Don’t Be an Administrator

When most people first turn on a new computer and go through the process of setting it up, they don’t realize the dangers of making their administrator account their default user account.  By simply not giving yourself administrative rights on the account you use everyday, the security on your computer would be greatly improved.  The chances of getting a malware infection can be greatly reduced simply  by not using the computer as an administrator.  It has been estimated that as high as ninety percent of the security issues with Windows could be reduced with the simple act of not using the administrator account for daily computer use.

Running as a Window’s Administrator

Many types of attacks on computers start with the attacker targeting a weakness  on a user’s computer.  If you are running your computer as an administrator, the attacker’s job is much easier.  When you are logged in as a regular user, you do not have administrator rights to install software and make any significant configuration changes to the computer.  This also means that in most cases neither can the person trying to attack your computer.

If you take nothing away after reading this article other than the fact that you should create yourself a regular user account, you will have improved the security on your computer immensely.  Remember to always use the regular user account when connecting to the internet, etc.  The use of the administrator account should only be necessary when you need to make configuration changes or install some software.

If you own your business and have to set up computers for your employees, make sure you set the computer up with regular user accounts and not administrator accounts for the default login account.  For assistance with setting up user accounts or any tech issue, give us a call at Ironclad Tech Services.