Admin vs non-admin accounts in Windows 10

Introduction

Coke versus Pepsi. Mac versus PC. Red versus Blue. There are some arguments that have been around for so long that the idea of one side or the other being 100% correct are slim to none. Each side has its strengths and weaknesses, along with particular use cases. If we try to use one particular option all the time, we may be all right most of the time. But there will always be situations where we come across one element that the other side excels at, and we either have to ask for assistance or find a workaround.

Admin versus non-admin accounts have been known to create bitter arguments in organizations: users want total control of their individual workstation while other people don’t want the responsibility that an admin level account brings. Which one is correct? As we mentioned before, both sides have their strengths and uses, and we’ll briefly go over some of those in the following article.

Standard users

For the sake of keeping things simplified, we’re going to refer to non-admin accounts as standard users. These arguments apply in situations for both local and domain users. 

When a user sits down at their workstation for the day, there are a few things that regularly happen: they check their email, start up regularly used programs, browse the web for a while and then get down to business. After a while, they’re done for the day, close everything down and lock up.

For a large number of people, this is what they need of a daily driver account — the user that you’re logged in with primarily throughout the day. Even in advanced cases, unless it’s a part of the user’s job they don’t install applications, drivers and other system-level functions on a daily basis. This is (Read more...)