You really don't want to log in as root unless you really have to, it leaves you system vulnerable to attack by hackers &/or disastrous results from commands entered by mistake. For instance, think about what "rm -rf /" or even "rm -rf /usr/" would do to your system instantly and with no 'are you sure' warning if entered as root.
There are many ways to work as root while logged in as user, the most common being 'su' or 'sudo' entered in a console or the 'file manager - super user mode' entry in the start menu under 'system'. Here is a post with some other tips: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16894