Should I use a standard account for every day and have a separate Admin account?

Hazel123 · Thursday at 8:13 AM

Do they really need to be removed though?

Every time I install Windows11 from scratch, I just leave the default apps. You don't even have to see them in the menu! You can add or remove anything from the start menu and tailor it to what you want on it.

What I do do though, for just about all apps, is stop them running in the background in settings. Settings - Apps - Installed Apps - click the 3 dots at the right of the app and choose advanced. Then select "Never". The apps still work if you want to use them - just click on them. It just means they're not running in the background. I do that for just about everything, except mail and calendar and outlook (if you use it) which get left on "power optimised".

It's a slightly slow tedious process to go through them one at a timr, but once it's done, it's done (and you can then do a system image when you've got everything set up how you want it, so you don't have to do it again in future, in case you have to reinstall).

If turned to "Never" and just in the hidden menu behind the start menu, they are no bother

If you do this for the admin account, you would have to do it again on the standard account as well. Each account is like a new install and you can install different things on both accounts. Some will be shared, some won't. Can't remember which. But I know when I shared a laptop with our son, and installed MS Office in the Admin account, it was available to both accounts.

Trying to learn · Thursday at 9:00 AM

@Hazel123 Hi Hazel. :) Yeah, that's what I was planning to do. But to save some of that tediousness, and because I'm certain there are a number of these apps that my hubby won't use/want on his computer, I thought it could be easier and faster to just uninstall them. Whether Windows will try to put them back through updates after doing the method pseymour taught me (above, in the thread), I don't know. But I'm curious to see what happens. :)

spapakons · Thursday at 2:41 PM

I just leave the default apps alone, I don't uninstall them, just use my favorite alternatives. I go to Task Manager, Startup section and disable all startup applications I don't need. Yes, you have to do it for every user, but it's easier than disabling or uninstalling them one-by-one. Plus they are always available if needed.

pseymour · Thursday at 3:40 PM

The last dozen plus posts are about something different from the thread. Maybe we should get someone to move #128 + to a new thread? I'll leave it to @kelper, since this is his thread.

spapakons · Friday at 2:29 AM

Back in topic, I would use a single Administrator account, have an updated Windows Defender or other antivirus and watch what I click on. This is Windows user logic. Having a separate administrator and standard user accounts is overkill and also Linux user logic and I hate Linux, so I avoid anything that reminds me of it, including using Windows versions of common Linux apps, such as VLC, Libre Office, Firefox and the like. I prefer WMP-HC (which also includes the codecs to edit videos, not only play them), Microsoft Office and Microsoft Edge. A few years ago, I used Internet Explorer 11 which supported many more features than Firefox. Pity they stopped it instead of patching its security holes and include new features.

Trying to learn · Friday at 7:44 AM

pseymour said:
The last dozen plus posts are about something different from the thread. Maybe we should get someone to move #128 + to a new thread? I'll leave it to @kelper, since this is his thread.

Ohhh, I'm sorry @kelper ! I didn't realize I shouldn't have asked about that here. Thanks for helping me learn to be more careful/aware that way, @pseymour . Sure didn't mean to be rude or disrespectful in any way. :\ Is it only kelper or an admin who can fix my newbie goof, or is there anything I can do to fix it?

pseymour · Friday at 7:45 AM

spapakons said:
I would use a single Administrator account ... This is Windows user logic. Having a separate administrator and standard user accounts is overkill and also Linux user logic

Actually the recommended Windows practice is to

disable the account called Administrator (that's why Windows setup does it)
create a new administrator account that you only use when you need to elevate something
create standard user accounts for each user, and use these accounts as your "daily driver" accounts

kelper · Friday at 7:45 AM

Trying to learn said:
Ohhh, I'm sorry @kelper ! I didn't realize I shouldn't have asked about that here. Thanks for helping me learn to be more careful/aware that way, @pseymour . Sure didn't mean to be rude or disrespectful in any way. :\ Is it only kelper or an admin who can fix my newbie goof, or is there anything I can do to fix it?

