Security: This probably creates security issues!!!

A lot of things have to be done in "root" and if the computer is your personal computer and not a multi-user one, you could simply log in as "root" all the time.  This is not the recommended practice, though I haven't developed a good opinion on the issue yet.  

In windows, we generally have "root" privileges on our personal computer unless we have gone to some trouble to create a log-in that has lesser privileges.  

I will usually log into linux with a user name rather than as "root".  The theory is that this way I will not inadvertently mess up the install by deleting or altering an important system file.  This is especially important as a "beginner," since I am not likely to realize what I have done, so I won't be able to fix it.  That would mean reinstalling linux, or at least portions of it!

However, if you are logged as a "user," there are some inherent problems.  One mentioned under "networking" is how to mount remote drives.  A more baffling problem is how to mount that "other" partition, the one where most of your stuff is if you are new to Linux.  By default, it mounts with read privileges, but write privileges are only available to "root."

The solution lies in the file "/etc/fstab."  Warning!! This is a system file, so back it up and don't screw it up!!
The change has to be made in "fstab" because once the partition is mounted, you can't alter its properties.

In "fstab," you will find an entry such as "/dev/hda2       vfat       defaults              0 0"  You can mark this:
"/dev/hda2        vfat     defaults,umask=0    0 0."  (I put the change you will make in boldface.)  Now you will have to reboot so that the drive is re-mounted, but you should be able to write to it from your "user" log in.

I do not understand precisely what this does, except that it works.  It seems to me that you could also or instead mark the drive "suid," but I haven't tried it since the "umask" change was the solution I found by doing a web search.

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