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Win7 Standard user account?!

  • 15 June 2013
  • 6 replies
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Userlevel 7
Hi,
 
I'm looking into Standard User Account in Win7. What are the pros and cons of using the standard user account instead of an administrator account for daily use, both security wise & comfort wise? Will apps like WSA and browser update in a standard user account as the account restricts to what the user can do?
 
Best Wishes,
Amit
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Best answer by shorTcircuiT 15 June 2013, 18:05

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Userlevel 5
Users with administrator privileges can make broad changes to a computer’s settings, install software, and perform a variety of tasks that other users can’t.
When you use a standard account  , you can use most programs that are installed on the computer, but you can't  install or uninstall software and hardware, delete'
Userlevel 7
Also, when installing Webroot, it should install with Admin priveledges anyway by default, so that it will be able to update even when you are using a standard account.  At least that is my understanding...I would be wrong 🙂
Userlevel 7
Thanks a lot @ and@DavidP. So I can't install uninstall delete or make any changes to OS settings, etc. Can I use apps like Ccleaner which affects OS settings by deleting files? How much will using a Standard user account help WSA in protecting my pc from malware?
Userlevel 7
WSA should run normally while you are on a standard account as far as I know.  CCLeaner also should be fine as it removes things like cookies, which are technically owned by the user logged into the computer not the OS itself.
Userlevel 7
That wasn't a very full answer.  CCleaner, I believe, removes your browsing data, cookies, history, cache, etc.  All of that data is owned by you, not the OS, so it can clean just fine.  
 
One thing that the Webroot System Cleaner cannot do is to clean these kinds of data for profiles other than the one being run.  If you have 2 user profiles, and you run System Cleaner using profile #1, the browsing data, etc for profile #2 is not affected.  That does have to be run on a per user basis.
 
The protection shields of Webroot run as an admin user though, so they can fully protect the computer regardless of which profile is logged in at the moment.
 
A rather simplistic answer, and hopefully someone will correct me if I am not quite correct.
Userlevel 7
Ah I see. Thanks a lot David.:)

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