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#1
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user accounts (was: Malwarebytes queries)
In message , FromTheRafters
writes: [] Survey: How many reading here get only one thing on the list when typing "net user" at the command prompt? I (XP here) was expecting more than one, but I actually got: User accounts for \\G6JPG ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Administrator ASPNET Guest HelpAssistant me SUPPORT_388945a0 The command completed successfully. ("me" is me. Above is cut and pasted - so no, ASP.NET does not have a dot in it.) What _are_ all of them, should I be worried about any of them, and can any be removed without danger (if so how)? The "support" one in particular looks like something that may have been created during a support session (not that I can remember indulging in any such, but I've been running for years and might have). -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf science is not intended to be foolproof. Science is about crawling toward the truth over time. - Scott Adams, 2015-2-2 |
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#2
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user accounts
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , FromTheRafters writes: [] Survey: How many reading here get only one thing on the list when typing "net user" at the command prompt? I (XP here) was expecting more than one, but I actually got: User accounts for \\G6JPG ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Administrator ASPNET Guest HelpAssistant me SUPPORT_388945a0 The command completed successfully. ("me" is me. Above is cut and pasted - so no, ASP.NET does not have a dot in it.) What _are_ all of them, should I be worried about any of them, and can any be removed without danger (if so how)? The "support" one in particular looks like something that may have been created during a support session (not that I can remember indulging in any such, but I've been running for years and might have). http://www.ghacks.net/2007/10/31/che...n-your-system/ net user Administrator is a built-in account for administering the computer/domain net user Guest a built-in account for guest access to the computer/domain net user HelpAssistant is a Remote Desktop Help Assistant Account. net user SUPPORT_388945a0 is a vendor's account for the Help and Support Service. ******* https://web.archive.org/web/20110614...sXP/aspdot.php The aspnet_wp or ASP.NET Machine Account is created when the Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 is installed You can remove this account, but it is vital if you do asp.net development work on your machine. By removing the account you may find your ASP.net projects will no longer function correctly. It is possible to recreate the user by issuing the following command from the run dialog (changing the framework version number as appropriate) %systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\asp net_regiis.exe /i So that one is not absolutely necessary. The chances of you doing ASP.NET development on an IIS server are pretty small (on your desktop computer). ******* There are also IUSR and IWAM accounts. Those may appear on your machine, if you turn on the Windows Feature of having an IIS server on your desktop computer. I did that for about ten minutes once, then turned it off, but the accounts remain. http://serverfault.com/questions/501...nts-for-in-iis ******* There can also be an "Updatus" account, if you have an NVidia video card. I have an NVidia video card, but don't have that account, and this is likely because the driver version isn't high enough to have inherited this feature. Modern NVidia drivers have quite a few items in them now (bordering on bloat, for average users), and that would be part of the fat undercarriage. http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answe...er%E2%80%99%3F "Reinstall the NVIDIA driver but do not install (deselect) the NVIDIA Update software" As far as I know, this gives you yet another piece of software that pesters you about updates. I've run into at least one user, where every time the NVidia driver package is updated, one of the components in the package keeps failing. The video card companies take special delight in this stuff. In Win10, I have a HD6450, and ATI has just announced it and a bunch of other cards of that generation have gone out of support. And the "MOM.exe" process still isn't fixed. Even though Win10 has been out for four months. The video still works, and I'm greeted by a nuisance message every time the computer starts. I'm not aware of the ATI package needing an account. But anything is possible. Remember that the ATI CCC package was a major reason why users had to download .NET 2.0 in the day, when otherwise it might never have been needed. Paul |
#3
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user accounts
In message , Paul
