[Aachen]

https://xkcd.com/1200/

It feels bad to post a link-only response but I really don't have anything to add to it. On a system used by multiple persons, sure, you help prevent that a compromise on sister's account immediately impacts mom's and dad's accounts, but that qualification isn't in the comment and probably most computers that HN readers use are single user. Or on a server, dropping privileges speaks for itself. But if you're on a desktop and you do online banking in your browser and also open email attachments on that computer... Not being admin would only help clean up the situation without needing to make a live boot (namely, you could theoretically trust the admin user and switch to that) but this isn't recommended practice anyway if you're not a malware specialist and can make sure it is fully gone. I cannot think of any situation where a single user desktop system benefits from admin privilege separation

So basically, what the comic conveys

> The best anti malware

Not being admin doesn't prevent malware from running and gaining persistence within your user account...

[Melatonic]

Most malware I've commonly seen on individuals computers (like the grandma example) comes about when they want to install something and use and installer that has it bundled with legit software. Or they visit a site that's a shady copy of a legit one.

[seb1204]

So the mum or grandpa should also use an admin account to execute the file they just downloaded?

[Aachen]

They need this access to be able to use their computer, but even if they don't manage their own computer... maybe read the above comment and then let me know what I've overlooked rather than me repeating the whole thing