I rarely use the root account for anything more than the occasional system update, or to reset my modem, and then I su into it.

Anything that I need to do including starting my dialup connection I have the group permissions set up accordingly.

To those running as root all the time:

Running as an upriviledged user is one of the best security features available to a Linux user. If you're checking your email, surfing the web, or doing ANYTHING pertaining to the USE of your computer, there's no reason you shouldn't run as a regular user. The only time you should run as root is when you specifically need to do something pertaining to the maintainance or running of the computer, like installing a package, or changing system settings. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't really ever log in as root-- you should use su or some other tool and gain root priviledge.

One big reason is malicious code. One of the ways Windows virii do so much damage is because as a regular Windows 9x user, you have full power to do anything to your system, including trashing it. Even in Windows XP, IIRC, new users are automatically added to the Administrators group. If you open an e-mail with malicious scripting in it, the code can have its way with your machine if you're running as a priviledged user. In a properly configured Windows system, or in any other Unix-like system, the damage such a script could do would be limited to only the files the unpriviledged user had permission to modify. 9 times out of 10, that unpriviledged user won't have file permission to delete any important system files.

I'm not going to dissuade anyone from running as root all the time, but I will stand there and laugh when they accidentally delete everything on their system when they really meant to delete everything in an mp3 directory.

Well said, alc

Logon as root...all the time...???
That's how my boss thinks, even if he has a user account that can do everything needed...there's that feeling of power and total control that seems to bait it....

Being the admin on a machine with over 300 logged in at once, the less root users I see the better

At home I don't use root unless I'm updating or installing...there is just no reason whatsoever to logon as root all the time, being lazy is no excuse to logon as root...

"Shortcuts make the trips shorter, as long as you don't run out of road" - me

I have read here and in other forums about what a pain it is or takes too much time to su to root. Oh common. If that is how you want to set up your box and not learn about proper file permissions, then so be it. Like alc6379 said, we will all get a good laugh out of your blunders. :cheesy: