no, using su, or sudo, is called being smart. I could also say running an windows box without any anti-virus, anti-spyware, not running a firewall and running as admin, using it the way I think I should, even if it becomes part of a botnet and sends spam messages out making everyone elses life worse. I could also saying, me driving a car like a maniac is doing what I think I should drive my car the way I should even if it kills someone. I could come up with a hundred more examples, but I think you would get the picture by now, its ok to use something that you own, the way you want, but you should be responsible about it.

Running as root in X is not irresponsible. Taking your approach would be like asking myself for permission to do anything. I would even go as far to say that taking your approach would be just as bad as Vista's "advanced security features". To get a better picture of what I'm saying, go to http://www.aple.com/getamac/ads/ and watch the video about Vista's security. Not running as root and using su or sudo is ridiculous

If it is so ridiculous, then why do most people say not to run as root?, you don't ask yourself permission to do "anything", just when you install/uninstall programs(which most people don't do alot), or editing the system configuration(eg. editing the default run level). You are taking this way out of context. If it is so ridiculous then why does just about every security expert, and just about everyone here recommend it, and why do most distros(excluding slackware-based distros like Zenwalk), make you set up a normal user account along with a root account, and setup su and sudo

I'm tired of arguing this point, so this will be my last post in this thread. If you would kindly take the time to look at it from my point-of-view, go here http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/vie...8bd71534727938.

The link above is to a forum is about the Puppy Linux distro, but can actually apply to all of them that are used as personal computer OSes (i.e. NOT in a business environment). Pay special attention to the posts by Flash all through page 1, and the post at the top of page 2 by Bruce B. Pay even more attention to Argument 3 in Bruce B's post on page 2.

Even though we argued about it, I am very grateful for both of your willingness and quickness to reply. Most forums I have been on it takes days to get even one post.

Thanks, ;-)
Andy

I read them, and while a few of their comments are nicely worded
they certainly don't make not running as root any more feasible.

Just because putting on the seat-belt means that it takes me 5-10
seconds longer to get the car started I'll still put it on for the
extra safety. And while the primary concern is for my own safety
it's a very selfish view to argue that that's all that matters on
any networked machine. The big issue with running as root is that
*if* you get compromised, a LKM is very hard to detect. If the
attacker can hack your account but can't root himself he'll be
far more likely to be spotted.

As far as I'm concerned they're both acting stupid and dragging up
silly arguments to back their laziness a posteriori.



Cheers,
Tink