Hi all!
Suppose I’m the only user of the computer. Suppose I have User Account Control activated. Is there or are there still reasons to create and use standard user account for everyday work? As far as I understand, with User Account Control active I have the permissions of a standard user even if I’m logged on as an administrator. If I use administrator account for everyday work does User Account Control give me EXACTLY the same level of protection from viruses and malware and from making accidental system-wide changes as standard user account with active UAC? I don’t imply that UAC protects me from viruses and malware. I use proper antivirus software for that.
In other words, do I get the same level of protection when I use administrator account with UAC enabled and when I use standard account with UAC enabled? Is it true that UAC turns an administrator account into what is know as a protected administrator account, basically, an administrator account that runs with standard user account privileges? Or does standard user account with UAC enabled gives me yet higher level of protection over administrator account with UAC enabled?
A standard user account simply limits certain privileges that admins would normally have access to such as installing/uninstalling applications. It’s really intended to provide access to others who use the same computer, without giving them full access.
UAC is largely useless, in my opinion. I’ve had it disabled since day one and I’ve never had any issues with security since I make sure to have anti-virus and anti-spyware programs installed as well as keeping them up to date, and just using my best judgement on the Internet. If you’re a fairly experienced computer user, there really isn’t any reason to have it on because it just ends up being bothersome.
One point: if you are logged in to a standard user account, and your network security is breached, if they take control of your computer, they are very limited in the amount of damage they can do to the system without knowing the admin credentials. I use UAC on my kids’ PC specifically for this reason; my teen boys are fairly OK with their web smarts, but my tween daughter has downloaded a firewall breaker remote control twice now on these stupid free games sites.
Fortunately KIS alerted me before they had even been on for a minute and I remotely logged her out. No damage done.
I still use UAC on mine.. simply because I do not run Antivirus sw. That way, I get prompted for any changes. If it is something I know I didnt install.. DENIED! lol. – and No I dont do any torrent downloads etc (anymore) lol so I dont need it.
To answer your question, you get higher level of protection when using Standard User Account with UAC enabled than when using Administrator User Account with UAC enabled. Now, whether that protection is worth it or not, is up to you and the specific usage of the PC.
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