On any multi-user system someone must be able to kill hanging/crashed programs, create user accounts and/or reset passwords, install new programs, and many other system administrative tasks.

In Windows NT/2K/XP/2K3 this special user is typically known as Administrator. In Linux or UNIX this special user is known as superuser or root. Root can do almost anything that root wants to do on the system.

It is not good practice to always logon as root. It is too easy to make a command or mouse mistake and damage the system such as deleting files from an important directory. This is why in Knoppix we are logged on as the user knoppix. You can get root or superuser access by going to the KMenu -> Knoppix Menu->Root Shell. This Root Shell, if I remember correctly, is green & will let you run fdisk or cfdisk.