If you’re running as an admin user in Apple’s Mac OS X then now is the time to step down into a standard user account. Reports over the last few months detail how a malformed installer package could gain root access without a password meaning that unless your running as a standard user you could be vulnerable.

Mac Geekery lists the steps you need to take in order to change your account type, as follows:

• Make a new user. Call it admin (or flyingmonkey, whatever).
• Make it an admin.
• Logout or FUS (fast-user-switch) to the new admin user and strip your user of administrative rights.
• Logout of the new admin.

This means that when you install any new software or want to modify system files that you will be asked for the admin password - a small price to pay for piece of mind that are secure.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 24th, 2007 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Quick Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.