By Ryan Naraine
Microsoft is sparing no expense to spread the Least-privileged User Account security gospel ahead of next year's Longhorn launch, but a little-known fact-especially among IT administrators and end users-is that the technology is already available in the Windows operating system.
The LUA principle, also known as non-admin or minimum rights, is accepted within software security circles as a key to reducing damage from malicious hacker attacks, but on Windows systems, although the option is available, experts say end-user adoption remains "frighteningly low."
Opinion: Forcing administrator privileges to be set as the default for all accounts leaves users exposed to malware.
Want fewer security hassles? Demote yourself!
Want to do something right now that can help protect you from malware? Then stop being an administrator. No, I am not suggesting a career change, though I suppose that would have much the same effect. Rather, I hope you'll consider using your desktop's administrator account only when absolutely necessary and creating a user account for general computing.
Why am I making this suggestion? Because too many people do all their computing as administrators -- even those whose user name is something besides "Administrator."