Windows 7 UAC Admin vs. Limited User

[Phoenix VII]

I'll be going from XP to Windows 7 soon for my home computer and the question I have is that is there a security advantage to having a password protected admin account and mainly using a limited user account as opposed to mainly using a non-password protected admin account when I'm the only one who ever uses the computer and will use UAC in either case?

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Definitely! I would use a standard account most of the time because if you run in an admin account a lot, you have a Much higher chance of malware/viruses hitting you.

 

[ViRGE]

In theory yes, there's a difference. Ideally it would get you used to the idea of using a different account for admin actions, which on a social engineering level is safer than using the same account.

However in practice there is no difference. With UAC an admin account is no more vulnerable than a standard user account so long as you aren't approving admin access for shady applications. Basically, do you trust yourself not to be an idiot, and would you be less of an idiot if you had to put in a password instead of clicking a box?

Note however that you should have all accounts with admin access be password protected. It's a poor idea to not have passwords on those kinds of accounts.

 

[thedosbox]

Basically, do you trust yourself not to be an idiot, and would you be less of an idiot if you had to put in a password instead of clicking a box?

LOL - nicely put. At least entering the administrator password requires more effort.