Admin user

[K9 Kai Niggemann]

On 30.06.2011, at 23:38, Peter Korsten wrote:

> Op 30-6-2011 23:04, K9 Kai Niggemann schreef:
> 
>> I am told over and over not to work as an Admin-enabled user in Mac OS X, for security reasons.
> 
> Correct.
> 
>> What strikes me as odd is that very often when I want to install a program, it asks me to enter an admin password (even Ableton Live does it, when installing the trial version).
> 
> Well, the thing is, you have to have administrative privileges to 
> install software. In Windows 7, for example, you can be an 
> administrator, and as soon as something security-related crops up, you 
> get a dialogue box asking you whether this is something you really want.
> 
>> So in that moment, I am giving the installer admin privileges, no matter what kind of user I am logged in as.
> 
> Hmm, that should only be available to some users, being able to do 
> certain stuff as an administrator.

sorry, that was unclear -- it asks me to give the installer admin rights by entering an admin account. I'm still logged in as normal user "Kai", but in order for the instal to proceed, I need to override that. I guess that's a sudo kind of thing...


> 
>> so what's better about not working as an admin user?
> 
> You should not work as admin ALL THE TIME. Sometimes, you need to do 
> things as the super-user. But imagine the following:
> 
> rm -rf /
> 
> If you do that as user 'kai', you remove all files on the system that 
> belong to 'kai'. This is a major bugger, but if you do it as root, you 
> wipe the entire system.
> 
> Similarly, if you run a program that has a virus or trojan horse, it's 
> one thing if you do it as a normal user, but a lot more serious if you 
> do it as the super-user.
> 
> Bottom line: you can and you will do a lot more damage as the super-user.

Thanks for the example. Makes complete sense to me now.


> 
>> I understand that "Admin" is something different from "root" that needs to be enabled separately?
> 
> Pretty much the same thing if you ask me, although it could be that 
> Apple have added some extra layer.
> 
>> Where is a link that explains account-security to a Mac user?
> 
> There's an oxymoron somewhere in that sentence. ;)


I'm sure you meant to say "a tautology"!

;)

Kai






> 
> - Peter
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