Changing an Admin acct into a Standard acct

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Turner
  • Start date Start date
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Steve Turner

I have been working in Vista for the first time for a couple of weeks now.
Initially I set up myself as a Admin and have been using only that account.
However, I've been reading up on security issues in Vista and realize that I
should have set myself up as a Standard user and only invoke the Admin
account when I wanted to.

My question is this: What changes will occur if I first set up an Admin
account and then change the current Admin account (the intiial one) to a
Standard? Will all my documents be preserved? What other issues should I
take into consideration?

Thanks.
 
Steve said:
I have been working in Vista for the first time for a couple of weeks now.
Initially I set up myself as a Admin and have been using only that
account. However, I've been reading up on security issues in Vista and
realize that I should have set myself up as a Standard user and only
invoke the Admin account when I wanted to.

My question is this: What changes will occur if I first set up an Admin
account and then change the current Admin account (the intiial one) to a
Standard? Will all my documents be preserved? What other issues should I
take into consideration?
Click to expand...

1. Create an extra Administrator account. This is important since the
built-in Administrator is disabled by default in Vista. You need never log
into this account except once if you're fortunate.

2. Log into the new extra Administrator account. Go to Control Panel>User
Accounts. Change your personal account to Standard. Your data will not be
affected.

3. Log back into your own account.

Malke
 
Steve Turner said:
I have been working in Vista for the first time for a couple of weeks now.
Initially I set up myself as a Admin and have been using only that account.
However, I've been reading up on security issues in Vista and realize that
I should have set myself up as a Standard user and only invoke the Admin
account when I wanted to.
Click to expand...

While this is true, the developers of Vista realized that many
people with XP were not using this "best practice" scenario.
They have hidden the actual admin (most privilege) account
and replaced it with an admin account with a split token so
that even the admin account user runs with standard user
rights. The advantage of running in the admin account is that
the "admin approval mode" reduces the amount of information
that the user is required to enter in the UAC prompts. The
programs that run without causing a prompt are either pre-
assigned the elevated rights they need, or are run in standard
user environment. The programs that cause a prompt require
only a click.
My question is this: What changes will occur if I first set up an Admin
account and then change the current Admin account (the intiial one) to a
Standard?
Click to expand...

You'll be okay as long as you don't remove the last admin account.
Will all my documents be preserved? What other issues should I take into
consideration?
Click to expand...

None that I am aware of, but wait until others have a chance to
respond. I haven't actually tried this whereas others may have.
 
Gordon said:
I'd already created an Admin account for other reasons before I did
this....
Click to expand...

Sorry, I thought you were the OP losing access to the only admin account
(aside from the hidden one) available. The OS shouldn't allow the last one
to be removed, but stranger things have happened.

Once I realized my error, I tried to cancel that post, but some servers
don't
support cancellations. Frankly, I was surprised that someone would start
with step two. :o/
 
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