Only Need One Admin Account....

[ScaryBinary]

So, I'm reading up on Windows XP security (I have XP Pro). I have the original administrator account (which I've renamemd and password protected), another administrative account "Scary" which I created at installation (and it's the one I use for day to day home use), and a limited account that I use to log on from another machine in my workgroup to access a single shared drive.

Anyway, I thought I'd bump the privileges of "Scary" down from an admin to a power user or something else, just so I'm not loggin on all the time with an admin account (I hardly every log out).

When I went through the glitzy User Accounts dialog, via the Control Panel, XP won't let me set Scary to a limited account because it says I need at least one admin account (like it doesn't recognize my real admin account that it hides). However, if I go through the Computer Management dialog (which of course actually shows the admin account), and view the users, I can remove Scary from the Administrators group and it doesn't whine.

Is this what I want to do? What's the dealio? :confused:

[rraehal]

I use the Computer Management or MMC with the user snap in to control groups/users. I have myself and the Administrator in the admin group at home on XP.

I would set a restore point and try it. I think it should work fine. You simply need to go to safe made to login as Admin if you use the welcome screen. If you want to use the admin account in regular mode, change the ways users logon or off and shut down fast user switching and the welcome screen and you can type the user name at boot.

[Sterling_Aug]

You should always have at least 2 admin accounts on each machine, in case one account gets corrupt.

[ScaryBinary]

Thanks for the advice! I ended up making a secondary admin account, and then using a limited third account for day-to-day operation. More accounts than I really need, I suppose, but probably the securest approach.