Windows 10 user account question(s)

[films&games]

Hi,

When I initially set up my new PCS desktop build, my account was an administrator account.

But would it be much better if I changed this to Standard and used the built in Administrator account when installing software and games etc, and especially for everyday use?

If so, would the easiest way to do this be: User Accounts and select "change account type" and select Standard?

If I did change my account type to Standard, when I use the Run as Administrator option, will this then temporarily use the built-in Administrator account?

If so, does the built-in Administrator account have to been enabled or is it enabled by default?

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[steaky360]

Personally I would find it more of a hindrance than an advantage if my account (the only one thats on the computer) isn't the admin account. It depends on your uses really.

But as far as I know, yes, if you have a standard account you should be able to either log in as the admin to install things or simply enter the username and password when doing things the standard account can't do.

 

[ubuysa]

The days of needing a separate Administrator account (as in Windows XP) and ensuring you use only a Standard account are really not necessary these days. User Account Control (UAC) will require your confirmation when making important changes if your account is a member of the Administrators group (as yours is) so it's not that dangerous to use an Administrator account all the time and, as Steaky360 says, you'll quickly grow tired of having to enter the Administrator password every time you want to do anything that a Standard account can't do.

The Windows 10 Administrator account is really only there as an emergency fallback in case you delete (or demote) the last active account in the Administrators group. In that case you can sign in to Safe Mode using the disabled Administrator account and add (or promote) another user account as a member of the Administrators group.

Note that the built-in Administrator account has some limitations, most notably is that no Windows Store Apps will run under that account.

If you still want to use it you'll have to activate it first by opening an elevated command prompt (or PowerShell session) and entering the command net user administrator /active:yes you'll then have to set a password for it via the command net user administrator password where password is the password you want to assign.