo

 

It's often said that using the Admin account is not recommended because if this profile becomes corrupted you can't log in as admin to create another account. This has never really been a concern to me because I have a regular backup, Antivirus and anti spyware routine that keeps me reasonably safe from problems, and if the worst happens it really isn't a life changing problem for me. I refuse to let my Pc's rule my life to that extent.

But if your not as blaze about it as me then create another user (your name?) and give full admin rights, which is what I now do anyway. But you need to be almost obsessive about AV and anti spyware. I don't bother with a fire wall except the (very) basic one provided by MS. But I check for AV updates almost daily and run both the anti spyware progs (in my sig) every few days. AVG 6.0 free edition finds a lot of viri in the bit of spam I receive. But I wouldn't open these email anyway.

If your paranoid then create a general use account with restrictions. But that would be a pain for me, as I'm constantly messing under the hood.

 

Hi,

That's the conclusion I came to also. I did setup a limited account but found there were lots of problems in using this account. Some software would not run, Outlook through up an error every time I switched users and other software was not present at.

Perhaps using a limited account is the right method but it would involve a lot of work to get it to work properly - maybe a reinstall would be necessary in order to see what apps need to be installed by the administrator and what ones can be installed by the limited account.

For now I will log on with admin rights to do my day-to-day work.

Regards FarmerJo

 

Paul,
No disrespect intended, but I wouldn't advise anyone to be online without a firewall, and IMHO, the XP one isn't adequate.

TonyT, Do you really use such a complicated log on password? I sure don't! Mine is 3 letters, 6, if I have company.

But I do run NIS 2003, and if it needs to be disabled, I go offline. In three years, on a cable connection (always online) my firewall has not let me down, and I have cleaned up A LOT of comps that "didn't follow the rules... "

Cheers from sunny Ohio!
Johanna

 

Hi,

I do use Norton Internet Security, AdAware, Window Washer, XPAntiSpy, SmartSynch Pro (for backup), Office XP Pro, Microchip MPLAB, Borland C++ Builder Pro and lots of other development tools.

I did suspect at the time that some things would not run as they should when using a limited account. The reason that I tried it was to make the machine a little bit more secure since a limited account protects operating system files. I did attempt to delete some OS files and I was stopped. This would be a good security measure when connected to the internet etc.

Perhaps there is a recommended method of setting up an XP Pro box for maximum security, given that it is part of a home network. Anyone any suggestions?

Regards FarmerJo

 

Jo ...

The one thing you haven't mentioned is whether you're the only user of your computer, or whether there are others, as well. You did mention a home network, but I have one, also, and I'm the sole user of my system.

I would love to have only a single account on my computer, a la Win9x, but the NT OS family (I've got XP Pro) doesn't work that way, and I've not been able to get the accounts shown in C:\Docs&Settings whittled down to fewer than All Users and JSS (my personal account, which has all administrative rights and privileges). I don't use a password to log in, and the only time I ever see an Administrator account mentioned is when I boot into Safe Mode and have to choose between that and my personal settings.

 

Hi,

Yes I am the sole user of three of the machines. One desktop and two laptops all of which are phyically located no where near each other.

I thought it would be possible to setup each machine so that it could specify what other machines on the network could access its shared resource all with a single login account (administrators).

If not are we saying that we need to create an account on each machine for every other machine on the network that wishes to access its resources. Presumably this would mean that at startup several accounts would need to be logged on to before controlled file sharing would occur?

Regards FarmerJo

 

Well, you did say they were on a network, so I'm assuming a LAN. Also, you didn't say whether they were all running XP, or whether one or more were using different OSs.

My three are: desktop and laptop running XP Pro, and a desktop running 98 SE. The two XP computers are set up identically, and the 98 as much so as possible. No passwords are required on either of the two XP computers, but one IS required on the 98 computer, only because it's part of a network. XP assumes a network.

The two XP computers have no difficulty seeing, and accessing, each other or the 98 computer, but "Use simple file sharing" (on the File Options "View" tab) must be selected on each XP computer for the 98 computer to see, and access, them.

Truthfully, I think you're trying to make the proverbial mountain out of the proverbial molehill, as it's really quite a simple process. Or, am I completely misunderstanding you?

 

Hi,

I have probably missed one or two things out. First all three machines are running XP Pro and they are connected to a LAN. Secondly I do not use simply file sharing because my altimate objective is two isolate two users that share the same network but each have sole loggin to three PC's each. The challenge is to stop one user accessing shres that belong to the other user but not stop access to his shares, if you see what I mean. This I am pretty sure cannot be achieved with simple file sharing. Maybe it cannot be achieved with simple file sharing not enabled.

Regards FarmerJo

 

I guess I DID misunderstand you, FarmerJo, as you said in your previous post that you were the sole user of your computers. In my experience, simple file sharing is necessary only if there's a Win9x computer on the LAN. I've never tried to set up a network such as you describe, so will defer to someone else.

Newt? Are you there?

 

Johanna,
I agree with you regarding using a better fire wall than the default one in XP. But as yet I've never had a problem, and with dialup I am not online continuously. I also power down my PC's when not being used for more than an hour or two, and will continue this practice when I eventually move to ADSL.

Spybot, Ad-aware and updated (daily) AV helps a lot. I'm interested in seeing what the upcoming beefed up firewall in SP2 is like, and may eventually probably install a freeware firewall.

To be honest, I really DON'T WANT to know who is snooping at me from somewhere in the world. I'm trying to keep life a little simpler. If I get stung, I'll reformat or use a ghost backup. I try not to let the complemented world of computing make me paranoid.

Lifes to short to worry about little things. I'm a lucky person, I remember that life wasn't really that different before PC's except a little less complicated. I don't want to loose track of that. There were advantages in the pre pc world. I used to read books and not spend hours (days) PC troubleshooting.

I happy to say tommorrow I'm going to mainland AUS for a few days and won't go near a PC, email, internet, or dare I say, this BBS!
Ah, how refreshing.

 

Paul said:

Well, I did, too. Then I had kids, and wanted to establish some order and control into my world...some semblance of sanity and structure- I needed something that was, unlike children, reasonable!!

So, I took up computers... LOL

Johanna