Users' Admin Logins Make Most Windows Malware Worse

nandemoari writes "A new analysis claims that over 90% of the Windows security vulnerabilities reported last year were made worse by users logged in with administrative privileges — an issue Microsoft has been hotly debating recently. According to BeyondTrust Corp., the result of the analysis of the 154 critical Microsoft vulnerabilities indicated that a full 92% could have been prevented if users were not logged into their systems with administrator status. BTC believes that restricting the number of users who can log in with these privileges will 'close the window of opportunity' for attackers. This is particularly true for users of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office."

Cancel or Allow

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you like to install a virus? [Cancel/Allow]

running as admin?

[theheadlessrabbit]

sudo apt-get with the times, microsoft!

Gerald

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone knows from recent news that microsoft has removed the innards of windows 7 and replaced them with "gerald", a lovable computer literate field mouse.

Gerald is cheap, congenial, and zippy, but unfortunately has very poor judgment.

-my apologies to plasmacutter

Re:Simple prevention...

[symbolset]

Or you could use a modern antivirus like antivirus2009 [google.com]

It stops everything.

Re:You mean...

[gmack]

UAC's constant nagging is actually there to piss off users of bad software and put pressure on application makers so they will go through the trouble of designing software that doesn't need constant admin access.
 

It's going to take a moment...

[symbolset]

A Mac fan extolling the merits of the command line.

It's going to take some time to get used to. Forgive me.

In related news...

[SupremoMan]

"Users' Use of Windows Makes Most Windows Malware Worse"

Re:Cancel or Allow

[Anonymous Coward]

I though that was clippy.

Re:Software makers know the registry inside out!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do I have to reboot after installing a PDF reader? Remember that this is Windows we're talking about. Each computer is an island unto itself, to be conquered and subjugated by each software package installed.

Re:Software makers know the registry inside out!

[PitaBred]

The problem with your post is your assumption that the design of Windows makes sense, versus being organically tacked-on after the initial mistakes. Don't worry, it's a common misconception.

Re:TFA mentions the dup

[Ihmhi]

I can't really think of anything to say, so I'm going to do the green thing.

This comment is made of approximately 80% recycled material(s?).

From TFA:

In recent news, two bloggers were able to demonstrate the threat posed by the Vista's Windows User Accounts Control (UAC) feature. UAC, a feature that provides a prompt when users attempt to perform tasks such as installation of new programs or changes to settings, is meant to provide added security to the system. (Source: computerworld.com)

In other words, it's a dup of the recent disussion about the Security Hole In Windows 7 UAC [slashdot.org].

Recycle your old comments here.