Standard vs Administrator accounts

Given what happened to a lot of people recently with the MAC Defender malware (yes they did use MAC, not Mac), is it about time to advise all normal Mac users to run with Standard accounts, rather than Administrator accounts? This is the advice given by Apple (pdf) after all, but I get the impression that most users just go with the account they're given when they first run setup (which is an admin account).

Of course those of us who know what we're doing could continue with admin accounts, but the average user perhaps doesn't know enough to be entrusted with admin rights?

But there does have to be a user with admin privileges to run some installers, run software update etc etc.

- Simon

Of course those of us who know what we're doing could continue with admin accounts, but the average user perhaps doesn't know enough to be entrusted with admin rights?

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If the user knows the admins password, which he will if he is the sole user of the Machine as he choose it when setting it up for the first time, he essentially has the same rights as an Admin and it would make no difference when he is installing something malicious that needs the Admin pass even if he is on a Standard user account and not the Admin one.

As stated earlier, the document you link to DOES NOT recommend that people run in User mode. It recommends that a "best practice" is for every account *other than the Administrator* (ie, you) should be run in User mode.

From the pdf -

Each user needing administrator access should have an administrator account in addition to a standard or managed account.
Administrator users should only use their administrator accounts for administrator purposes. By requiring an administrator to have a personal account for typical use and an administrator account for administrator purposes, you reduce the risk of an administrator performing actions like accidentally reconfiguring secure system preferences.

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Each administrator should have two accounts: a standard account for daily use and an administrator account for administrator access. Remember that the nonadministrative account should be used for most daily activity, especially when accessing the network or Internet.
The administrator’s account should be used only when absolutely necessary to accomplish administrative tasks.

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