Re: Leopard Time Machine

In article <michelle-F00F0B.15315406042008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Michelle Steiner <michelle@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <jollyroger-968290.15430806042008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When you are logged in as administrator, everything you do, every
program you run (directly or indirectly, purposefully or
inadvertently) is executed with administrative privileges with
access to more parts of the system than normal users. So if you
make a mistake, or worse, if you unknowingly run a trojan / worm
in that account, you can damage and alter critical system files
with little or no acknowledgment from the system.

And in all the years that I've been using the OS, that has never
happened. Not even once.

Whether you realize it (or want to admit it), or not, you have indeed
been running all of your applications with administrative privileges
all this time.

I never said that I didn't. I said that critical system files have
never been damaged or altered.

And like I said, you wouldn't know whether or not they had been altered
unless the alteration caused a problem whose cause was directly evident,
which is highly unlikely - far easier to attribute problems to other
things.

Oh? There have been no reports of damage? Define "damage" in this
context then. I've personally seen people accidentally delete or
move applications they would not have been able to delete or move had
they not been administrator.

Oh, now you're into the "protect people from their own stupidity"
mindset.

Now you are showing just how completely you've missed the entire point
about why having a separate administrator account is good. Again, it is
never a good idea to run with escalated privileges longer than
absolutely necessary. Human beings make mistakes - it's a fact of life.
Or are you now claiming to be superhuman?

The secure thing to do is to create an account just for
administration, then remove administrator privileges from your
day-to-day account.

If someone wants to do that, fine; it is their prerogative. Some
people wear both belts and suspenders.

On the contrary, you clearly think the fact that it's more secure is
bullshit.

No, that's what you think that I think.

It's rather obvious.

If it's really "fine" with you, why do you start an argument about it
every time someone mentions it?

I'm not the one starting an argument. Every time I write something that
disagrees with what you believe, you go ballistic and get on my case.

Nope, sorry, not playing this game with you. Don't try to turn it
around. The chronological order of posts in this thread proves my point
and discounts your claim:

1. Someone (in this particular thread/case, Daniel Cohen - in previous
cases, me, and others) states it's a good practice to have separate
admin and non-admin accounts.
Reference: <1ieyz19.489zxe1vkdhswN%danspam@xxxxxxx>

2. You state you've been using a single admin account for ages with no
problems.
Reference: <michelle-F17306.07490706042008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

You do this every time someone mentions using separate admin accounts.
If you want, I can post more references to other threads where you've
done the exact same thing. This isn't the first time.

It appears that you can't have a discussion with someone who disagrees
with you without you becoming argumentative and accusatory.

I'm not accusing you of anything you haven't done.

Believe it or not, your way is not the only way.

Never said it was.

Running with escalated privileges is not a good practice though, and
that's what *you* refuse to acknowledge.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

.

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