Vista Security Tested

[xierox]

I try to strike a balance between secure and irritating. I don't need a message box asking me if I want to open control panel when I just double clicked the control panel icon!

UAC is Microsoft's attempt to implement the Principle of Least Priveledge for the everyday user. It's actually a very good idea and if you're finding it this annoying, it probably means you normally run as Administrator on your Windows machines (and are nor accustomed to running as a User account) and that is a Bad Thing(tm.)

Plus, by turning off UAC, you're losing out on the benefits of the Protected Mode of Internet Explorer 7. Protected Mode gives IE7 the ability to become a browser more secure than any other current browser that I know of. First bit is a good read: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/09/528963.aspx

Protected Mode in Action: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...ry/935423.mspx

Customers who are using Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista are protected from currently known web based attacks due to Internet Explorer 7.0 protected mode.

Clicking that thing 3 or 4 times a day, when I use Vista 8-12 hours a day, is not that big of a deal. Sorry, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who bitch and moan about a legitimate attempt by M$ to respond to the increasing security threats, but who can't be bothered to learn about the system or use it; the features, and their management options, are well documented in the Help & Support section of Vista.

Hear hear.

My account has full access, so this means programs are not granted the same access rights as the person initiating them. Also interesting.

IRRC, when you log on with an Administrator account, the account is given two tokens: an administrative token and a restricted-access token. Programs are automatically run with the restricted-access token and only use the administrative token when either a) you tell it to (Right-click the file -> Run as Administrator) or b) it needs administrative priveledges (And then you are prompted to give them to it.)

I had to extract the files to the desktop and them copy them to the destination folder using explorer, which must default to my admin privy since it is the file system interface.

Explorer.exe also starts with with the restricted-access. (Example: Create a basic text document. Open an explorer window. Edit -> Move to Folder -> C:\Windows\system32. It will prompt you for administrative access in order to complete the move.)

- Xierox