Duplicate User accounts

[Anairb]

While on Win 7 I read that it is more secure to create another User account alongside your Admin one, and use that for day-to-day work. Apparently it stops hackers from gaining control of your machine. However, this caused a problem as I have an 256gb SSD system disk and, I think, the duplication has used up too much space, causing problems with programmes like Dropbox.
Is this the case? If I delete the 2nd User account will I reclaim some space? If a programme is mounted on both accounts does it take up twice as much space? And, finally, is the security issue still relevant with Win 10?
All my data is stored on other hard drives, so that's not a problem. Only the programmes are duplicated.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Slashgeek]

The issue has technically never been much of an issue. The mechanism that allows a hacker to take control of your system is relatively complex, and the risk of invasion was minimal whether you were on a regular user or admin account.

To check how much space is being used by each user, go to the C:\Users folder, right click on the folder with the user name of your Admin account, and click properties. Check the size. Do the same for the folder with your normal user account's name. Compare the two sizes. If they are both very large, then a certain program is writing data to both user accounts, and is eating up space. If they're not very large, however, then something else is consuming your free space. You can use software like the excellent TreeSize Free to determine the culprit:

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

 

[Slashgeek]

Also, programs are not duplicated - they are simply given permission to be run on certain users, or all users.

 

[Anairb]

The issue has technically never been much of an issue. The mechanism that allows a hacker to take control of your system is relatively complex, and the risk of invasion was minimal whether you were on a regular user or admin account.

To check how much space is being used by each user, go to the C:\Users folder, right click on the folder with the user name of your Admin account, and click properties. Check the size. Do the same for the folder with your normal user account's name. Compare the two sizes. If they are both very large, then a certain program is writing data to both user accounts, and is eating up space. If they're not very large, however, then something else is consuming your free space. You can use software like the excellent TreeSize Free to determine the culprit:

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

Thanks so much for this. I use SpaceSniffer, which tells me that my C Drive has 168.4gb; my Admin account uses 32.2gb/AppData 30.7gb/Local 27.6; and that my other User account uses 78.3gb/AppData 65.5 (no Local reading)
Not sure what all this means, but, given your advice, I'd like to get rid of the second User account and just use Admin. Don't want to lose anything. Is there a safe way of doing this?

 

[Slashgeek]

The issue has technically never been much of an issue. The mechanism that allows a hacker to take control of your system is relatively complex, and the risk of invasion was minimal whether you were on a regular user or admin account.

To check how much space is being used by each user, go to the C:\Users folder, right click on the folder with the user name of your Admin account, and click properties. Check the size. Do the same for the folder with your normal user account's name. Compare the two sizes. If they are both very large, then a certain program is writing data to both user accounts, and is eating up space. If they're not very large, however, then something else is consuming your free space. You can use software like the excellent TreeSize Free to determine the culprit:

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

Thanks so much for this. I use SpaceSniffer, which tells me that my C Drive has 168.4gb; my Admin account uses 32.2gb/AppData 30.7gb/Local 27.6; and that my other User account uses 78.3gb/AppData 65.5 (no Local reading)
Not sure what all this means, but, given your advice, I'd like to get rid of the second User account and just use Admin. Don't want to lose anything. Is there a safe way of doing this?

The AppData folder contains temporary files, settings, and additional storage for programs. It is unique to each user account. It appears that you have a large amount of data being written by something, though we can't be sure.

If you want to be safe, list down all the documents that you want saving, as well as the programs that you actively use in the normal user account. Baclkup these files from the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders.

 

[Anairb]

The issue has technically never been much of an issue. The mechanism that allows a hacker to take control of your system is relatively complex, and the risk of invasion was minimal whether you were on a regular user or admin account.

To check how much space is being used by each user, go to the C:\Users folder, right click on the folder with the user name of your Admin account, and click properties. Check the size. Do the same for the folder with your normal user account's name. Compare the two sizes. If they are both very large, then a certain program is writing data to both user accounts, and is eating up space. If they're not very large, however, then something else is consuming your free space. You can use software like the excellent TreeSize Free to determine the culprit:

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

Thanks so much for this. I use SpaceSniffer, which tells me that my C Drive has 168.4gb; my Admin account uses 32.2gb/AppData 30.7gb/Local 27.6; and that my other User account uses 78.3gb/AppData 65.5 (no Local reading)
Not sure what all this means, but, given your advice, I'd like to get rid of the second User account and just use Admin. Don't want to lose anything. Is there a safe way of doing this?

The AppData folder contains temporary files, settings, and additional storage for programs. It is unique to each user account. It appears that you have a large amount of data being written by something, though we can't be sure.

If you want to be safe, list down all the documents that you want saving, as well as the programs that you actively use in the normal user account. Baclkup these files from the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders.

That's one helluva lot of AppData on the User account. It probably comes from Photoshop and Lightroom, where the files are huge. I can probably do without them. I'll take a look when I get back home (currently soothing my fevered brow with a coffee...), just to check what they are.
Thanks again for your help.