writes: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: [] User accounts for \\G6JPG [---] Administrator ASPNET Guest HelpAssistant me SUPPORT_388945a0 [] net user Administrator is a built-in account for administering the computer/domain net user Guest a built-in account for guest access to the computer/domain net user HelpAssistant is a Remote Desktop Help Assistant Account. net user SUPPORT_388945a0 is a vendor's account for the Help and Support Service. [] The aspnet_wp or ASP.NET Machine Account is created when the Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 is installed You can remove this account, but it is vital if you do asp.net development work on your machine. By removing the (I certainly don't!) account you may find your ASP.net projects will no longer function correctly. [] Once again, thanks for a comprehensive - and rapid! - reply! Is there any _harm_ (other than, I presume, a microscopic amount of disc space, and maybe registry entries) in those accounts being there? (Other than giving a thief extra possible ways into the machine, but then since I have it set to go straight in without a login screen, they'd get in anyway.) (Another vaguely-related question [XP]: I like to _try_ to keep my software shortcuts in Start | Programs in folders, like #genealogy, #internet, #disc, #hardware, and so on. But over the years, some software shortcuts have been installed in C:\D&S\me\Start Menu\Programs, and some in the same but \All Users\ instead of \me\; the Start | Programs menu combines these for me, but actually finding the shortcuts [say from newly-installed software] when I want to move them into one of my category folders, is like herding cats. Is there any point in merging these - i. e. getting rid of either \All Users\ or \me\ [obviously moving any content to the other one first!], or will they just reappear again next time I install some software [especially if it doesn't _offer_ the "all users or just me" choice but picks one of those for itself]? Was there a way I could have avoided having both "All Users" and "me" - I really just want one! - when I first turned on XP? [And probably a similar question for 7, and later ...]) -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf computers don't solve problems; they help humans solve problems - Colin Barker, Computing 1999-2-18, p. 21 |
#4
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user accounts
| Was there a way I could have avoided having both "All Users" and "me" -
| I really just want one! - when I first turned on XP? [And probably a | similar question for 7, and later ...]) You can't avoid it, but you can ignore it for the most part. I mainly use XP installed to FAT32, so users are irrelevant. (FAT32 doesn't support access restrictions.) Yet I still have several user folders. They can be ignored. On Win7 there's the further issue of file restrictions that you have to deal with. You can't install to FAT32 so you can't avoid file system restrictions. You can circumvent those if you want to, by running as Administrator and/or removing restrictions on a per-file basis. But you need to be aware of them, as does installed software. I periodically move all Start Menu shortcuts from my personal account to the All Users account, just for the sake of orderliness. I sometimes like to back up the Start Menu folder, as a way of keeping track of installed software when I restore a disk image. ("Now what the heck was that DVD maker program I used to have...?") So I like to have it orderly and all in one place. I also rework the whole thing, anyway. I create folders in All Users\Start Menu\ with names like Utilities, Office, Graphics, etc. Then when I install a new program that gives me a submenu with 6 idiotic links on it (visit online, help, uninstall, feedback, etc) I just move the program link into the appropriate folder and delete the rest. If one allows the installers to have their way the result is a mess. Windows displays a composite of All Users and current user, but that doesn't matter if all shortcuts are in All Users. Most program installers won't give you a choice as to where they put the links starting out. I think Irfan View is one of the few that asks whether you want to install for the current user or all users. So it's a willy nilly kind of thing. In the past, business users have generally used Win NT on NTFS, set up to be limited users on company machines, with a copy of MS Office, or whatever. The normal user in that scenario can't do much but write to their own personal folder and print out the work they're doing. So personal settings go to personal App Data or HKCU. Global settings go to All Users\App Data or HKLM. Most global settings are only applied during installation, while running elevated. People who own their own computer never needed to think about that. Whether a program stored settings in the program folder, personal app data, HKLM, or HKCU didn't much matter because everyone was a real Admin and usually had only one account on their computer. Whatever program you used was free to write to any location. Starting with Vista, especially, Microsoft started pushing the corporate model for everyone. There's no choice but to install to NTFS and by default no one has write access to Program Files, so software is forced to operate as though it were being run on a corporate workstation. If software stores data in the program folder it will usually be read-only for the current user. Settings in HKLM will be read-only. So the design has to be planned out, and most software now just goes along with the multiple-users-running- in-lackey-mode model -- saving settings to personal App data folders and files to the personal docs folder, with shortcuts going to the personal Start Menu folder or, occasionally, All