Mac Forum / General / Networking / May 2008

They believe that if you run under an admin account, malware can take
over the computer.

Hypothetically, a Bad Program could install Something Nasty because you
would be logged in with admin privileges.

In the Real World(tm) it doesn't seem to happen, though.

My statement is accurate and needs no correction.

Some people do. That statement is not in conflict with mine.

Let's be clear. I've never suggested anyone has suggested what you seem
to suggest I've suggested.

Which explains why you feel no need to comment...

Are you suggesting my form explanation is somehow worded too strongly?  
I'm always open to constructive criticism:

The initial user account Mac OS X creates during installation is an
administrator account. But running with higher privileges than needed is
never a good idea. 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. Remember that some files in Mac OS X are owned by the
"admin" group, of which the administrator account is a member. The
Applications folder is just one example of such a folder. When you are
logged in as administrator, Mac OS X allows you to modify these files at
will.

Mac OS X is designed such that you can accomplish all administrative
tasks from a non-administrative account simply by entering the username
and password of an administrator when prompted. So while you do need to
*have* an administrator account, there's really not much of a reason to
run as administrator for day-to-day use.

The secure thing to do is to create an account just for administration,
then remove administrator privileges from your day-to-day account.
Here's how to do it:

First, open and unlock the System Preferences > Accounts panel.

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click Accounts.
3. Click the lock icon to unlock the panel (if needed).

Next, create a new administrator account:

1. Click the [+] button. A new user account sheet appears.
2. If you are running Mac OS X 10.5 or later, from the New Account menu
at the top, choose Administrator.
3. In the Name text box, enter a name, such as "Administrator" (without
quotes). There is nothing special about this name.  Just pick something
you can remember.
4. In the Short Name text box, enter a short name, such as "admin"
(without quotes). There is nothing special about this name.  Just pick
something you can remember.
5. In the Password text box, enter a secure password. If you need help
creating a secure password, click the little key icon to the right of
this text box, and an assistant will help you come up with a secure
password. Personally, I prefer to use a phrase as my password. I try to
pick phrases that contain one or two numbers or special characters, and
use spaces and punctuation. The goal is to pick a password phrase that
you will easily remember, and easy to type, but will be difficult to
guess.
6. In the Verify text box re-enter the secure password.
7. If you are running Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, check the "Allow user to
administer this computer" checkbox.
8. Click Create Account.

Next, remove administrator abilities from your normal user account:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click Accounts.
3. Click the lock icon to unlock the panel (if needed).
4. From the account list on the left side of the Accounts panel,
highlight your normal user account name.
5. Clear the "Allow user to administer this computer" checkbox.
6. Log out for the changes to take effect.

That's it. Now whenever you are asked for an administrator account's
credentials, you can enter the administrator user name and associated
secure password.

Are you reading my mind again, or am I reading yours? <g>

The manual does contain advanced topics that a lot of people might want
to avoid, but running as administrator, and creating a non-administrator
account aren't what I consider to be particularly advanced topics.