what is administrator privileges?

[LCohen]

I just asked a question and didn´t give out all the info I think is needed.

I work with a 5D mark II and I cannot download the EOS Digital Solution Disk. 

The OS is Yosemite X 10.10.4

It asks for administrator privileges.

can anybody help me with this? 

I am very pressured at work.

thanks

[ebiggs1]

I don't know what it means on a Mac but on a PC, it is a ambiguous setting that give you more read/write access.  Probably the same on a Mac!

[LCohen]

I don´t know how to access this

[jrhoffman75]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2238580_access-system-administrator-apple-os.html

[LCohen]

thanks to everyone! I got it.

I was logged in as guest!!! 

[RobertTheFat]

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@LCohen wrote:

thanks to everyone! I got it.

I was logged in as guest!!! 

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Now that you're past that hurdle, bear in mind that it's usually not a good idea to be logged in as an administrator for routine use of a computer. Most viruses and other malware can infect a computer much more easily when the targeted user is running with more privilege than he actually needs.

Full disclosure: I use administrator privilege most of the time. But I've been a professional system administrator for most of my adult life, so I sort of know how to stay out of harm's way. But it's inherently dangerous, and I don't recommend it for newbies.

[TCampbell]

It's a Mac. You can't really log in as an administrator (the admin account is 'root' and that account is disabled by default.). But the account (a) has to belong to a group which allows administrative privileges (by default, the first account created on the computer is in that group) and (b) if any software attempts to perform an action which effects the OS then the user is prompted to type their password. This prevents software from surreptitiously installing malware by performing an administrative change just because the user is an admin. Every change of that type requires that the use type their password.

Software installs commonly require you to type your password.

[jrhoffman75]

I am thinking since it is a work computer you need your IT department permission to load a file onto a networked computer.

[LCohen]

this is my personal new iMac, I just got i today, I´m setting it up