Running as root

[m0untainrebel]

I just installed Backtrack 3 as my main operating system on my laptop, and I've been fooling around with configuring it a bunch. One thing I've done is created a new user for general use, copied root's home dir to the user's home dir, chowned all the files to belong to the user, and logged in as the user. It was a pain in the ass getting everything working because I'm not as familiar with linux as I'd like to be -- like, I have to change file permissions all over to let a non-root user run startx, or sudo, etc. After finally getting it working alright, with KDE up and running, letting me sudo stuff if I want, I ran into more hurdles -- like I can't connect to a wireless network without being root, and I can't even ping something without being root. I'm sure I can figure all this stuff out if I spend the time on it, but I decided I might as well just run as root.

But my question is, is it really a good idea to always be running as root? It's a lot easier, sure, and you don't always have to be typing in an administrator password to configure your system, but doesn't that drop your security a whole lot? I'm mostly used to Debian and Ubuntu, and this is new to me, but isn't it just conventional wisdom that you should use a non-root user for your daily use?

[Archangel-Amael]

But my question is, is it really a good idea to always be running as root?

NO NO NO
But if you want to run as root and hose your box don't come running to the forums kicking and screaming about it. lol

but isn't it just conventional wisdom that you should use a non-root user for your daily use?

And I think that you even answered your own question here.

Yes it is "conventional wisdom" however like i said if you want to run all the time as root then go ahead.
at the least if you do hose yourself at least you may learn to not do it again!

[imported_harry]

For a 'normal' Operating System yes you would not tend to run as root/admin for day to day tasks - however BT is not really an OS for everyday use and many of the tools included with it require you to be root to work correctly.

Personally I would stay as root when using it and get something else to use for your everyday system.