XP 2 Home Edition SP2 Fully Updated
A couple of months ago I took to heart the recommendation that
"administrator account" should not be used for everyday Internet usage. The
reasoning made sense to me, and I immediately began to add a 3rd Admin
Account, and a Limited Account. Could not get the latter two to work in
IE7. Can go into a long list of the problems, but I don't think it's
necessary here.

After reading some comments in today's and yesterday's .
conversation, it would appear I have been safe all along because I have and
use:
Account in my name, which is an administrator acct.
The administrator account provided by Windows, and which can only be
accessed through Safe Mode

Is my logic correct, or do I need more user accounts for
myself?

Thank you..

Hi,

Any administrator should be able to make system-wide changes, so it would be
a good idea to create 2 accounts on your PC:

1. Administrator (You should call it something else) - only to be used for
installing software, and if XP isn't working etc.
2. Limited - to be used for everything that can be done with it.

Unless you have more users, adding any more user accounts won't do any good,
and will just make your system slower and slower every day.



Hope this helps
Harry

"Mary" <MaryNews> wrote in message
news:uVP#JDsFIHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> XP 2 Home Edition SP2 Fully Updated
> A couple of months ago I took to heart the recommendation that
> "administrator account" should not be used for everyday Internet usage.
> The reasoning made sense to me, and I immediately began to add a 3rd Admin
> Account, and a Limited Account. Could not get the latter two to work in
> IE7. Can go into a long list of the problems, but I don't think it's
> necessary here.
>
> After reading some comments in today's and yesterday's .
> conversation, it would appear I have been safe all along because I have
> and use:
> Account in my name, which is an administrator acct.
> The administrator account provided by Windows, and which can only be
> accessed through Safe Mode
>
> Is my logic correct, or do I need more user accounts for
> myself?
>
> Thank you..
>

Harry wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Any administrator should be able to make system-wide changes, so it
> would be a good idea to create 2 accounts on your PC:
>
> 1. Administrator (You should call it something else) - only to be used
> for installing software, and if XP isn't working etc.
> 2. Limited - to be used for everything that can be done with it.
>
> Unless you have more users, adding any more user accounts won't do any
> good, and will just make your system slower and slower every day.

I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. Having more user accounts will not
slow down Windows.

>
> "Mary" <MaryNews> wrote in message
> news:uVP#JDsFIHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> XP 2 Home Edition SP2 Fully Updated
>> A couple of months ago I took to heart the recommendation that
>> "administrator account" should not be used for everyday Internet
>> usage. The reasoning made sense to me, and I immediately began to add
>> a 3rd Admin Account, and a Limited Account. Could not get the latter
>> two to work in IE7. Can go into a long list of the problems, but I
>> don't think it's necessary here.
>>
>> After reading some comments in today's and yesterday's .
>> conversation, it would appear I have been safe all along because I
>> have and use:
>> Account in my name, which is an administrator acct.
>> The administrator account provided by Windows, and which can
>> only be accessed through Safe Mode
>>
>> Is my logic correct, or do I need more user accounts for
>> myself?

Mary - It is best practice to not use an account with administrative
privileges for everyday work. The reasoning behind this is that a
limited user can't install software and is therefore more protected from
"drive-by" malware installation. In reality, it is often difficult to
get things done in XP from a limited user account. This is one of the
few areas in which Vista is better than XP.

"I want to live in Theory. Everything works in Theory."

Another reason that it is suggested not to use the built-in
Administrator account for everyday work (and you can't do this anyway if
you have XP Home since that account is only accessible from Safe Mode)
is that if you only have the one user account and it gets corrupted,
you're out of luck when it comes to fixing things.

So on my clients' machines which are used by only one person, I always
create at least two accounts, one for them and one called "Tech" as an
extra. With the built-in Administrator account, that makes three. They
never have to use the Tech account, but it is there for repairs if
necessary as a backup to the built-in Administrator account.

I don't know why you are having difficulties with IE because I don't
have enough information about your computer's current state. Try running
IE without any add-ons (Tools>Manage Add-ons).

The most important factor in staying safe on the Internet is not how
many user accounts you have; the user needs to practice "Safe Hex".

