I have just got a new Laptop
The account already on it is called Admin.
Do I need to set up an Account in my name also?
I just want local one if I do.
Hello JO69, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)
It sounds like "Admin" is a default administrator account setup by the OEM for you to use to setup the laptop how you like.
Sure, you could add a new local account for yourself to use.
Add User Account in Windows 10 Windows 10 User Accounts Tutorials
I think you should make an additional account.
Keep the Admin account for, well, admin. You can use it when you are prompted for a password to make changes or upgrade your system. Make another local account (not part of the Admin group) for day to day use as described in @Brink tutorial link above.
It is easy for malware to gain privilege if your account is part of the Administrators group. If you normally sign on as a standard user it is much safer.
I'd suggest you change the password of the existing 'Admin' account as well in case it is a default.
The safest way is to have a standard account for normal use. You do need an administrator account as well as some actions will ask you for an administrator account and password.
You can (but don't have to) use the same user name and password as your desktop. If you were using a Microsoft account the password would be the same (as JOE69@outlook.com password is linked to that one Microsoft account) but as you want to use a local account then you could have different. You could have standard user JO69 on your desktop with a different password to user JO69 on your laptop. Might be a bit confusing if you did that though I'd have thought.
If you don't know the password of the account "Admin" then you can change it to something you do know (if the user you are currently using is part of the administrators group) using the netplwiz command. There is a tutorial for it here Reset Password of User Account in Windows 10 Windows 10 User Accounts Tutorials
It's a bit like Linux, you shouldn't generally run your OS in an elevated account for security reasons.
Was this a used computer?
- If it was new then your first boot should have prompted you to create a user account of your own. That account would automatically be an Admin-level account but it could not possibly have the username Administrator.
- If it was used then reinstall Windows 10 to ensure that you only have on it what you know you have on it.
- You could use the Reset facility
- Or you could make installation USB using http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...n-tool-install
- If reinstalling, first check that Windows is activated "with a digital licence" at Settings, Update, Activation
About Admin-level accounts -
- The user account that has the username Administrator is a special built-in account that is part of Windows' recovery facilities. It should normally be disabled. It does not have all the capabilities of a normal Admin account [one that you create yourself].
- You can make your own user accounts into Admin-level accounts if you wish - it is worth having two password-protected local Admin-level accounts so you have a spare in case your normal one is ever corrupted & refuses to let you log in.
- I have seen claim & counter-claim about whether or not there is, in practice, any increased security risk from running routinely in an Admin-level account**. If you want to ere on the side of caution then check your Admin-level accounts work then create a Standard user account for your day-to-day activities.
** [Added later] I should have made it clear that Control panel, user accounts, UAC would need to be set at its maximum - Always notify.
Denis
Last edited by Try3; 13 Sep 2017 at 08:13.
Elevating an admin account is easyUAC Bypass Using eventvwr.exe and Registry Hijacking | enigma0x3
If you have found someone claiming that running as part of administrator group is safe then they are ill-informed.
lx07 -
- I have no wish to bypass anything.
- I did not even use the word safe. I have never found a convincing explanation that logging in to a Windows 10 Admin account is any more risky than logging in to a Standard user account given Microsoft's contention that an Admin account is logged in to with Standard tokens only.
Denis
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