System partition

[Mike-Bracknell]

There is no functional difference between the built-in Administrator account and an account granted administrative rights via membership of the Administrators group.

...other than the fact that UAC is disabled by default for the built-in administrator account. Also, some legacy software written by monkeys won't install on local or domain accounts with local administrator group rights, and require the built-in administrator to install.

(this being bad practice, as the best-practice methods teach you to rename, re-password and disable the administrator account, create new accounts for administration with admin rights, and create a new account called administrator with very few rights as a honey-pot).

[Saab Dastard]

Yes, Mike is right - in Vista, Win 7 & Server 2008:

Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator Account

This security setting determines the behavior of Admin Approval mode for the Built-in Administrator account. With UAC the Administrator account still runs by default with limited privileges and requires a privelege elevation consent to accomplish many administrative tasks.

The options are:

* Enabled: The Built-in Administrator will logon in Admin Approval Mode. By default any operation that requires elevation of privilege will prompt for consent and allow the admin to choose either Permit or Deny.

* Disabled: The Built-in Administrator will logon in XP-compatible mode and run all applications by default with full administrative privilege without requiring consent.

Default: Disabled

SD

[Loose rivets]

Smaller partitions. Do you still get a more economical Sector Size? That used to be important.


I had a thread running a while back which 'Partition Specific.'

I learned a lot from this forum, but am still not decided on several issues.

I'll assume that one accepts the disc is going to have at least two (usable) partitions. And remember there's a hidden one of a few MB right at the front end.

I'll also assume that a third party tool is not to be used. I still have an uneasy feeling about the way they go about the job. Just not as clean as a F-Disk procedure. Or put this way, What you see is not really how the disc is divvied up.

So, to use the on-board tool in W7, it needed space to work in. You'd think this was just a requirement to shove things about until you had the drives, and the stuff you wanted in those drives. But I couldn't do it.


First. In W7 the HD size to some extent dictates the (minimum) size of the first partition. I got some 270 gig - where I wanted 100 gig for the OS, and the apps that insist upon alighting there.

At this point I should say that I had already created 3 drives, but that C was the culprit in as much as it was too big.

Despite taking advice here, and looking VERY carefully for the right button to press, it created C drive the same on 3 different attempts.

One has to make room for subsequent drives. But, some system files stopped me 'smalerizing' C. I made several attempts to move the files 'down' a bit, but failed to do so.

Since it was a new drive, I didn't mind formatting it. I assume(d) that formatting was still the same as the old days. Quick: little change. Full, a new mapping out of what's already there. Low-level: Writing to the disc to lay it out for formatting. I only wanted a 'full format' but at the same time, the option to size C

For a slew of reasons, I ended up using XP to do this. It worked seamlessly. Then I full-formatted the 3 drives using W7

I did the thing with XP, leaving the other drives in tact, and even some data on them which I could push about to format in turn. This left a space between C and D which was available to the W7 disc manager.

It all worked. I'd managed to get what I wanted without a 3rd party's input. It was a chore, but doing it again would be a breeze.

I should end by saying I'd had a bad experience with P Magic in the past. Caused me to F-Disk to get rid of a lot of hidden stuff.