Take back your computer

I was talking with a friend last week about the trouble he's had keeping his girlfriend's computer spam, virus, and spyware free. Its been an exhausting effort for him. He recounted the various procedures and steps that he had gone through and was asking for my opinion. I explained to him that he had neglected to see the obvious solution. Viruses and spyware need administrator access in order to get into a system, so the easiest solution is to limit administrator access.

The advantage of Microsoft Windows when it first came to market was that it allowed the average lay person to manage their own computer. This was a great advantage. It allowed each computer owner to install and remove software, create documents, and so forth. This was also before the Internet caught on with the average computer user. The average computer user has no idea what I virus does or how spyware gets into a system. More importantly, the average computer user simply does not care. They only want a system to get their work done. The Internet has created a gigantic obstacle for Windows because the average computer user is often confused and duped into installing spyware while getting a cool daily weather icon in the taskbar.

So I recommended to my friend that he turn on (its already there by default) the Administrator account. Secondly, he should adjust the permissions of his girlfriend's account from "Computer Administrator" down to "Limited Account." This way, she can use all the programs but won't be able to install software. She also won't be the victim of the newest Internet Explorer exploit that downloads and installs viruses and spyware when visiting a website (Use Firefox Web Browser instead!). Then whenever the computer needs to have its software upgraded, you simply log out of the normal account, log into the administrator account, update the software and then revert to the normal account.

I've currently have had this setup working for a sibling of mine for the past year with great success. His computer, once a furious hell hole of swarming viruses and member of the hacked computer borg, is now back among the members of functioning computers. He's able to create Office documents, chat on IM, send and receive email without having to worry about anything hurting his computer and without monthly phonecalls talking up my time. By the way, if you still have problems, just get a Mac Mini and be done with Windows; I'm forcing my parents to get one as their next computer.