[P1] Logging in as root

[lbdesigns at earthlink.net]

On Sunday, February 2, 2003, at 01:29  PM, Meg St. Clair wrote:

> Now, my question:
> what bad things am I going to make happen? How bad could it be? Could 
> I do
> something that a reinstall won't fix? I'm really not trying to be flip.

It's not just the bad things that you might make happen by deleting the 
wrong files or exploring different settings. You could unknowingly 
cause a security problem. If you run apps/services as root, that could 
cause unexpected changes to configuration that could cause problems for 
your normal admin or other user accounts. If you have an always-on 
internet connection, this could be especially risky.

The biggest danger could come from the freedom to delete important 
files that might not look important -- this is a particular risk to 
long-time Mac users who are accustomed to "pruning" their System Folder 
of unneeded files. Logging in as root to solve specific problems that 
are not easily or quickly resolved using another method, doing only 
what's necessary and what you know is the right thing to do, and then 
logging out is not as likely to cause serious problems as logging in as 
root to do general troubleshooting that doesn't require superuser 
privileges, particularly when that troubleshooting involves internet 
access.

It is, of course, your computer and you can do what you want to with 
it. :o)