Windows 8 In Depth

Understanding User Account Control (UAC)

Most (we’re actually tempted to say the vast majority) of the security-related problems in versions of Windows prior to Vista boiled down to a single root cause: most users were running Windows with administrator-level permissions. Administrators can do anything to a Windows machine, including installing programs, adding devices, updating drivers, installing updates and patches, changing Registry settings, running administrative tools, and creating and modifying user accounts. This is convenient, but it leads to a huge problem: any malware that insinuates itself onto your system will also be capable of operating with administrative permissions, thus enabling the program to wreak havoc on the computer ...