Admin Account
in [Mac Systems]
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From: Paul Sture on 13 Jun 2010 11:21 In article <barmar-7F6243.01590113062010(a)62-183-169-81.bb.dnainternet.fi>, Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: > I use the Admin account to run Software Update. You can run it in a > regular account and type the admin name and password, but it doesn't > remember the software you've told it to ignore. Also, it won't run > automatically and download updates. I also use the admin account for privileged work in Terminal. I use ssh from Terminal in my non-admin account to log into the admin account. This way I can still listen to music that's playing - I don't need to using Fast User Switching for command line stuff. (I have sudo disabled for my normal account, and enabled for my Admin account, which I believe is the way it comes by default). -- Paul Sture
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kir=E1ly?= on 13 Jun 2010 12:29 Roger <roger(a)roger.net> wrote: > > When I want to copy files to my admin account, I copy it first to my > > Public folder, switch to the admin account, and then open my Public > > folder (since this is a pretty common thing, I've put an alias to it in > > admin's Dock). > > Got it, thanks. > Rog Rog, I think you have gone about this the hard way. You appear to have created a non-admin account and are trying to move files to it from your admin account. A far, far easier way is to create a new *admin* account, and then remove admin rights from your previous account. Then you can continue using your original account as a non-admin without having to move anything. You will find that you rarely if ever need to actually log in to the admin account. Nearly all admin and root tasks can be done from a non-admin account simply by entering the admin username and password when prompted. -- K. Lang may your lum reek.
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kir=E1ly?= on 13 Jun 2010 12:35 Davoud <star(a)sky.net> wrote: > asked them to comment on Apple's statement, and the consensus was that > malware would be most likely to come to your computer via an e-mail or > via a malicious web site. They could not say whether running as an > administrator would enable malware to automatically install itself as > it has so often done on Windows, An admin account has unrestricted permissions to /Library and /Applications. Consider a malware that modifies Safari to sniff out your credit card number and send it to a third party when you make an online purchase. If you were running as an admin user this malware could install itself with no authentication prompt. It would have been stopped dead in its tracks had the user been logged in to a non-admin account. When logged in as an admin user, everything you do, every process you run, runs with admin rights, with additional access to System areas. Running one's Mac in such a way is an unnecessary security risk. Some might argue that the additional risk is insignificant, but that's up to each user to decide for themselves. I follow Apple's published security configuration guidelines and use a non-admin account for everyday use. I see no reason to run all the time in an admin account. What's the advantage? -- K. Lang may your lum reek.
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kir=E1ly?= on 13 Jun 2010 12:39 Michael Vilain <vilain(a)nospamcop.net> wrote: > Having two accounts means you're going to constantly hit permissions > problems between the two accounts. Not if the admin account is never used. It has been months since I logged in to mine. > Unless you're debugging a problem, I don't see a use for it (e.g. "I > can't get <x> to work on my account, but it works on a new account."). Having a second account allows one to run as a nonadministrator user, which provides greater security. -- K. Lang may your lum reek.
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kir=E1ly?= on 13 Jun 2010 12:46
Paul Sture <paul.nospam(a)sture.ch> wrote: > I also use the admin account for privileged work in Terminal. I use ssh > from Terminal in my non-admin account to log into the admin account. You don't need to use enable ssh just for that. su works for me. [Macintosh:~] kiraly% su admin Password: [Macintosh:/Users/kiraly] admin% sudo -s Password: [Macintosh:/Users/kiraly] root# -- K. Lang may your lum reek. |