Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 31st Mar 2010 21:59 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
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RE[3]: Comment by darknexus
by abstraction on Sat 3rd Apr 2010 19:15
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by darknexus"




Member since:
2006-01-02
Yes, you aren't sure of Windows' security model. It's similar to Unix, although a little bit more orthogonal. All kernel and system objects are protected by access control lists. Permissions cascade for hierarchical object systems. It has user, group and everybody permissions as well, just like Unix (although the UI makes it look more complicated).
As a normal user on any NT-based version of Windows, you can't install software, unless given permission to do so. The problem pre-Vista was that the default user was usually the administrator (=root). As such, regular end users (as opposed to user accounts) could install software with out privilege escalation. Thankfully, this policy has been reversed for Vista and 7.