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Gavin Greig wrote:
Sorry Marc, I feel bad doing it, especially as I can see that isn't the only possible interpretation of your post.
No problem. I did honestly mean that it really never did cross my mind, without necessarily implying that it was a good thing! And quite frankly, I was surprised someone voted a 5 for the post.
But the question is really a poor question:
"Do you use a non-admin account when developing software?"
No, I don't. Because I don't want to deal with whatever user issues there are during development. Now ask, do I use an admin account for testing software? The answer is that, depending on the software, it gets tested under both conditions.
I personally believe that testing and development are two separate processes. During development, I am debugging software, which is a very different process from testing.
Sorry for all the italics. I hope that clarifies my position on the matter. I suppose I should have stated such to begin with rather than a somewhat flippant response.
Marc
My website
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Marc Clifton wrote:
No problem.
Thanks! It was largely to offset the 5 that I bothered voting - I would have left it otherwise.
I don't agree with your approach of only testing as non-Admin, because it's more likely that any mistakes will be discovered late in the process, rather than as they occur - but so long as that testing occurs, yours is a reasonable approach.
It's obvious that some developers don't even test as non-Admin, which is more of a problem!
Gavin Greig
"Haw, you're no deid," girned Charon. "Get aff ma boat or ah'll report ye."
Matthew Fitt - The Hoose O Haivers: The Twelve Trauchles O Heracles.
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Gavin Greig wrote:
I don't agree with your approach of only testing as non-Admin,
Yes, I can see that it can be a problem as well.
I thought of one more thing after my other post that I thought I'd share--
Most of the problems I find with non-Admin accounts actually has to do with the installation process, often with the additional drivers and setup stuff that has to be done during installation. Once those get ironed out, the apps run great!
Marc
My website
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Memento Design Pattern
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I don't think it's a poor question.
You are correct that thorough testing can eliminate the same problems that developing as a non-admin can, but the fact that it is often painful to develop as a non-admin is evidence that more people should do it. Even more so for people writing tools to be used by other developers.
100% feature coverage when testing is of course the ideal, but testing often gets the short end of the stick when time starts to run out. Developing as a non-admin can be a good way of eliminating a certain class of defects while you're coding and debugging. It's not the only option, but it is surely a valid option.
Charlie
if(!curlies){ return; }
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Charlie Williams wrote:
100% feature coverage when testing is of course the ideal, but testing often gets the short end of the stick when time starts to run out. Developing as a non-admin can be a good way of eliminating a certain class of defects while you're coding and debugging.
Yeah, you know, that's a good point. The reality of how much of a project's budget is devoted to testing is quite different than the lip-service it's given.
Hmmm. All this is making me rethink how I do development! 
Marc
My website
Latest Articles:
Undo/Redo Buffer
Memento Design Pattern
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The only time I normaly need administration privaleges is when I am developing ActiveX controls, DLLs or drivers, which need to be installed by an administrator.
INTP
"The more help VB provides VB programmers, the more miserable your life as a C++ programmer becomes."
Andrew W. Troelsen
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certainly i do, as my computer provides some users accounts with more or less limited privileges for whom i allow its use, but even if i am the administrator of my machine, i am also a simple user.
i use the administrator privileges only in cases of administration tasks.
however, i test my progs on many user accounts and plateforms thanks to VMWare...
TOXCCT >>> GEII power
[toxcct][VisualCalc]
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I always develop as administrator, but swith to a limit account when testing (after the installation)..
This allows me to make sure that the application will run in targetted environments.. 
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Me too. One of my apps was verified for Windows XP via a 3rd-party testing company, and they install your app as Administrator but run it as a basic XP user, so testing for this is essential IMHO.
The Rob Blog
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For sure.
Nothing like realising your code tries to write to Prog Files or something with non-admin privileges.
Cheers,
Simon
sig ::
"Don't try to be like Jackie. There is only one Jackie.... Study computers instead.", Jackie Chan on career choices.
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"Most of us are programmers, but a few use VB", Christian Graus
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