There are lots of reasons to stay on top of developing technology. For example, so your boss knows you’re proactive, so you can jump into a testing project with ease, or maybe so you can convince reluctant higher-ups to make upgrades. To help you get used to Vista’s new feature, we offer a brief look at Vista’s new security feature called User Account Control (UAC).
How UAC works
User Account Control is Vista’s equivalent to Microsoft’s previous operating systems’ user accounts. Vista allows for administrator accounts and for standard user accounts. Both account types run applications as standard users to limit the abilities of viruses to spread through application use. Administrators have access to system features that standard users can’t access, such as the ability to install software and drivers, change the system state and firewall, and configure Local Security Policy.
Tokens are the keys
When a user logs on to Vista, Windows grants him an access token. Access tokens contain a user’s group mem¬bership and authorization and access control data. Windows uses that token to control what resources and tasks the user can access. Administrators receive two tokens — a standard token for application use and an admin token for system access.
The UAC advantage
UAC’s top benefit is that it offers you enhanced security because the token limits malware’s access to application files even when you log in with an account that has local admin rights.
As a bonus, with UAC you can access many system functions as an administrator without logging off and on with an admin account. Although available for some system functions in previous OSs, the feature is enhanced and brought front and center in Vista. Specifically, when a standard user attempts to perform a task for which his access token doesn’t grant him permission, he’s prompted to provide admin credentials instead of simply being denied access.
Read more in the March 2008 issue of Elevate. Click here
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