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Part III:
Securing Windows Vista
Elevation is a new feature and a permanent change to the Windows operating system.
Tip
Elevation affects not only users and administrators, but developers as well. Developers
must design their programs so that everyday users can complete basic tasks without requiring
administrator privileges. A key part of this is determining which of the two levels of privilege
their applications need to complete specific procedures. If an application doesn’t need admin-
istrator privileges for a task, it should be written to require only standard user privileges. As an
example, a standard user–compliant application should write data files only to a nonsystem
location, such as the user profile folder.
Navigating the User Account Changes
User Account Control is designed to make it easier to protect computers while ensuring that
users can perform the tasks they need to perform. As part of the restructuring for UAC, many
changes have been made to user accounts and privileges. These changes are designed to
ensure that there is true separation of user and administrator tasks, and that any tasks that
have minimal system impact and potential for risk can be performed using standard user
accounts. Administrators also have the ability to restrict privileges if they prefer.
Understanding Standard User Privileges
In Windows Vista, standard user accounts can be used to perform some tasks that previously
required administrator privileges. New permissions for standard user accounts in Windows
Vista include:
■
Viewing the system clock and calendar and changing the time zone.
■
Changing the display settings and installing fonts.
■
Changing power management settings.
■
Adding printers and other devices (where the required drivers are installed on the com-
puter or are provided by an IT administrator).
■
Downloading and installing updates using User Account Control–compatible installers.
■
Creating and configuring virtual private network (VPN) connections. A VPN connection
helps you establish a secure connection to a private network over the public Internet.
■
Installing Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) to connect to secure wireless networks. WEP
is a security protocol that provides a wireless network with the same level of security
as a wired local area network (LAN).
Additionally, some maintenance tasks are now automatically scheduled processes, so users
will not have to initiate these processes manually. Processes that are scheduled to run
automatically include:
■
CareTaker
Performs automated maintenance of the computer.
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