Is your hidden administrator account inactive?

vgkfan83 said:

Wrong. I use Malwarebytes and Superantispyware just in case. I'm smart enough to know where it's safe to download and not download. I've been a computer technician for 13 years.

Then feel free to live dangerously. Just know it's not for everybody as not everybody understands the risks or has your expertise.

Using the very best security products is no assurance you are not infected with malware. They can be evaded and this occurs often enough to continue. The suppliers of these products know this, although no all are honest about it. Modern malware authors are well educated, highly motivated, and well funded professionals. They are experts in computer security and how to evade it. They know many sophisticated tricks to evade detection and are working on more. It is war between malware and anti malware software and most security experts agree that malware is winning.

You don't need to download anything to be infected. Even visiting an infected site can be enough. And even highly respected websites have been infected. And you may never know. One of the many malware authors many tricks may have worked. And you can't assume that the malware will advertise it's presence by crashing or exhibiting other symptoms. Much malware prefers to keep a low profile, doing it's work silently in the background and infecting others, all without arousing any suspicion of it's presence.

There is no silver bullet in the fight against malware. Good security always consists of multiple layers of protection. One layer might be evaded but this is much more difficult with multiple layers.

Running with a UAC protected admin level account, or better yet a standard account, is one such layer. And with the current proliferation of malware we need all the advantages we can get.

I think the point everyone is trying to make is that using the hidden admin account for everyday use is dangerous. Do this at your own risk.

Enough said.