Changing an Admin acct into a Standard acct

"Steve Turner" <stevezygote.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:465FFC84-377E-47CE-98ED-ED155425755A@microsoft.com...
>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.

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?

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?

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.

Thanks, guys. Needless to say I'm going to back everything up.

"FromTheRafters" <erratic.RemoveThis@ne.rr.com> wrote in message
news:e45PPXTAJHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> "Steve Turner" <stevezygote.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:465FFC84-377E-47CE-98ED-ED155425755A@microsoft.com...
>>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.
>
> 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?
>
> 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?
>
> 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.
>

On Aug 20, 2:49 pm, Malke <ma....DeleteThis@invalid.invalid> wrote:



> Even if you have enabled the built-in Administrator account (not
> recommended),

[snip]

Why is it not recommended?

Paul Montgomery wrote:

> On Aug 20, 2:49 pm, Malke <ma... RemoveThis @invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>
>> Even if you have enabled the built-in Administrator account (not
>> recommended),
>
> [snip]
>
> Why is it not recommended?

For security. OS X and some Linux distros do the same thing.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

"Malke" <malke.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:Oct%23LRTAJHA.5660@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> 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.
>

Hmmm. I just changed the type of my account from Admin to Standard without
having to create another Admin account first....

Gordon wrote:

> "Malke" <malke RemoveThis @invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:Oct%23LRTAJHA.5660@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>
>> 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.
>>
>
> Hmmm. I just changed the type of my account from Admin to Standard without
> having to create another Admin account first....

The reason for having an extra Administrator account is not because of the
account demotion. It is because the built-in Administrator account is
disabled by default in Vista and you may be very glad one day to have an
extra account with administrative privileges in an emergency. Even if you
have enabled the built-in Administrator account (not recommended), I would
always make an extra one.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