I've been using Slackware 9 since it came out ... but always with the root account. I realise this is not secure particularly as I now have internet access setup .....

So, I'm looking for shortcuts and tips as to how I go about setting up my box for other users. I've setup two users with access to the necessary drives and what have you and switched to graphical login. One of the users I want to have the 'styling' of the root account (as I've spent time setting the look and feel how I want it). How can I do this?

I realise that I'll need to use visudo to set up some sudo-ers ... I've tried previous suggestions of exporting nano as editor but this doesn't seem to work (just puts me into a vi environment ... the only command for which I know (or want to!) is :q ). How can I sort this out?

What scripts don't get executed when I log in as a normal user? For example: In root account I have firehol setting up my iptables (initiated in one of scripts in /etc/rc.d, I forget which). Will login as a simple user negate this setup of iptables?

Finally, I've installed alot of apps as #. Things like scribus and opera. How can I ensure that these can be accessed by normal users ... is it just a case of "chmod a+x /path/to/app" ? Will this then still use the same cache or scratch directories without further work?

I've made this quite a long question but one I think most users will come upon that start with Slack (or other linux) from Windoze.

Help much appreciated.

I should probably have mentioned I use KDE (but always with a console open ;0)>

When the system boots, depending on the runlevel, (5 for graphical login), everything is started in /etc/rcx* up to the runlevel AND /etc/rc.d is also run. No matter what you login as, everything as configured is run. So the firewall, all services, etc are started as root. Virtually all apps will be executable by regular users, and /usr/bin will be in their default path. For apps such as Opera, they are likley added to the start menu, the regular user can just drag these to the desktop. I don't know how you configure the default look of root to other accounts though.

If you use dialup, you may have to chmod u+s /usr/sbin/kppp to be able to execute as non root because only root can dial up and start pppd. Otherwise, you should be good to go.

For ease of maintenance, you probably want to grab Extras-->System Tools-->File Manager Super User Mode to the desktop. When you select it, it prompts for root's password and you can then navigate/change config files easier.

RO