There’s been a series of comments by the MS Bloggers that describe the various problems related to running a Windows machine as non-admin.
It’s only been recently that you’d even *think* about running as non-admin because of all sorts of problems you’d run into. Imagine not being able to access certain directories. Imagine having to change users just to install your programs (even games!). You have problems with programs installing into wrong places (must be under c:Program Files), programs writing per-user config info in c:Program Files, instead of Docs & Settings, etc. You basically couldn’t get *anything* done if you wanted to run as non-admin. And it seemed like MS didn’t want to do anything about it (truthfully, it’s probably just legacy reasons… takes a lot of effort to change an industry’s whole way of thinking overnight). However, reading the MS blogs shows that some of the MS employees have a wholehearted desire to make running as non-admin a big priority. I hope they succeed.
Here’s some of the recent articles:
Larry Osterman - Running Non Admin
Aaron Margosis -
Not running as admin…
Why you shouldn’t run as admin…
The easiest way to run as non-admin
“RunAs” basic (and intermediate) topics
“Zero-day” attacks and using limited privilege
RunAs with Explorer
MakeMeAdmin — temporary admin for your Limited User account
PrivBar — An IE/Explorer toolbar to show current privilege level
Running restricted — What does the “protect my computer” option mean?
Running Least-Privilege: Quick’n'Dirty RunAs Batch File
I quit running as an administrator on my new box!
Low-privileged accounts and non-Windows platforms
Oh that’s enough for now, I guess… I think you get the point.
Update 10/26: Running As Normal User