recovery mode question

[Mickser_52]

Thanks again adam814 looks like you guessed one of my next questions. That is working and presumably updates the logs etc. that you mentioned before.

In relation to my original question I have learned that it is almost impossible to prevent access to a computer as password protection can easily be got around. To quote a wise man physical access = root access.
Looking for passwords to perform certain tasks is more relevant in a network situation with multiple users involved or where a computer may be accessed remotely. So with help from you and others my question has been answered.

[cariboo]

I may be missing the point or maybe not explaining my point clearly enough.

When, for example, I want to update/upgrade I can do so either using update manager or the terminal, in each case I am asked for my password. Supposedly this is to prevent an unauthorised person with access to my machine from performing this task or possibly something more serious. In this situation they could get around this by booting into recovery mode.

I suppose my question should be why have this password protection at all?
Is it to protect against someone remotely accessing the computer possibly?

You are missing the point, when you are asked for a password to do an uppdate or install a program, it is because your user does not have permission to write to any directories, but your home directory.

Linux was designed from the start to be a multiuser system, if you have several people logged in at the same time, it wouldn't be a good idea to let them change the file system, or look at the files in your home directory.

The first thing I do when setting up a system, is change the permissions of home directories to 700, so that only the owner of that directory can access it. The Ubuntu default is to set the permissions to 755, so every one can access each others home directories