OK to leave Administrator account enabled all the time?

System:  Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

The Administrator account is disabled by default.  Is it a bad idea to enable this account and leave it enabled all the time even if it password protected?

For what reason would you do this?

I assume that you are referring to the native Administrator account.  Most of us just create an admin account in Users and employ that. there is no need to use the native account.

Enable Hidden Administrator Account In Windows

Louis

To me, leaving the hidden administrator account enabled is a very bad idea. First of all, the account was intended to be an emergency and setup account and was definitely NOT intended to be used as a regular administrator account. How hard is it to create your own administrator account? Second, it's a security risk. When you create your own administrator account, it is an "unelevated" account as it prompted by User Account Control when you make changes to your computer. On the other hand, User Account Control is disabled in the hidden administrator account as it is an "elevated" account. Furthermore, malware always likes to hijack the hidden administrator account. And third, and most importantly, the very knowledgeable Grinler (aka Lawrence Abrams, the owner of this site) agrees with me:

The built-in Administrator account is disabled by default in Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. It is disabled to enhance security as this is a common account targeted by hacking scripts and hackers when they try and access your computer without your permissions. In my opinion, you should leave the Administrator account disabled, but as there have been many requests for this information, I have decided to write this guide. This guide will provide three methods that will allow you to enable your Administrator account in Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. It is important to note that in order to perform either of these methods you will need to be logged in with an account with Administrator privileges. Also, if you are enabling the Administrator account for the first time you will also need to assign it a strong password as it does not have a password by default.

from here

The built-in Administrator account is one of the most targeted account names by malicious programs and hackers that are attempting to access your computer without your permission. It is therefore a wise security precaution to rename the Administrator account to another less common name so that it can no longer be targeted. By default, the Administrator account in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 are disabled, while in Windows XP it is enabled. Regardless, of your Windows version, if you choose to use the Administrator account, you can use the following tutorial to rename the account to make it less susceptible to hacking attempts.

A word of caution, if you rename your Administrator account and forget the name or the password, then it can be quite difficult regaining access to the account. Therefore, be sure to write the name and password down and store it somewhere so you can access it if needed. It is also suggested that you rename the account to include the word admin., such as Super-Admin & MyPCAdmin, so if you bring it into a repair shop or consultant, they would have a good idea that it was the renamed account.

from here

Edited by bwv848, 02 January 2017 - 06:21 PM.

If you want to enable it, make sure you rename it and use a strong password -- don't use words you can find in a dictionary, even if you replace letters with symbols, like 3 for 'e', etc. Either create a very strong password for it -- around 12 characters, totally random, with upper and lower case letters, numbers AND special characters -- or, as hamluis suggested, create your own admin account and leave the default admin account disabled.

Thank you everyone.  I asked this question out of curiosity.  I will leave it disabled.