Don't worry about it.

pseymour · Friday at 7:46 AM

@Trying to learn It happens all the time. I wouldn't worry about it. kelper can have it moved if it bugs him too much. :)

kelper · Friday at 8:27 AM

Microsoft's official advice is to use a standard account for day-to-day running and to elevate to 'run as administrator' or use an administrator account only when you have to.

Local Accounts

Learn how to secure and manage access to the resources on a standalone or member server for services or users.

learn.microsoft.com

On a home computer the standard accounts and administrator accounts are both classed as local because they apply only to the Windows on your device.

Despite this advice, two-thirds of forum members who voted in my poll do NOT use a standard account because they do not engage in foolish activities and they trust their anti-malware (often Windows Security a.k.a. Defender). If you want the extra protection then having two accounts gives added protection against malware.

In discussions here, local account often refers to a non-Microsoft account. That is an account NOT associated with an online Microsoft account.

I have two Microsoft accounts, one standard and one admin. I always use the standard one for day-today stuff.

spapakons · Friday at 10:26 AM

I have not met any Windows user using a standard account, unless this is a wife or child account on his computer. Everyone usually logins with the first account they created and that's an Administrator account. They either don't have the knowledge to create a second standard account or don't bother as long as this is a home computer and they are the sole users. It makes sense to everyone using Windows, probably not to Mac or Linux users.

kelper · Friday at 11:15 AM

spapakons said:
I have not met any Windows user using a standard account, unless this is a wife or child account on his computer. Everyone usually logins with the first account they created and that's an Administrator account. They either don't have the knowledge to create a second standard account or don't bother as long as this is a home computer and they are the sole users. It makes sense to everyone using Windows, probably not to Mac or Linux users.

That's weird as a third of the people who completed my poll do use a standard account. Go to post 1 if you doubt me.

pseymour · Friday at 11:40 AM

Right on. I wouldn't conflate the number of Windows users one has met with the total number of Windows users. I don't know how many people use Windows; it could be dozens, perhaps more. The number of people you have met is a small sample size compared to that. Any IT admin knows that not only is giving normal users admin rights asking for trouble, it's also largely unnecessary, and that's true whether it's Windows or not.

Also, there is a difference between what people do and what recommended practice is. Running with administrator rights is fine, until you get a piece of malware from an infected site, and that malware has a UAC bypass in it. And some folks will say, "ah, but I'm a small fish. I'm not a target." Stop by a site where they help people recover from ransomware; they thought they were fine too, until they weren't. Running around with scissors is completely fine also, until you fall on them.

I've brought this up before, but the number of folks here who answer questions is small compared to the number of folks who ask them, and really small compared to the number of folks without accounts who just browse the content. We should make a distinction between what "the experts" may do on their machines, and what "normies" should do on theirs.

spapakons · Friday at 6:27 PM

kelper said:
That's weird as a third of the people who completed my poll do use a standard account. Go to post 1 if you doubt me.

I didn't say they don't exist, I said I haven't seen. That's different. Being the minority proves my point. It's not common for a Windows user to use a standard account unless it is a second user (wife, child, friend). The main user is always an Administrator. Of course there are exceptions. They are the exception, not the rule.

spapakons · Friday at 6:32 PM

pseymour said:
Right on. I wouldn't conflate the number of Windows users one has met with the total number of Windows users. I don't know how many people use Windows; it could be dozens, perhaps more. The number of people you have met is a small sample size compared to that. Any IT admin knows that not only is giving normal users admin rights asking for trouble, it's also largely unnecessary, and that's true whether it's Windows or not.

Also, there is a difference between what people do and what recommended practice is. Running with administrator rights is fine, until you get a piece of malware from an infected site, and that malware has a UAC bypass in it. And some folks will say, "ah, but I'm a small fish. I'm not a target." Stop by a site where they help people recover from ransomware; they thought they were fine too, until they weren't. Running around with scissors is completely fine also, until you fall on them.

