I never used Mint, so perhaps my question is quite dumb..But I'm assuming there's no particular difference from any other Linux distro...
So, why'd you find it bothering being able to log in as root? I don't see the point in making the root user "unavailable": I do see the point in changing the root password (since using the same one for both your current account and the root isn't a smart thing), but why would you want to make it "inaccessible"?
I personally find it easier to just use 'su' once, and then run all the commands i need as root, rather than use 'sudo' every time!
Then, as a reminder for those who want to edit the /etc/shadow file: you need root permissions to edit (or even see) it :)
