Microsoft finds more 'critical' flaws in Windows

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The goose is ready

"I've run my own computer as a "power user" for a long
time. No problems for me."

Why can't you run as a more restricted user? Given you run
as a power user (install apps etc) why not run as an
administrator? Do you understand the reason limited
privilege accounts exist?

"You know you're clueless about security when you insist
that any old user should be able to modify the core settings
of a program that has full control of every file on the
system."

So you don't think it a little strange that an anti-virus
program can't update its anti-virus definitions without
elevated privileges? Especially given that :

i) Damage for any virus attack would be limited by
restricting users privileges (protect windows and
application binaries from infection)

ii) 100s of windows virii are produced every month
requiring constant definition updates via a subscription.
The effectiveness of any anti-virus is dependent on these
updated definitions.

It makes absolutely no sense that the anti-virus program
cannot keep its definition up-to-date whilst the users run
with restricted privileges. NB this does not mean the user
now has full access to anything (toadlife added that
misunderstanding).

"I know there have been quite a few priviledge escallation
exploits for Windows, but I assume by that statement, that
you know about some that Microsoft doesn't?"

Read about Shatter attacks possible because of basic
architectural flaw in the GUI event model in windows. MS
knows about this, has publicly acknowledged it, but is
unable to do anything about it without breaking almost
everything.

Toadlife's post is the perfect example of the gap between
windows users and admins and *nix when it comes to
security.

Posted by: Richard Flude   Posted on: 07/13/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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