Administrator password...

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wizenick(Posted 2006) [#1]
Hi,

I find having to have an administrator password quite annoying, since I'll be the only one having access to my computer. I found Vector Linux quite good, but I can't get my video card drivers installed because of the awkwardness of having an administrator password. Is there any distros which do not have this, or anyway of complely disabling the password?

Thanks.


xlsior(Posted 2006) [#2]
...You can log on as administrator (using the 'root' user) which should give you full admin rights and lets you do whatever you want, but it is not recommended -- that whole admin password deal is part of the reason Linux is vastly more secure out of the box than a windows machine is.

Unless you are not planning on connecting to the internet, you may find that you won't quite be 'the only person using it' if you don't have any password security...


wizenick(Posted 2006) [#3]
Ah, I see what you mean. I've got myself pretty much up and running now, and I've found that the administrator password isn't really that annoying, especially since I now know what it's for ;)

Thanks.


Robert(Posted 2006) [#4]
I find having to have an administrator password quite annoying, since I'll be the only one having access to my computer.


The main benefit of having an admin password is that you have to authorise any activity which modifies parts of the system outside your personal settings and files.

In theory this means that you are much less likely to unwittingly install a virus or other malware on your system. Some distros (eg. Ubuntu) have a more convenient method whereby certain users are given "sudo" priviledges. This means that they can use their normal login password to perform tasks that affect the whole system (instead of having a separate user ID / password for these activities)


VP(Posted 2006) [#5]
The whole security VS accessibility thing has always been around. I will put up with having to type in a password every now and then if it means my system is reasonably secure.