“7 Days to Windows 7,” A NetPass Blog Series Day 4: Safety Patrol

Superuser: n. A special user account for system administration allowing root access to all aspects of the system.  Ever heard the term “superuser?”  Chances are good if you have not used or been exposed to a UNIX operating system environment, you have not.  Thing is, most Windows users up to version XP were/are typically configured out of the box as members of the ‘Administrators’ group meaning users are typically superuser’s which can expose user systems to major security vulnerabilities.

Windows Vista looked to eliminate the single status system by introducing the User Account Control (UAC) concept whereby many programs launched by the user run in what’s called an unprivileged state.  To achieve additional privileges beyond those afforded a standard user, an access prompt would automatically pop-up requesting user authorization to proceed (see figure 1).  This occurs even if the user is part of the “Administrators” (superuser) group forcing an additional layer of security over previous Windows’ versions.  Moreover, if a user is simply just a member of the standard users group, the UAC would request a password to access an account within the Administrators group adding even more laters of security than its predecessors.

The UAC concept had been missing from the Windows platform for some time considering UNIX has deployed UAC methodology through its “sudo” system since the early 1980’s.  So what took so long?  In short, probably consumer expectation.  Fact is, we are creatures of habit.  That is, we are most comfortable doing what’s familiar to us like pressing the Shift button to capitalize a letter.  Now imagine if you had to click the Shift button then the Control (Ctrl) button then the Escape (Esc) button then the Backspace button to capitalize a letter.  Many might become frustrated by all the extra steps because they were never required before.  While all of these steps would ridiculous for mere capitalization, when it comes to security the added elevation authorizations found in the UAC concept are essential.

For Windows users, UAC driven security protocols were effectively born with Vista which is good.  They flourish in Windows 7 which is great.  Many developers have already begun writing and releasing software, drivers, etc. that reduce the amount of user elevation required to finalize a process.  The programmers on the Windows 7 project have followed suit by incorporating ‘auto-elevation’ within the operating system further reducing the amount of user elevation required without compromising any of the benefit of UAC in general.  Here, if part of the Windows system is marked to allow auto-elevation and requires Administrator permissions, it will do so without prompting the user to proceed.

So while you can still be a superuser within your own computing environment, automated  elevation and other UAC enhancements in Windows 7 promises to offer a more enjoyable user experience while maintaining overall security.

Join us again tomorrow for day 5 of our 7 day blog series “7 Days to Windows 7” where we’ll review system recovery enhancements.  Thanks for visiting http://blog.netpass.com.

NetPass, LLC is an Interactive Advertising and Multimedia Agency located in Central Florida. Information contained in this post has been researched and reported individually by the author. Any statements, opinions, or views expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NetPass, LLC or its ownership. NetPass, LLC is not affiliated with or contracted by Microsoft or any of its affiliates, wholesalers or distributors for the purposes of this series.