Just installed Win2K! But...

[Liquid Snake]

Some questions.

1) Concerning user accounts
I logged into Admin account and created an account for myself under Power Users. However, under my account, I can't install most software. What permissions do the Power Users group have? Can any of them be modified? I end up having to login to Admin to install most programs. I assume that they don't install because they need to install files in the system directory, or need to write to the registry. Also, when I install these programs, the shortcuts are usually placed under "All Users" in the Local Settings directory. But when I login to my account, the shortcuts aren't there sometimes, unless I copy them from "All Users" to my account. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

2) ICQ
I had to install ICQ using Admin account. ICQ works and starts up fine under Admin account. However, it crashes and gives an "Abnormal Program Termination" error when I start it using my account.

3) Matrox drivers
Which drivers has the fastest ICD? In Win98, there was a Half-Life problem where the menu would appear over the game screen if I started a LAN game. Does the Win2K ICD have the same problem? If it does, is there a solution to it (other than hitting ESC and then resume game)?

4) Misc.
Anything else I should know about Win2K? I have had no previous NT experience. Anything I should know about NTFS? I have two NTFS partitions, similar to what I had before (two FAT32 partitions). One for Windows and apps and another for data. I still have my MX300 in. Haven't tried the new 2559 drivers yet. Gonna order my SBLive! and DVD drive soon. So far, it seems the network performance is excellent. My download and upload speeds are almost exactly the same, like they are supposed to be, unlike under Win98 (crappy network performance).

[This message has been edited by Liquid Snake (edited 02 December 2000).]

[DosFreak]

Use the Administrator account or give your account admin privleges.....but if your account has admin then there isn't a reason to have another account.....

[spoogenet]

For one, it is often recommended to rename the Administrator account (for security reasons), but the necessity of this really depends on how/where you use your machine.

Two, I would suggest that you just create yourself an account and add it to the Administrators group. This will give you all the benefits of being an Administrator, and if you rename the Administrator account, will help protect your box a little while not limiting your usage of it.

I really don't see any reason to use an account that is not part of the Administrators group unless you are having multiple people logging in and want to limit their access to certain resources. But if it's just for you to log into at home or something, then go ahead and be an Administrator, and that should solve all your problems. While it probably won't retroactively solve your problems, it will prevent them in the future.

b

[Liquid Snake]

I use the machine at home. No one else uses it. So I guess I could use the Admin account.

[xortam]

I would suggest that you set up two accounts, one of which is admin. You would normally use the more restricted account so you don't inadvertently change your environment. This discipline is more secure but go ahead and stick with admin if you're not concerned about system integrity.

[Rick]

The other option is to right-click on the setup file. From the menu that pops up select "run as..". That'll allow you to run just that install with admin rights.

[Liquid Snake]

Another question. My Kenwood 72X drive now has trouble reading some burned CD-R\CD-RW discs. My Plextor reads them fine, and the Kenwood could read them before in Win98. I turned on DMA for both drives, which didn't have much effect.

[Ant]

Test

[HedsSpaz]

Anything I should know about NTFS?

Since no one mentioned anything on this. Yes there is something you should know. NTFS cannot be read by Win9x or WinNT 4.0 pre sp4.

Which means, that if you ever have need to install 98, you had better have a Fat16 or Fat32 partition somewhere. Also, if you someday decide to install Linux, write support for NTFS is flakey currently. It can read without a problem however. Basically, if you want to be able to transfer files between Linux and Windows, you need either a Fat16 or a Fat32 partition.

So, even though this thread is 4 days old, I hope notice this as it may matter some day.

Ian

[spoogenet]

HedSpaz:

NTFS cannot be read by Win9x or WinNT 4.0 pre sp4.

What do you mean it can't be read by WinNT pre-SP4??? Is 2000's NTFS different and therefore unreadable by earlier SP's of NT4?

I'm not quibbling with you, I'm curious. I thought that the 2000 NTFS was the same as the NT4 NTFS.

Thanks for a clarification,
b

[DosFreak]

"What do you mean it can't be read by WinNT pre-SP4??? Is 2000's NTFS different and therefore unreadable by earlier SP's of NT4?"

1. As of Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 and above support NTFS 5.
2. Windows 2000 uses NTFS 5. Any NT4 formated NTFS drive will automagically become converted to NTFS 5 drivers upon bootup of NT 5.
3. *I think the conversion does not take place until you fully boot into 2000 so say you install NT4 on C: and 2000 on D:. If you have NOT booted into Windows 2000 yet you should be able to boot into NT4 and install SP4+.

[spoogenet]

Well that just about explains it. I take it that doing an SP4 upgrade to SP3 does not convert your NTFS to NTFS 5, correct?

Not that I'll be working much with NT4 anyways, just still curious.

Thanks,
b