Password not required for system updates

Question

Purchased new imac at apple store in March - let them perform the set-up.  Was told by several individuals at retailer that system was secure out of the box, and that any changes to machine would require user name/password.  After three months and many updates, system has only asked for password once, and that was when we installed ilife 11.  We do have the imac set-up for automatic login, however, software update is not set-up to download updates automatically. Is this a defect in the machine, or was a setting changed inadvertently at set-up by the retailer.  What should the default settings be to ensure that downloads (apple and other) require a password to download.
Please help.
Thanks

Answer 1

G'day,
The first user account that you create has Administrator access to the machine.  In recent updates to Snow Leopard, an Administrator user does not need to re-enter their credentials in order to apply Apple System Updates.
However, for any other software installation requiring access to "system" folders, the username and password will need to be entered.
This is not a security issue at the current time, although some people (including myself) think that it is not good practice to use an Administrator account all of the time.  If malicious software ever does get through your defences, it is better if it can only run as a Standard User!
A more secure configuration for your machine would be to create a second user account (a Standard User), and do all of your work in that. 
If you run Software Update from that account, it will then require you to enter administrator credentials to run the update.  In fact - all Application installations (even "drag and drop" and Apple Store) to your /Applications directory will also require the entry of credentials.
Cheers,
Rodney