I've brought this up before, but the number of folks here who answer questions is small compared to the number of folks who ask them, and really small compared to the number of folks without accounts who just browse the content. We should make a distinction between what "the experts" may do on their machines, and what "normies" should do on theirs.

In a work computer, yes I would set limits to the average user. In a home computer when the only user is the owner, it makes more sense to use an admin account than granting access every few clicks. If you grant access too often you become accustomed and eventually you don't pay attention where you grant access. You just type the admin password to get rid of the annoying popup and boom! You are infected anyway. So it's more important to watch what you are doing than using a restricted account.

Levitate11 · Friday at 9:29 PM

spapakons · Saturday at 5:23 AM

Levitate11 said:
View attachment 132809

Back some decades ago, when my father was still a student in University, one of his Professors tried to get money from an ATM. Some of them were made to speak to be more user friendly. After the Professor put three times the wrong PIN, the ATM spoke to him saying "I don't recognise you" or similar. The Professor then shouted at the ATM "Are you serious? I am Professor Smith. How come you don't know me!"

hdmi · Saturday at 6:22 AM

spapakons said:
In a work computer, yes I would set limits to the average user. In a home computer when the only user is the owner, it makes more sense to use an admin account than granting access every few clicks.

Of course. But, even in a work environment, the decision to create standard user accounts for each user and use these accounts as "daily driver" accounts is still only an optional approach to consider, as there exist several other possible approaches that may or may not be more feasible in compasiron to it:

Local Accounts

Learn how to secure and manage access to the resources on a standalone or member server for services or users.

learn.microsoft.com

spapakons said:
If you grant access too often you become accustomed and eventually you don't pay attention where you grant access. You just type the admin password to get rid of the annoying popup and boom! You are infected anyway. So it's more important to watch what you are doing than using a restricted account.

For those specific tasks that trigger it and that either need to run frequently or that run automatically at startup or both, I use the method that is outlined in this tutorial:

Create Elevated Shortcut without UAC prompt in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to create a shortcut of an elevated task to run an app as administrator without getting a UAC prompt for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. When you open an application file with Run as administrator, you will get a UAC prompt by default for approval...

www.elevenforum.com

At least in Windows, I only have a single user account, which is a Microsoft account with admin privileges. I use it on both of my 2 laptops both of which are set up such a way that they never prompt for the password at startup nor on wakeup.

Enable or Disable Automatically Sign in Account at Startup in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable automatically sign in to a specific account at startup to boot directly to the desktop in Windows 11. By default at the startup of Windows 11, you need to dismiss the Lock screen, select the account you want to sign in to on the Sign-in...

www.elevenforum.com

Enable or Disable Require Sign-in on Wakeup in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable to require sign-in on wakeup from sleep, hibernate, or Modern Standby for all users in Windows 11. To help secure your PC, Windows requires users to sign in on wakeup from sleep, hibernate, or resuming from Modern Standby (if supported) by...

www.elevenforum.com

I leave the UAC prompt enabled, as the prompt still serves as a reminder hint to me, and it still gives the ability to deny access. The fact that the prompt never asks me for the password also helps me to prevent getting accustomed to the point of no longer paying attention where I grant access.

That said, knowing where to click versus not to click is not something that I tend to use as a pretext for "best security". Just to give only one example of what I like to describe as applying common sense, I also run my browser in a sandbox environment (i.e., Sandboxie-Plus), and, this is in spite of the fact that my browser already uses its own built-in sandbox mechanism anyway in the first place.

gunrunnerjohn · Saturday at 9:14 AM

The best way to stay out of trouble is to use the space between your ears.

kelper · Saturday at 9:15 AM

gunrunnerjohn said:
The best way to stay out of trouble is to use the space between your ears.

So, have you disabled Defender?

Should I use a standard account for every day and have a separate Admin account?

Do you use an admin and a standard account?

Yes, I have both

No, I only have an admin account

Other, because there's always one!

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