Hi guys, when I set up Ubuntu, the first account I created was an admin account. Is it OK to use this on a daily basis for ordinary tasks or should I create a standard account and use that? I ask because if I use the admin account it seems kind of OK because it still asks me for the password when I install software etc so, it seems to me, I'm admin all right but it stills require me to authenticate as admin, so not so bad. What's your opinion?

The primary user created during the install has root/admin rights by default but needs to authenticate to do system actions. You would need to preface any command with sudo and enter your primary user password to authenticat, that's the design. The link below is the Ubuntu documentation on the subject, much more detailed.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

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Yes-ok-use == No-create-another... That is the way Ubu designed it (I think).

Btw, don't confuse an 'account' entry in /etc/passwd like joe/user/jazzo/...
Which was that 1st account you created,
thus receiving 'admin' privlidges (something in /etc/{sudoers,group} I think),
With an 'account' == entry in /etc/passwd (,shadow,group,...) of literally "admin"
Which likely does NOT exist!!! (better LQguru explanations welcome here)

Thus, I say: there's (usually) no such thing as an "admin account"!!!

When you sudo, you escalate your plain-user privlidges to 'root'-level.
https://www.safaribooksonline.com/li...8/ch38s04.html

And a lqGuru did indeed 'ninja' my sloooow ramblings

The default user account created during the install process on Ubuntu has sudoers privs. It's OK to use this account for normal use but if you want to be even more secure, at the expense of a little inconvenience, you can create another "normal" user without sudo privs for normal use. Problem then is you will have to log out and then log in with your "admin" user to install applications, perform maintenance, etc. More secure but you may find it inconvenient.

Good idea #4. But login (command: see man) or su - firstuser from normal may be possible&simpler than GUI logout.

Depending on the distro, you can't su unless you are wheel so that may be a security concern.

This article from the Ubuntu Wiki may help: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

I have never understood Ubuntu's creepy sudo fetish (and I do assert that "fetish" is an appropriate term). It's something peculiar to the *buntus and to hardly anyone else. It's quite easy to overcome:

Once you have entered a known password for root, you can use the su command.

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Yeah, if only Ubuntu never did that weird sudo fetish thing at the start.

Oh well.

The most helpful advice for the typical Ubuntu user, though, is to just go with the flow and use the first user for everyday use. For better or worse, that's how Ubuntu is designed to be used, and that's what's reflected in all Ubuntu documentation, help, how-tos and so on.

If you really want, you can add a proper password to the root account, but I just use "sudo su -" in *buntu rather than "su -" (which is what I do in everything else, such as Debian).

great thanks guys for all the useful advice!