As many of you probably already know, it can be frustrating not to be able to make changes to your work computer. The IT department locks down business computers to keep them safe from accidental malware infections or viruses. However, it is up to you to keep your home computer safe. New software and updates can often only be installed when logged in as an administrator account. Printers and scanners can also only installed by administrators. Also, new user accounts must be created by administrators. These are all things you will most likely need to be able to do on your home computer, so why not just be logged in as an administrator all the time?
On the flip side, being logged in as a system administrator with full access makes your computer more at risk to viruses and spyware. Additionally you are more vulnerable to accidental software corruption or files/folders deletion. If your visiting niece is using your computer, and is logged in with your account, which is also a system administrator, she could easily (though unintentionally) download harmful files or delete vital directories and files.
Therefore, the recommendation of the TriQuest Team is… You should have the ability to be an administrator on your computer only when you need it, and not be an administrator on your home computer for general daily use.
We recommend that you create two user accounts. Make one of the user accounts an administrator and give it a complex password. Make the second account a standard user account and set the password to anything you want. Use the second user account as your primary account to surf the web, check e-mail, play games, etc.... Only use the administrator account when you need to install software or add new hardware. This easy step will greatly mitigate the risks of being an administrator, while still providing all the benefits.