Standard account & malware

[Dcs.79c]

I have a friend who has a laptop with Windows 10. He keeps getting malware. I keep telling him to create a standard account but he hasn't.

I really would like to get a Windows 10 laptop.

I have 2 Macs & an iPad. I like my iPad but I want a real computer. The contract on the iPad expires on 8/11/2017. I'm thinking about trading it in at Best Buy & applying the trade-in value towards a Windows 10 laptop.

I've read that one should create a 2nd Administrator account in case the 1st one is corrupted or whatever.

You've probably read about the WannaCry & Petya ransomware.

So, one of the 1st things one should do with a new computer is to create a standard account. If malware is downloaded to a standard account, is it limited to the standard account & isolated from the rest of the OS?

The guest account is no longer available on Windows 10. Well, I've read that there's a sort-of guest account under "family & other users".

Is it possible to customize the security features on the standard account on Windows 10 Home so that it's like the guest account? Probably not. It's probably only possible to do it on the Pro version.

 

[Norton]

Dcs.79 I have a local user account and an administrator account that I only use for maintenance. My daily user account became corrupt just last week. I was able to repair it by logging into my admin account.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Dcs.79c,

I advise everyone to take a look at the following link for that "just-in-case" scenario!.

https://www.windows10forums.com/thr...stem-live-cd-anti-virus-app.14109/#post-67946

See also:

https://www.howtogeek.com/224847/how-to-set-up-and-configure-user-accounts-on-windows-10/

 

[Dcs.79c]

Would someone please answer the following question that was in the original post?

So, one of the 1st things one should do with a new computer is to create a standard account. If malware is downloaded to a standard account, is it limited to the standard account & isolated from the rest of the OS?

I wonder if it is possible for malware to overcome the limitations of a standard account & spread to the entire OS.

 

[Wolfie]

I wonder if it is possible for malware to overcome the limitations of a standard account & spread to the entire OS.

Yes it is possible, it depends on the type of malware, Trojan or otherwise, what the malware's goal is and how it works is solely dependent on whether your installed AV picks it up; regardless of what account you are using!. It might be a "Keylogger" or a "Backdoor" type of malware which may well be after credit card numbers or personal data.

In short, no account is completely safe if your PC gets infected, don't store sensible data on the same PC that you access the internet with, store any sensible data on a different drive or other partition!.

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

 

[Norton]

I have one program that is limited to the Admin account. However to answer your question if you can't run a malware program from a local user account, just right click and run as an administrator.
When I run malware programs, I run them first as local user then right click the icons and run a second time (password required) as the Administrator. You will be surprised how much crap finds its way into the administrator account whether used or not.

 

[Grizzly]

There is one way to prevent malware getting on the computer. Don't get on pages that distribute malware. Also a good AV-scanner (realtime scanner that is) and a safer browser may help too.
Although Security on a computer is a concept, not a program. The highest risk of infection commonly sits in front of the computer and is called PEBCAK...

 

[Dcs.79c]

I have one program that is limited to the Admin account. However to answer your question if you can't run a malware program from a local user account, just right click and run as an administrator.
When I run malware programs, I run them first as local user then right click the icons and run a second time (password required) as the Administrator. You will be surprised how much crap finds its way into the administrator account whether used or not.

Why would you run any malware program?

 

[Grizzly]

He does not mean to run malware per se but the scanner to find them.... like Antivirus programs and malware scanner (e.g. Malware Bytes)

 

[Norton]

Grizzly Thanks!