Surf in internet only with windows admin account

[Aberration]

good idea or not?

[Ostap]

worse idea ever
especially if you use IE....

--------------- Post added at 22:48 ---------------

Actually - none experienced windows user should never use admin account as personal one...
and should create semi-limited one for personal use....

--------------- Post added at 23:06 ---------------

Just to explain why:

any ActiveX plugin that IE can run ..and you click "OK" ... - will run with "Administrator" rights
(to clarify what ActiveX is - .... its a pure executable that is loaded into browsers memory space as DLL extension ...and can do anythig on your PC according to the current user rights)

Using other browsers such as FF , Opera, Safari ..etc... will sure limit it to only "Flash" or "Javascript" ..or even "Java" if you have one installed... but still - your admin account - gives all the rights to screw your system in no time...

[LimitedEdition]

like Ostap explained it's a really bad idea, although the admin rights on vista/win7 are restricted in some way concerning permissions and editing of system files

[Ostap]

on vista/win7 are restricted in some way concerning permissions and editing of system files

Yea ... ...just an extra "Are you really sure ?" ... ...click click click ...YES !!!

[Barktooth]

I do it all the time, and as long as you don't watch porn and don't click stupid ads that promise you free ipods you'll be fine. But its better as Ostap said to use a Standard account for all the stuff you do, and in Vista/7 you can still install programs thru it because you can grant the installer admin rights thru UAC.

[Ostap]

Actually - NONE experienced windows user should never use admin account as personal one...
and should create semi-limited one for personal use....

I do the same ... but i keep an eye on my sys...

--------------- Post added at 23:44 ---------------

and i've triple , quadruple backups of OS .... so it could be restored at anytime to just few days back

[Ostap]

I do it all the time, and as long as you don't watch porn and don't click stupid ads...

BTW... FF has those nice add-on modules ...that can block any ads or flash or javascript .....
Last time when i saw an ad - was on the screen of my colleague at work....

[Aberration]

damn, then I'm a total pc noob. I thought if I use my brain while browsing it would be ok to only have an admin account. then I read about it. now I use xp as limited user but it sucks, too. I often have to switch to the admin account to install things.

another thing that I learned now: never run exe files from an unsure source. I test them in a virtual machine now, first.
I'm a noob but at least I'm able to learn out of my mistakes xd. but I'm afraid that my system is already infected . antivir finds nothing but it's damn slow. I have fps drops in sam sometimes and this with a gtx470 and i5 wtf. but installing new needs so damn long... I rather stay with fps drops xd

does anyone here have other security tips for noobs like me?

[Barktooth]

Just cause your system is slowing down doesn't mean that youve got a virus.. its just how XP works - when you put too much stuff on it it slows down. I had to reinstall xp every year or so to have good performance. Its much better now that i have vista though. Best tip is to just have an antivirus with real-time protection running in the background. Slows down your system a bit, but should stop most viruses. And you aren't a noob if you know how to run a virtual machine :^]

[Prosciutto]

Lol dude vista is a total sh1. Anyawy, with i5 and gtx470 you should definitely upgrade to win7 :\
XP is so damn old dude.............

[Barktooth]

Well, IMO vista is the best so far.. and prolly will be for a while since i dont like the phony interface of windows 8. [hmm, thats a pun isn't it?] Windows 7 has a stupid taskbar, weird freezing problems, and laggy aero interface. [i tried it on my new machine that has a 6970 and aero lags.. wtf?] So yeah Vista iz 7|-|3 83$7

[LimitedEdition]

win7 rulez, thousand times better than vista and runs smooth

[Aberration]

imo vista is good and 7, too. I have 7 and xp installed (dual boot) but use only xp because I don't like to switch all the time. I use xp because I play older games that don't run on 7. I would really like to switch to 7, though because on 7 I don't have those strange performance problems with serious sam.

but win8 really looks like crap omg!

[Prosciutto]

Well, IMO vista is the best so far.. and prolly will be for a while since i dont like the phony interface of windows 8. [hmm, thats a pun isn't it?] Windows 7 has a stupid taskbar, weird freezing problems, and laggy aero interface. [i tried it on my new machine that has a 6970 and aero lags.. wtf?] So yeah Vista iz 7|-|3 83$7

dude you probably did something wrong... Never had any lag on w7, its fast, very cool graphics. All the opposite of Vista, which takes hours to start and to do every small task, RAM usage is always over 2GB with Vista wtf :\

[Aberration]

dude you probably did something wrong... Never had any lag on w7, its fast, very cool graphics. All the opposite of Vista, which takes hours to start and to do every small task, RAM usage is always over 2GB with Vista wtf :\

if vista needs hours for you to start you have probably done smth wrong, too.
for me vista and 7 had the same satisfying speed. the ram usage of vista isn't a problem since vista actually USES it and frees it at once if necessary, on 7 it just lays arround unused. or did you often run out of memory?