Users Start Menu. The up side of that is better security. The down side is complications and hassles: For instance, most people don't know about App Data, so when Windows crashes and they have to reinstall, they don't realize they've lost all personal files and settings until it's too late, because they never knew to back up the App Data folders. Even if they had the foresight to back up the program folder, that does no good. Software no longer defaults to saving work files in the program folder. You think you're using your own computer, but Windows design no longer allows that. The only configuration option is to be set up as though you're a visitor at the local library, or an employee using a company computer. Your only options are in how you deal with that. There can also problems with "virtualization", whereby Windows, in order to reduce problems with software designed in the old ways, will just reroute writes to HKLM or Program Files, without telling you. So you could think you just made a system-wide adjustment when actually Windows just let you believe that. This ties into the discussion about whether one should run normally in lackey mode. It does provide a slight improvement in security, and people in business settings tend to think of it as the "normal" way to use a computer because in a business setting you're just borrowing a company tool. It's not your computer to access. But there's a bigger reason why Microsoft has shifted from optional lackey mode to enforced lackey mode: The corporate approach provides a handy way for Microsoft to shift the overriding paradigm, turning your computer into a services device. By now most people are used to the idea that they're locked out of most of their computer's files and folders, running in semi-kiosk mode. And people are used to having to sign on to Windows with a password, even if they only use one account. Microsoft has gradually redefined that as the normal way that one uses a computer. MS Office and Photoshop are two programs that now run as online services. And now with Win10 it's normal that you can't control what gets installed or when/how the system is updated/changed. Microsoft controls what goes in and what goes out, including their monitoring of your activity. So it no longer seems so odd to suddenly see ads or have a message pop up saying something like, "Hi there, [username], would you like to sign on to your online services account now?" |
#5
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user accounts
In message , Mayayana
writes: | Was there a way I could have avoided having both "All Users" and "me" - | I really just want one! - when I first turned on XP? [And probably a | similar question for 7, and later ...]) [] I periodically move all Start Menu shortcuts from my personal account to the All Users account, just for the sake of orderliness. I sometimes like to back up I might have to do that. the Start Menu folder, as a way of keeping track of installed software when I restore a disk image. ("Now what the heck was that DVD maker program I used to have...?") So I like to have it orderly and all in one place. I also rework the whole thing, anyway. I create folders in All Users\Start Menu\ with names like Utilities, Office, Graphics, etc. Then when I install a new Likewise: disc, genealogy, images, hardware, internet, PDF, registry, sound&video, search ... program that gives me a submenu with 6 idiotic links on it (visit online, help, uninstall, feedback, etc) I just move the program link into the appropriate folder and delete the rest. If one allows the installers to have their way the result is a mess. Well, I just move the app.'s folder into the relevant category folder - unless it only has one link in it (I hate that!). Windows displays a composite of All Users and current user, but that doesn't matter if all shortcuts are in All Users. Yes, I've figured that out. Most program installers won't give you a choice as to where they put the links starting out. I think Irfan View is one of the few that asks whether you want to install for the current user or all users. So it's a willy nilly kind of thing. I agree many don't, though I think I've encountered others that do give you the choice. Of the ones that don't give you the choice, have you found they tend to favour all users, or current user? In the past, business users have generally used Win NT on NTFS, set up to be limited users on company machines, with a copy of MS Office, or whatever. The normal user in that scenario can't do much but write to their own personal folder and print out the work they're doing. So personal settings go to personal App Data or HKCU. Global settings go to All Users\App Data or HKLM. Most global settings are only applied during installation, while running elevated. Yes, my works machine resets my Word (etc.) _templates_ to the company default ones whenever I log in. (Soon fixed that, of course!) [] [rest of paranoid rant deleted, though I mostly agree with it, and they _are_ out to get you/us!] -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf .... although we regard it as undesirable for children to drive cars, own credit cards or enter public houses, we don't prevent grown-ups from choosing to do so. (Quoted by Paul Bray in Computing, 3 October 1996.) |
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