next up previous contents index
Next: Shadow Password Support Up: Step-by-Step Installation Previous: Set the Root Password   Contents   Index

Create an Ordinary User

The system will ask you to create an ordinary user account. This account should be your main personal login. You should not use the root account for daily use or as your personal login.

Why not? It's a lot harder to do damage to the system as an ordinary user than as root; system files are protected. Another reason is that you might be tricked into running a Trojan horse program - that is, a program that takes advantage of your superuser powers to compromise the security of your system behind your back. Any good book on Unix system administration will cover this topic in more detail. Consider reading one if this topic is new to you.

Name the user account anything you like. If your name is John Smith, you might use ``smith,'' ``john,'' ``jsmith,'' or ``js.''



John Goerzen / Ossama Othman