Administrator Madness

[lordshipmayhem]

First, some computer stuff that I've cut because it'll bore the daylights out of some.

Somebody posted the following on Digital Forums, a Canadian site:

Most computers I set up are only going to be used by one, person, so I like to eliminate the login screen for XP.

Go to START>RUN and type in "control userpasswords2" and uncheck at the top whether users needs to enter a password to use to computer.

Don't do it unless you are starting from scratch. When you do it, there is only one USER for the computer, called Administrator. All Desktop settings, Favourites, My Documents....they all reset themselves. Then you have to go and copy all your old settings. Easy, but sometimes a pain.

Anyways, I find this handy.

Apparently he thinks this is a SWELL idea. I probably would have at one time, but since then I've learned a bit about how *nixes like Linux and Mac OS X handle "administrator" rights. The typical Linux installer program by default creates two users: Root and your ordinary Joe or Jane Sixpack Desktop User. And yes, you can set up your Linux system to automatically log in the ordinary user without prompting for a password (and you can shut this feature off as well...). And when I was learning how to use this newfangled (only 13 years old at the time, compared to Windows XP which was an elderly 3 years old... Microsoft math...) system, Chris pounded into my brain, "Do not log in as ROOT!! Do not surf the net as ROOT!!"

(Yes, I know - nitpickers consider Linux to be "not Unix". It's still *nix because it WORKS like one.)

And now for work today: Not much happening, because the new furniture was being delivered - and it's that "assemble on site" systems furnishings. The entire office is in complete disarray. It was like trying to work in a furniture factory.

Comments

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

"Do not log in as ROOT!! Do not surf the net as ROOT!!"

I can totally see Chris saying this, too...