Limited User Privileges Protect Against Malware Infections
With viruses, spyware, adware, keyloggers, browser/search hijackers, rootkits, and remote control spam relays infecting or taking over control of up to 75% (estimates) of the online Windows computers in the world, responsible, concerned people want to know how they can protect their computers from such rampant, recurring threats. Many folks I know have had spyware or viruses removed only to have them reappear some time later and they are confounded, because they don't realize how these threats get installed in the first place.
Running anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall applications is a must for Windows users, but they may not stop something malicious that slips past your defenses that may be hidden inside a program or file you intensionally downloaded and installed. The innocent application or utility you downloaded may have installed a backdoor program on your computer and that program may take over control and allow more malware to be sent to your computer. Many of the multiple infections that occur so often are piggybacked onto downloaders that get installed first, without your knowledge. They lower your security settings and sometimes hide from known security programs until it is too late. Some of them even terminate anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs, leaving you totally unprotected.
These hidden threats inside supposedly useful programs are called Trojan Horses, named after the legendary huge wooden gift horse that the Greek invaders gave to the army of Troy, after a lengthy siege. It was supposed to be a symbol of submission from a defeated enemy (the Greek army) to the winners (the Trojans). Somehow the Trojans were fooled into accepting the gift horse, thinking that the Greek army had evacuated the area and given up the siege. They brought it into their gates and celebrated their alleged victory and when they were good and drunk the Greek soldiers who were hidden inside the hollow places in the wooden horse emerged, opened the gates to let in the rest of their hidden army, then slaughtered the Trojan soldiers and men and sold the women and children into slavery. So the legend goes and so go the modern day software soldiers who hide encoded inside seemingly useful programs, only to invade your system and wreak havoc.
Any infected code that you acquire and activate, or is self activating, will be run with the same rights as the logged-on user, which in most cases is Administrator level rights (privileges).
All of the previously mentioned malware threats require computer administrator privileges to fully install themselves into the operating system, or overwrite system files, or to write to the Local_Machine branch of the Windows Registry, or to hide as rootkits. Windows 2000 and XP users running with reduced privileges, as a Limited User, are protected against virtually all malware threats that need to install into the system to function. Windows 2000 or XP Professional Power Users have reduced, but not complete vulnerability to these threats. I personally run as a Power User and have not acquired any drive-by, downloaded, or browser exploited malware infections at all. I also use several anti-spyware programs, and anti-virus program and both hardware and software firewalls. I browse with Firefox, not Internet Explorer and keep everything up to date with patches and security fixes, as soon as I learn about their availability. Then I post notices on my blog to alert you all.
Some of my readers have problems running as Limited Users and I help them as much as possible to understand how things need to be done to work within and around those limitations. If you run with reduced user privileges your choice of updates will be more limited than if you apply them from an administrator level account. You would do this by first applying the updates as a Limited or Power User, then Switch Users or log onto an Administrator account and re-apply the updates and immunizations. Many security programs will require you to switch to, or log into an administrator level account to perform program updates (if not definition updates), then reboot. Others are more friendly to Limited Users after being installed by an Administrator.
I have posted more information about running with reduced user privileges, here and here.
Always assign a strong password to any Computer Administrator level accounts. Always try to run as a Limited User, or at most a Power User, under Windows 2000 or XP Professional. The Power User group is not available in XP Home, so don't bother looking for it.
Windows Vista begins a new era in user protection (out of the box) by running all accounts as Limited Users, with Power User-like rights and rights elevation prompts when you try to do something that requires full administrative privileges. I will blog about Vista's User Account Controls, and it's rights elevation prompts, in a separate article, on a future date.
If you like this article please share it.
The content on this blog may be reprinted provided you do not modify the content and that you give credit to Wizcrafts and provide a link back to the blog home page, or individual blog articles you wish to reprint. Commercial use, or derivative work requires written permission from the author.