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OK, fine; I'm diggin' it...W2K is obviously twice the OS that Win98 is...but there's gonna be growing pains...

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Well, after much convincing (on your part), arguing (on my part) and hemming and hawing (everybody) I've finally got W2K up and running.

These are definitely beginners' comments, but this is OT, so bite me. 😉

1. After spending 3 hours setting up my computer (I forgot that I was on the Admin account) the way I wanted it, I remembered that it was bad to always use the Admin account, so I set up a User account.

2. So, when the user account boots up...I have to start from scratch! Sonofab*tch!! :| No email. No IE. No games. No nothing. So, I spent about another hour doing that.

3. I'm a "Folder kinda guy". I like my folders. I had tons of 'em in Win98. Problem is that about 2/3 of all the folders that I was familiar w/are now gone or are merged and renamed to something else. I installed this, that and the other thing...into, um...I think it's here...where? You get the idea. I may just wipe and reinstall...and count this installation as my "freebie trial run." or words to that effect.

Any words of advice, admonishment, punishment, encouragement or maybe an Attaboy? I do so love this place! Life before AT....<sees Cromagnon Man dragging club in one hand and hunk of dinosaur meat in the other thru Primeval forest-bog>
 
I use the Admin account only.

There are a few extra services that run as admin, but with an 1100Mhz CPU and 512MB of RAM (nice rig name btw 😉) it shouldn't make a noticeable difference, it certinaly doesn't on my 1Ghz Duron w/ 512MB. If you are that anal about it you can turn them off. In Linux/Unix I never use root (the equiv of Admin) one the install is done but I always use Admin in Win2k.
 
Konichiwa,

I have read (remember, I am KingNewbie of W2K) that if you use the Admin account for day-to-day stuff, you leave yourself open to either security risks, or screwing something up yourself.

I am behind a hardware firewall. Nothing is foolproof, but I've done very well on all the DSL reports scans, etc. Is it a waste of time to use my &quot;Poweruser&quot; account as opposed to just using the Admin every time? I'll be lucky if I remember my Admin pword if I don't use it for more than a few weeks. 😱
 


<< I have read (remember, I am KingNewbie of W2K) that if you use the Admin account for day-to-day stuff, you leave yourself open to either security risks, or screwing something up yourself. >>

Less risk that running Win98 as any user at all.

As for screwing something up are you the kind of person that needs C:\Windows directory hiding?
You may be a Win2k newbie, but I hope you don't need it hiding C:\Windows from you (or C:\WinNT in Win2k's case).

 
Some programs also require admin access. RadeonTweaker is one of them off the top of my head. I wouldn't really be worried about security. I have never had a firewall and have always ran admin account and have never had a problem. I also came up quite well on DSLreports scan. I had one port open that was vulnerable but in the end it was a good rating.

About the services. You can find a services tweak guide to get rid of all unneeded ones. As a quick check, I loaded up admin and checked the mem usage and processes running with nothing else up and then did a power user and they were the exact same. I didn't write everything down but a quick look showed them the same. Perhaps I missed one or two things that maybe amounted to a meg or two. 🙂

edit: Ok scratch the services part but I don't think you'd be more likely to screw something up. Unless you go around deleting random registry keys but win98se never prevented you from doing that either.

And agree on the d/l speeds. Mine have been MUCH faster with win2k. Peaked at 250k/sec+ a couple times in the past week or so. Maybe my isp is getting good. But without that, since I switched to win2k many more of my downloads are 100k/sec+.
 
Well you can screw things up as Power User as well. Just don't fsck with OS settings unless you know what they do. Or do fsck with them, it's not like the world depends on your OS. Go fscking with them all you want, it will give you a very good idea of what they do. Honestly. And it will also give you an idea of how to properly backup and/or restore your system (whether it be from a backup or a reformat/reinstall)

Just go for Admin.
 
the point of not using admin is that YOU don't screw up your own system by installing or messing with settings that're global.. being a user doesn't mean that less services load up..the definition of a service is that it loads up regardless of whether or not there is a user logged into the machine...
 
There are no account settings in Win98, so its like your admin. Did you screw things up then? It's no diff in Win2K.




This have been my first and last act of public service for this evening. Good night. 🙂
 
Noriaki,

My bud, once again you pull from the pit of confusion! I understand what you are saying. The Admin account is the &quot;change everything and do whatever you want to, along with the consequences&quot; account and everything else is the &quot;the admin thinks you're gonna screw something up so you have no privelages&quot; accounts. Close enough?

Bah, I've already created my nifty Poweruser account (&quot;poweruser&quot;...what's that supposed to imply anyway? That I live in California? 😉) I may just reformat and reinstall. BTW, your detailed instructions on how and when to load the SCSI drivers when installing W2K were 100% on the money. Thanks. It took a lot of stress and worry off my shoulders.

Wanna hear something interesting? (Of course you do!) My DL speeds are faster, by quite a bit. I dunno if it's just SWB running well tonight, but DSL reports has me faster by about 15k/sec. A noticeable diff. And when I check my email, it goes thru the whole &quot;Checking/Sending/Delivering email&quot; script-thing in about an eyeblink. Coolness.
 
poweruser....you are a user, with power! Windows hereby states that you, as a user, have power to do various things, and Bill Gates shall not try to usurp this power or make any more territorial demands in Europe.

 


<< Some programs also require admin access. RadeonTweaker is one of them off the top of my head. >>


That bug was corrected in a recent ver. of RadeonTweaker. 🙂

I myself logon as an administrator-level user with no probs, no noticable slow-downs in anything, and always tweak without fear. Never have I paid for this. 😉

I do backup system, and software every so often tho, just in case.
 
um.. if its your computer your'e the admin..

i suggest that you RENAME the admin account.. simple as that.
 
i've actually never heard that using administrator frequently can be harmful to your health. however i have heard that frequently using root on a unix machine can be dangerous, maybe that was what you were thinking of? i think that's so that if anybody hacks in, they won't be able to get root access. i user administrator only because i don't want to have to logout and log back in as a different user if i want to make a change.

edit: i don't think you have to worry about using admin if you have a good firewall set up. get zonealarm (and possibly a router with NAT) and you're set. and a good antivirus i guess.
 
Logging in with administrator access is bad for some of the same reasons why logging in as root all the time on a *nix box is bad. You have full access to everything, and you can therefore screw everything up potentially.

In a single user environment, it really doesn't matter though. I use root access on my linux partition all the time, and my Win2k account I normaly log into with is an administrator.
 
I log in as PowerUser and use the &quot;run as&quot; command when I need admin priveleges from that account...
 
Just use the admin account. I've always used it and have encountered no problems. Sure you can screw a few more things up, just don't go messing around and you should be fine.

dm
 
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