Experience UAC protection Five ways to ensure Vista security

Programme I: Use of limited accounts

It's easy to create a non-administrator account in Windows, and you're sure to wonder what Vista and UAC features can provide.

That's right. You can easily create a limited account with just the essentials to start-settings-control Panel-user with account. Then select Create New user, give the user a name, and select restricted users before the point "create account". Then set a password and you're done.

Is that the right thing to do?

Not so. Once the settings are in effect--such as using XP's limited account--when you start using a new computer (or at least a Windows XP system), if you do so on a system that has been in use for some time, your nightmare will begin.

You will not be able to access the files in your previous "My Documents" because this folder is locked under the administrator account. Some of the previously installed programs will also disappear. In addition, even if the program is still available, all of your customizations will expire and the program will backtrack to the initial settings. In Firefox, for example, all of its extensions are lost, and Microsoft's word goes back to its standard settings. You'll have to spend a lot of time to reset them when you use XP.

Not to mention some programs you can only install in admin mode. Even if it's installed, you don't want to run it without administrator privileges. (You can temporarily avoid this problem, right-click a program file, select "Run as", then select an account with administrator privileges, and type the password.) But there is no guarantee of doing so. )

Overview: This doesn't work because there are too many problems.

Programme II: Operation mode

Windows XP has a feature called "Run as" that allows you to temporarily use another user account. It is often used to allow users with lower privileges to temporarily have administrator privileges to install a program.

But you can also use it to simulate some of the protections provided by Vista UAC.

The way to do this is to run the most vulnerable program-your browser and mail-receiving program is two of them-using a low privilege user. That way, even if malware hijacked these programs, the situation is not bad.

Make this approach work and run your browser with a low privilege user-ie or firefox--and mail programs, and use an administrator account for other operations. This avoids the possibility of encountering problems with program installation/startup when using limited users. At the same time you can keep the current program customization settings, data file location and so on.

For example, right-click on the desktop for IE's quick key, in Windows Explorer or in the Quick Launch bar. Choose Run as from the menu. Select the following users. Then either enter or select a Limited user account, enter the password and click "OK".

You can let this process run automatically without having to right-click the program icon. Right-click the shortcut, select Properties, click the Shortcuts tab, and then the Advanced button. Select Run as another user and then click OK. After you start the program from this shortcut, you'll soon see a dialog box that lets you choose whether to run the program as an administrator or otherwise--here, using a limited user account.

Overview: This scenario is less flexible because of the need for a limited user account.