I am still not very familiar with Linux. What exactly is a root account, and should disable it for better privacy/security?
Root account has access to perform everything with your system. If you do not use it, you can disable it. Root account can be dangerous when malware or rootkit inside your system and there is a risk of the malware accessing root account, otherwise, it’s fine. My approach: you a strong password for both accounts, but they should differ
The default config for fedora workstation is to have the root account locked so it cannot be used to log in.
The root account is required to perform administrative tasks on the system. Routine admin such as software installation, upgrades, most configuration, etc. all need “root” access, which is generally available using ‘sudo’ for the very first user created (who is by default added to the ‘wheel’ group).
For security many users have one username that is capable of performing those admin tasks but not used for daily activities. They use another username for daily use that is not part of the wheel group. This adds another layer to security in case they encounter malware. The user who encountered the malware cannot perform admin with this arrangement.
Then if I want to install a software, what are the steps to follow? Assuming I made a new user without any previleges like sudo, should I login to the root account (the user made at the very first place when installing Fedora) and execute sudo dnf install? And then will the software be installed for all users?
https://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/
Software installed using sudo and dnf will normally be available for all users.
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