Don't operate as Administrator

There are many things to say about security. Frankly, this topic is probably too broad for my first month and should be much narrower.

But one mistake that I see many people make is using an account on their computers that has administrative privledges for day-to-day use. Microsoft and Apple both do nothing to help with this problem. When you first turn on a new computer there is a process that occurs that creates the first account on the computer. The first account is always the super user or administrator of the computer.

What I suggest people do is imediately create an additional account that does not have admin privledges. This becomes the account you use for day-to-day activities. You only login to the account with admin privledges when you need to do admin stuff, like updates or installs.

In many cases this should not be necessary. Microsoft and Apple both have protectons in place that prompt for the admin password when certain activities warrent the caution. But frankly most people are too naive for their own good. They don’t read or don’t understand the ramifications of the popups and prompts they get unexpectedly. Before they know it their computer has a virus or worm.

So the next time you setup a new computer, try this suggestion. At the very least, create seperate accounts without admin privledges for each member of the family. Maybe you are safe enough online. But are you sure your teenagers are?