the contents of wtmp & utmp

[hictio]

being root, what program should i use to see the contents of the mentioned files?

[mikek147]

Some of the programs that use info from these access files are who, ac and last. BTW lastb looks at wtmp, if present and displays failed login attempts. For more detail on these commands, do a manpage on each one. Further, at the end of each manpage is a SEE ALSO section lists commands that relate. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[hictio]

thanks a lot for the info mike, i thought that it was possible to see the output of that files directly with just one file.

[hictio]

after executing the `lastlog` i`ve noticed that it shows the login dates of many users that i haven`t even created, are those created by the system? i mean users like administrator and nobody.
is ti possible to deleted such users, or are they perfoming some special activity?

[mikek147]

/etc/passwd defines all the users that the Linux and package installs created and /etc/group contain the groups they belong to. As long as lastlog shows that the user names you've never used show that they have never been logged into, all's well. You can rest easy. But be sure you monitor your log files in /var/logs. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[hictio]

thanks again mike. i`ll keep an eye in /etc/groups tonight; it`s not that i`m running a multiuser system, nobody wants to even touch that `mouseless` machine ata home... is just that i`m trying to learn as much as i can on the inner workings of the system.
thanks again.