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971 - So How Did I Get
Infected Anyway?
http://www.getsafeonline.org/
https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/
http://www.getnetwise.org/
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_R...:_Introduction
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron.../05/82584.aspx - MVP
Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - Eric Howes on
Rogue Antispyware Programs


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Malke, thank you for responding. I tried using IE7 with my Limited Account
with add-ons disabled. In the address bar, an url called "run once"
appeared. I ignored it because in the bottom left hand corner was the word
"done" with a yellow triangle over it. I double-clicked on the triangle,
and got a script error screen.

The screen read: Line (blank)
Character (blank)
Altogether 5 lines, but none of them contained any data.
Event View does not contain any information, either.

I will take advantage of the links you sent, but I have my doubts that they
will be of help.

Thanks again for responding
Denver Mary
"Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23oIC1jvFIHA.1324@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Harry wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Any administrator should be able to make system-wide changes, so it would
>> be a good idea to create 2 accounts on your PC:
>>
>> 1. Administrator (You should call it something else) - only to be used
>> for installing software, and if XP isn't working etc.
>> 2. Limited - to be used for everything that can be done with it.
>>
>> Unless you have more users, adding any more user accounts won't do any
>> good, and will just make your system slower and slower every day.
>
> I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. Having more user accounts will not slow
> down Windows.
>
>>
>> "Mary" <MaryNews> wrote in message
>> news:uVP#JDsFIHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> XP 2 Home Edition SP2 Fully Updated
>>> A couple of months ago I took to heart the recommendation that
>>> "administrator account" should not be used for everyday Internet usage.
>>> The reasoning made sense to me, and I immediately began to add a 3rd
>>> Admin Account, and a Limited Account. Could not get the latter two to
>>> work in IE7. Can go into a long list of the problems, but I don't think
>>> it's necessary here.
>>>
>>> After reading some comments in today's and yesterday's .
>>> conversation, it would appear I have been safe all along because I have
>>> and use:
>>> Account in my name, which is an administrator acct.
>>> The administrator account provided by Windows, and which can only
>>> be accessed through Safe Mode
>>>
>>> Is my logic correct, or do I need more user accounts for
>>> myself?
>
> Mary - It is best practice to not use an account with administrative
> privileges for everyday work. The reasoning behind this is that a limited
> user can't install software and is therefore more protected from
> "drive-by" malware installation. In reality, it is often difficult to get
> things done in XP from a limited user account. This is one of the few
> areas in which Vista is better than XP.
>
> "I want to live in Theory. Everything works in Theory."
>
> Another reason that it is suggested not to use the built-in Administrator
> account for everyday work (and you can't do this anyway if you have XP
> Home since that account is only accessible from Safe Mode) is that if you
> only have the one user account and it gets corrupted, you're out of luck
> when it comes to fixing things.
>
> So on my clients' machines which are used by only one person, I always
> create at least two accounts, one for them and one called "Tech" as an
> extra. With the built-in Administrator account, that makes three. They
> never have to use the Tech account, but it is there for repairs if
> necessary as a backup to the built-in Administrator account.
>
> I don't know why you are having difficulties with IE because I don't have
> enough information about your computer's current state. Try running IE
> without any add-ons (Tools>Manage Add-ons).
>
> The most important factor in staying safe on the Internet is not how many
> user accounts you have; the user needs to practice "Safe Hex".
>
> http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971 - So How Did I Get
> Infected Anyway?
> http://www.getsafeonline.org/
> https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/
> http://www.getnetwise.org/
> http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_R...:_Introduction
> http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
> http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
> http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron.../05/82584.aspx - MVP
> Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
> http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - Eric Howes on Rogue
> Antispyware Programs
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Mary wrote:
> Malke, thank you for responding. I tried using IE7 with my Limited Account
> with add-ons disabled. In the address bar, an url called "run once"
> appeared. I ignored it because in the bottom left hand corner was the word
> "done" with a yellow triangle over it. I double-clicked on the triangle,
> and got a script error screen.
>
> The screen read: Line (blank)
> Character (blank)
> Altogether 5 lines, but none of them contained any data.
> Event View does not contain any information, either.
>
> I will take advantage of the links you sent, but I have my doubts that they
> will be of help.

The links I gave you are obviously for staying safe online and not for
fixing Internet Explorer.

Post your question about IE in its newsgroup, with all available details
so the IE experts (of which I am not one) can help you.

microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User