XP Pro Accounts

Other than the fact that the built-in administrator account cannot be deleted, what is the difference between it and a user created administrator account? Some sites say that the built-in account should never be used, and instead you should create a administrator account, but no reason is ever given, so I am wondering what this is about?

 

it is a fail safe.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.03.windowsconfidential.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.01.securitywatch.aspx

above is some interesting reading on this.

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I understand that the native administrator account polls periodically for performance counters. I used to disable the counters with exctrlst.exe. But I always ran as Administrator (but renamed)

 

Most excellent links! I had been all over that website on my own and never saw the above, and probably never would of stumbled across it. Link #2 also touched on a question I was preparing to ask:
If I password protect the built-in guest account, disable that account, then later re-enable it, will the password still be working? And is the answer the same for all built-in accounts?

 

To tell you the truth I do not know, but you can test it. I have always disabled the guest account, and never have reenabled it.

have searched for an answer but did not find one, will keep searching.

 

from here

so I believe that the password would still be there on the reenabled account.

 

Good to know! Would this also apply to all the built-in accounts? As mentioned, I only need one limited account and one administrator account, so I am looking for a way to lockdown all the needless junk, and after a lot of Google searching, this method (127 letter password protection & then disabling account) is the best I could find.

 

I believe that it should work with all.