Admin/Admin Privileges in Win 8.1

[WWGD]

Hi All,
My brother just gave me his old computer, of which he was the admin.
The computer is not password-protected, i.e., I do not have to login into it
to use it. I guess strictly-speaking, I am not the admin, as the computer name
is under his name. Still, given the computer is not password-protected, is there
any restriction on what I ( or anyone) can do in the computer? Would I have to
reset the computer to factory state in order to become the admin myself?

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Make yourself an admin.

 

[WWGD]

Make yourself an admin.

Is Windows security that lax that anyone can just go on and make themselves admin? I thought there would be serious obstacles to allowing that, given once you're admin, you can do/access anything you want.

 

[OCR]

Make yourself an admin.

You already are...

My brother just gave me his old computer, of which he was the admin.
I do not have to login into it to use it.

You are your brother when you use it... lol

Is Windows security that lax that anyone can just go on and make themselves admin?

If your brother set up his account that way, everyone that uses the computer is your brother... the administrator.

My first name really is Paul, and if my wife uses this computer... it thinks she is me... For security purposes, you really shouldn't run all the time as the admin, though... I have a non-admin account that I use most of the time.I might be wrong about some of this stuff, too...

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Is Windows security that lax that anyone can just go on and make themselves admin? I thought there would be serious obstacles to allowing that, given once you're admin, you can do/access anything you want.

If the computer is not password protected all the security features are useless.

 

[OCR]

Oh, and BTW, the picture of "Paul" as Local Account Administrator came from here...

Ground Control to Major Tom

 

[phinds]

Is Windows security that lax that anyone can just go on and make themselves admin?

No, it is not lax, it just allows YOU to decide, when you buy and set up a computer, whether or not you want security. If you want it to be lax (and your brother did) you have that option --- that is your/his choice, not Microsoft's.

 

[WWGD]

Ok, thanks all, my bad, I violated the 90-10 rule: 90% of the difficulty in enforcing security is having people follow rules , 10% is setting them up, doing the technical work. Still, not sure I understood, am I formally the admin? I know I have admin-like powers, but I am getting messages when using SQL Server not allowing me to do certain things, on the grounds that I am not the admin. I am signing in using Windows Authentication, which would most often imply I am the admin, but SQL Server suggests I am not.

 

[I like Serena]

Check if you can create a file in C:\Windows.
Only admins can (of Windows on the local system).

 

[phinds]

and then "change your account type" and it will tell you if you are an admin and if you are not, it will let you become one (or set up a new account that IS an admin, which really is better so that you can run normally as NOT an admin)

 

[WWGD]

View attachment 213551

Ah, the trick of looking it up , my bad, I just though I could avoid having to filter thru the nonsense one gets when searching, thanks.

 

[I like Serena]

For the record, there's a difference between being a local Windows admin, and being an admin when accessing a network or dedicated database program.

 

[WWGD]

For the record, there's a difference between being a local Windows admin, and being an admin when accessing a network or dedicated database program.

Thanks, but if you are the windows admin, don't you become (an) admin in SQL Server , by using Windows authentication? EDIT: Though I don't think the converse is true.

 

[I like Serena]

Thanks, but if you are the windows admin, don't you become (an) admin in SQL Server , by using Windows authentication? EDIT: Though I don't think the converse is true.

'Windows Authentication' is the term used when accessing network resources.
It is separate from just logging in locally on a Windows computer, although Microsoft has integrated the two somewhat.

Locally you log in with either a local account, or with a domain account that belongs to a larger network.
Locally on your system, both types of accounts can be added to the Administrators group, meaning you can manage your local system completely.
For access to remote resources, your permissions are managed remotely by a network administrator.
I'm not familiar with SQLServer, but I expect it has its own dedicated user account management. To change permissions you likely have to log into a SQLServer Admin console.

Windows does allow you through 'Integrated Windows Authentication' to identify yourself to remote resources through your local login.
But the permissions you have there are outside the control of your local system.