User Account Control
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
User Account Control (UAC) is a technology and security infrastructure that will be introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. It aims to improve the experience of using Windows as a standard user. It will require the input of an administrator password before actions that can affect the security and stability of the operating system are executed. If logged on as an admin, no password will be needed, only a dialog with the choices to allow or deny the action.
UAC asks for credentials in a Secure Desktop mode, where the entire screen is blacked out and temporarily disabled, to present only the elevation UI. This is to prevent spoofing of the UI or the mouse by the application requesting elevation. If an administrative activity comes from a minimized application, the secure desktop request will also be minimized.
UAC also automatically changes the privileges required for common tasks, such as changing the time zone, power settings and installing approved devices and ActiveX controls, so those tasks can be performed by non-administrator users.
Additionally, command prompt windows that are running elevated will have the word 'Administrator' prepended to the title of the window, so that a user may discern which command prompts are running with elevated privileges.[1]
UAC also provides file and registry virtualization to allow poorly designed applications to run as a standard user.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Administrator Marking for Command Prompt. UACBlog. MSDN Blogs (August 1, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
[edit] External links
- User Account Control — Information at Microsoft TechNet
- UAC Team Blog
- Preview of User Account Control in Windows Vista Beta 2
