Still running as Limited User
 

So far so good. Up to Week 04 running under a Limited User Account (LUA). I couldn't find a good AV that was running properly under a LUA. That's why I couldn't run under LUA in the past. I am installed AVG 7.0 Free Edition which runs just perfect. All other AV I have tried failed Automatic Updating under LUA; required Administrative Access; doing Run As for an AV every time I logged in or rebooted was a trouble. But not anymore.

As a LU I don't have write access to WINDOWS and Program Files directories. This means no virus that's out there can't write those folders either. I feel safe for the first time running Windows. Most of us usually run Windows as an Administrator to overcome the hassle of requiring Administrative access to install Programs. If you think about it every other Operating System makes us to run the PC as a LU by default. Exceptions are Windows and Linspire.

I took running under LUA as a chlallenge. It's a good discipline I would say. :)

Programs that need "Run As" Administrator
 

Alcohol 120% -- Under LUA you will get an Application Error or Alcohol 120% might report it is not registered. You won't be able right click virtual drive and mount images. Solution: Run As Administrator, open main interface and mount/unmount images from there.

Blackmoon FTP Server GUI -- to run the GUI you need to do Run As. FTPService will still function correctly because it is running as a Windows Service.

Diskeeper -- to run the GUI you will need Run As. Under LUA the Defrag Windows Service will continue run properly.

Nero Burning ROM -- You get the message saying that you need to install Nero Burn Rights. Because I didn't like to create another User Group in Windows, I just use Run As and everything works. If you are an extremist, you can still run Nero Burning ROM as a Limited User, burn everything you need using Nero Image Writer. Next time you log in as Administrator, you can burn all those NRG files and clear the source files.

If you are a developer, you will discover loads of other applications that won't run properly (for no reason) as a LUA. Most of these applications fails because they stupidly need HKLM to save program settings where as HKCU is the properly location to save those settings.

Programs that will behave differently under LUA
 

iTunes -- No biggie - but I wished "What I'm Listening To" worked with MSN Messenger under LUA. It works fine under Administrator. Windows Media Player has no problems here: displays find under both LUA and Administrator.

Think about writing a tutorial on the way to set this up correctly and easy. It would be good to list why and why not, not for getting an arguement started but so all will understand thr advantages of the safety issue.

Thanks
Dudelive

Programs that will not Run As" Administrator
 

Scheduled Tasks -- Run As will do nothing. Running under LUA will give you an Access Denied messagebox. I simply log off and log on using Administrator, set the Schedule and specify which user should be running the task, and log on back as LUA. The task will run at the specified time under specified user without an error.

Dudelive, thanks for the suggestion. I will list down the Pros and Cons of running under LUA. For now I would suggest to those who wants to try, simply go to User Accounts, change your Account Type to Limited User, log off and follow the consequences.

If you cannot change account type to LUA i.e. it is disabled, Start > Run > type control userpasswords2
If Administrator is the only account listed, add a new account and choose change account type to Restricted User.
If there is a second account with Administrative priviledges, then change its account type to Restricted User.
Log off and log on as Restricted User.

http://microsoftuse.temp.powweb.com/...e=Limited_User

Alternative Programs for those Programs not LUA friendly
 

Roxio Easy Media Creator -- Not sure why, Roxio Easy Media Creator burns CD/DVDs perfectly under LUA but Nero Burning ROM needs Administrative priviledges. I have uninstalled Nero Burning ROM and running Roxio Easy Media Creator for now.

This should help,

http://nero.com/en/Nero_BurnRights.html

And it should take care of your problem