Annoyed by Windows Vista UAC? Check this out!

Tags

Security, UAC, Windows, Windows Vista

BeyondTrust, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, has released last month a solution for the “annoying” UAC (User Account Control) security feature used by Windows Vista. Basically, according to Microsoft, users should be running Vista under a Standard Account to increase the security in the operational system. UAC comes into play when applications running under a Standard Account need to perform certain operations or access resources without having enough privileges. In this case, UAC prompts the user for the Administrator’s credentials, and if the credentials are validated, the request is granted.

The idea of having users running under a Standard Account is not new; for years, I have my Windows XP box running under a Standard Account with limited privileges, while using the Administrator Account only for maintenance purposes. The new ingredient in the soup is the UAC prompt box, which allows users to perform operations at higher privileges without logging out their Standard Account. Even though I agree 100% with Microsoft about the UAC feature to increase security, I must admit that, for home users, this feature must be annoying because there is a requirement to remember at least two credentials (assuming the user account is password protected), and if the Administrator’s credentials are not used in a while, users might forget them. Also, considering that, in some businesses, essential applications must run at a higher privilege level, I can easily imagine corporations replacing Windows Vista by Windows XP to avoid the security risk of giving away Administrator’s credentials to users.

BeyondTrust attempts to solve the UAC issue by releasing the BeyondTrust Privilege Manager. According to their press release, BeyondTrust Privilege Manager allows Administrators to configure essential applications to automatically receive a higher privilege when executed, while still maintaining the security of running under a Standard Account. I wasn’t able to find any white papers about the process, but I’m assuming a new layer was probably added to the regular UAC process, and it’s executed when an application needs higher privileges. Check out the flowcharts below for a better understanding of how I think this process works at higher level.

Any other suggestions about how this process might work?

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Outlook Connector on Windows Vista Box

Tags

Application, Outlook, Outlook Connector, Windows, Windows Vista

Last week, I finally decided to test Windows Vista. I’ve been reluctant to do it because of all bad reviews it has received from users since it was launched. In order to avoid experiencing any problems related to lack of memory or speed in the box, I purchased a new Intel Core 2 Quad Processor with 3GB RAM, and 640 GB HD. At first, I would like to have Windows Vista Ultimate installed, but the box came with Windows Vista Home Premium from factory; I might take advantage of the Anytime Upgrade program to update my Vista Box as soon as I get comfortable using it.

Everything went very smoothly during the setup and, in just a few minutes, I had the Windows Vista Box running like a champ. However, my headache started when I had to configure my hotmail account in the new Box. In my previous Windows XP box, I was able to install the Microsoft Outlook Connector without any problems, and in less than a minute, my account in Outlook 2007 was being synchronized with my Live Hotmail account. In addition, my wife had her hotmail account configured within Outlook Express, and the synchronization was automatic. Unlike my experience in Windows XP, when it was time to install the connector in my new Windows Vista Box, I wasn’t very lucky. First of all, it was a new environment for me and I could not find Outlook Express, mainly because Outlook Express was replaced by Windows Mail, which does not accepted http-based email accounts. The only solution was to install my Office 2007 in the Vista Box (see Office 2007 EULA for details) and use Outlook 2007 along with the Outlook Connector to synchronize my hotmail account, as I used to do in my Windows XP box. Thus, I installed the Office 2007 and the Outlook Connector under the Administrator Account to avoid any problems related to security. 

Once I had Office 2007 and Outlook Connector installed under the Administrator Account, I logged into my standard account and executed Outlook 2007. Bingo! Outlook Connector was installed and asked me for my credentials. I provided my credentials and the setup was done. The next step was to restart Outlook 2007 and wait for the synchronization to start. However, after the Outlook was restarted, the Outlook Connector kept displaying an error message about not being able to login using my credentials, even though the credentials were correct.

After researching on the Internet for a similar problem and visiting Windows Vista and Outlook Blogs, I was not able to find any possible reason for the problem I was experiencing.  From Windows Vista Blog I have only received a reply saying they have never experienced the situation, and from Outlook Blog, I have received nothing.

It took me several days of attempts to uninstall/reinstall/repair the connector without any success, until I decided to verify whether the connector would work under the Administrator Account. As I executed Outlook 2007 for the first time under the Administrator Account, a firewall message pops up asking which action it should take about Outlook attempt to access the Internet. As soon as I allowed Outlook to access the Internet, the synchronization started. The next step would be to test whether my emails were synchronizing properly under my standard account. For my surprise, they were; everything was working properly.

Thus, basically, my main issue was related to allowing Outlook to access the Internet via the firewall. One thing still makes me puzzle: why haven’t I received the firewall message when logged into my standard account? I wonder if it’s a firewall or Window Vista security feature. I am reasoning that because I was running under a limited account, it would not be wise to give me, a standard user, the ability to configure firewall permissions. Do you agree or disagree? If you disagree, what can it possible be?

Introduction

Tags

Off-Topic, Personal

Greetings!

This is my Hello World post. My name is Sam Moreira, the one will be writing posts around here, at least for a while . For a summary of my experiences and interests, visit my About page.

This web blog was created to focus initially on issues related to the Information Technology field with emphasis on Information Systems, Business Processes, Databases,  Software Architecture, and Development. However, you might also want to be prepared for any tech-related issues currently being discussed in the field.

As in any areas in life, the best way to reinforce or improve understanding of a subject is by discussing it with others. Thus, comments are  greatly appreciated for all postings. However, in an attempt to keep this site spam-free, all comments will require registration and moderator approval before posted.