This article may be relevant to the recent discussion regarding the problems of running certain programs under limited privilege accounts:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/04/windows_users_drop_your_r ights.html?referrer= Brian Krebs on Computer Security Windows Users: Drop Your Rights Security Fix has advised Microsoft Windows users in the past about the importance of running everyday software applications under user accounts that do not have the power to install programs or modify the underlying operating system in any way. The reason is simple: Spyware and other unwanted programs have a much harder time getting their hooks into your system if the current user lacks installation privileges. I have written before about the importance of setting up and using "limited user" (non-administrator) accounts for everyday Windows users. But many users balk at the idea, complaining (in many cases rightfully so) that such-and-such program doesn't work or perform as well under a non-admin account. (By default, when you first install Windows XP, all of the active user accounts created are administrator accounts, meaning they have full rights to install, modify or delete any program, file or system process running on the computer.) Such complaints are hardly unfounded. I have been running most of my Windows PCs under limited user accounts for the past two years or so and have run into my share of problems trying to get third-party software to play nice with Windows. Ever since I wrote a column late last year urging Windows users to reconfigure for limited accounts, hardly a week has gone by when I haven't heard from some reader who's had problems as a limited user. For those who feel it is too much of a burden, I'd like to propose another solution: running your browser, e-mail, and perhaps other regularly used Web-facing programs each under its own less-privileged account. Among the easier tools is one provided by Microsoft: DropMyRights. (Weirdly enough, if you Google "DropMyRights," the first, and legitimate, result is from Microsoft.com but appears to be some jumbled, foreign language or perhaps a link to a phishing site.) Security Fix will show you how to modify the desktop icons you normally click on to access the Internet and your e-mail account so that they run under less-privileged user accounts, and thus are less prone to attack. [...] -- ---------------------------------------- The WIN-HOME mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
