gawguy Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 For computer security, it is advised not to work as Administrator in XP. Lately I have been using Switch User to go from my Admin account to my non-Admin account. I'm not sure that doing it that way protects the system from malware. I didn't find a good answer online. However, I need to go back and forth between accounts for various reasons. Does anyone know for sure? Thanks, Gaw Guy "When Fast User Switching functionality is turned on in Microsoft Windows XP, and you click Log Off on the Start menu, you have the option to click a Log Off button or a Switch User button. If you click the Log Off button, you will quit all running programs and disconnect all network connections for the current session, and the session will not remain active. If you click the Switch User button, all active programs and network connections will continue to run (the session remains active), and you will return to the Welcome screen, where other users can log on. The user's session will remain active until the computer is restarted or the user is logged off of the session." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 As far as I understand it, it is safer to surf with a non-admin account. If you got some nasty malware on there from a drive-by download that you couldn't remove, you could just delete the account, which you couldn't do as Admin. Having said that, I surf as Admin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 As far as I understand it, it is safer to surf with a non-admin account. If you got some nasty malware on there from a drive-by download that you couldn't remove, you could just delete the account, which you couldn't do as Admin.Having said that, I surf as Admin. It is more secure, but not 100%. Some malware can hijack your browser nevertheless, but keyloggers, trojans e.g. can't enter your system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 You should only need to be Admin when installing software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gawguy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 As far as I understand it, it is safer to surf with a non-admin account. If you got some nasty malware on there from a drive-by download that you couldn't remove, you could just delete the account, which you couldn't do as Admin.Having said that, I surf as Admin. The responses that you guys have given me, may not speak to exactly what I was talking about. It's more technical I think. I do surf as non-administrator. However, at the same time I keep my admin active - not logged out, just switched away from. Is working like this the same as completely logging out admin before working as non-admin? Will malware still exploit the admin privileges? I go back a forth a little to access encrypted items that won't show up in the non-admin account. You must be admin to run those programs. Switching users back and forth is very fast. Logging out admin is very slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 It is the privileges of the user surfing the internet that is key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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