+All users on a Unix system are the same, except one. That user is called the SuperUser and has complete control of the system. This user can kill any of the running processes and access all of the files (including the device files, so __root__ is the one who configures the hardware), as opposed to ordinary users who can only mess with their own processes and files. Many other [OperatingSystem]s have a similar notion of one or more super-privileged accounts. On Unix the SuperUser is called __root__ ~ [[1|#ftnt_ref_ 1]~ ] (think of a tree here), because this account alone has sufficient permissions to manipulate the files and directories involved in the creation of new user accounts. (You can change that of course, but you really don't want to.) If you are logged in as a regular user and you want to "become root", you use the command su(1) (which stands for __switch user__ and can change you to any user).