Installing as Administrator question

[JCook]

I have two accounts on my DCS World PC (Windows 7 Pro 64-bit).

 

 

The Accounts are: Administrator and Joe (user). I usually login as Joe and do everything as this user since it does not have administrator rights. I use the Administrator account specifically for installing software or other Admin required tasks. This is done to provide a level of security.

 

 

I am curious how other users who utilize this admin / user configuration do their DCS updates and installs - and I'm looking for some recommendations. Here are three options:

 

 

1. Login and start DCS with my Joe (non-admin) account and then provide the Administrator pw if prompted for additional access privlages when updating or installing DCS modules.

or

2. Logged in as Joe, right-click on the DCSWorld icon, select "Run as Administrator", and proceed with any updates or module installs.Basically running the current session as administrator.

or

3. Login to Windows as administrator, start DCS and proceed with any DCS updates or module starts.

 

In the past I have used option 1, however occasionally multiple windows can block views and time-out processes if something is waiting for admin access. Using option 2 or 3 - my concern is that running the game later as Joe the program or modules may not be available or there may be an access issue.

 

To be clear - All of my regular DCS gameplay is done with my Joe (non-admin account)

 

What has been your experience? What do you advise?

Thanks

[BlacleyCole]

Run dcs as administrator in user account also ovgme, srs, etc

Edited July 3, 2018 by BlacleyCole

[Buzzles]

Genuine question: Why bother?

 

If it's a non public machine in your home and you're the only user, you gain absolutely *nothing* by penalising yourself this way.

 

If you're of the persuasion to install or run *questionable* software, then you should be doing so using a VM.

 

Any seriously nasty bit of software will exploit a lot of other holes in order to give itself full unlimited admin, completely ignoring UAC.

 

The only point of not having admin privs on a user account is to stop other users installing things/making global changes.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Buzzles

[JCook]

BlacleyCole - I didn't understand your text. What were you trying to say?

Buzzles - you didn't answer any of my questions. Thanks okay, maybe you don't know the answer. But why bother responding with something else?

[David OC]

I only use the admin account and have external backups of anything important. Sounds like a lot of mucking around for a home PC JCook, many here don't even run antivirus only defender and are careful to not download crap.

 

Don't rely on just having a user account and make sure you back things up externally and unplug these drives from your pc when not in use.

[Buzzles]

Buzzles - you didn't answer any of my questions. Thanks okay, maybe you don't know the answer. But why bother responding with something else?

Err, you asked:

What do you advise?

I answered that question with an implicit suggestion you drop your swapping between admin and user accounts and just use the admin (or give the user admin) because it's giving you no benefit security wise.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Buzzles

[JCook]

No Buzzles. No.

Clearly my questions are about the three options I listed - looking for answers in that context. You clearly won't or can't answer on that basis which is fine. If nobody has experience with what I am looking for that is fine also. I'm not here to teach security basics to people - usually the DCS forums are more helpful.

[Art-J]

If nobody has experience with what I am looking for that is fine also. I'm not here to teach security basics to people - usually the DCS forums are more helpful.

 

That's how it's going to end I suppose, as You will struggle to find anyone here using such an intricate (though utterly useless from DCS point of view) accounts structure on their personal gaming machines.

 

That being said, your options 2. and 3. are the same thing for dcs_updater.exe, so use whatever feels best for you. Availability of modules should be the same as well, as activation data is either stored in relevant registry entries (for older modules), or tied to your ED account (for newest ones), and neither are affected by how You log into your system. Option 1 sounds clumsy for the reasons you pointed out, so I would drop it as well.

[JCook]

According to DCS tech support - option 2 is the way to go.

We can consider this thread closed.