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Running Programs as a Different User in Windows XP
Ivan Tadej gave us a tip, in the above article, on how to run a batch program as if the program is being run by a different user.
Why would you want to do this? In order to run it as a less-privileged user — for better security.
Windows XP defaults to using "administrator mode" for all users (or, at least, that's the way most manufacturers set up the only userID that ever gets used on most computers!).
Unfortunately, this means that almost everyone runs all their programs while they're logged in as an administrator on their computer. When we do that, we're ok with most programs.
But, if we manage to become infected with a virus, trojan, spyware or adware program, or any other nasty, that nasty malware has all the security privileges that we have.
If we're logged in as an administrator, the malware can access the whole hard drive, edit, install or change anything it wants to edit, install or change. If we're logged in as a "Limited User," we'd have much less system access — and so would the malware program.
Tech Tip
Even if you have Windows XP set up to start automatically, without having to select a logon icon or input a password, you really are "logged in" -- if you can do anything on the computer, someone is logged in on the computer.
Windows XP has a mechanism that is designed to let us to run programs as if we're a logged in as a different user, or as a more-limited version of our own userID.
First, is a little tricky because Microsoft hid this setting. You almost have to know that it's there in order to find it.
Second, as I'm disgusted to find out, many Windows programs don't seem to work with this "security feature." Surely this function is good for something (assuming it really works at all), but I haven't found what it is, yet. Maybe it's something Microsoft will finally get right in Windows Vista.
What kind of programs would you want to run as a different user? I would think, first and foremost, the web browser would be good to run as a different user.
But, guess what won't run, either as a different user or in a "restricted mode" for my ID -- Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox will begin to run, and then die.
This is the process, if you want to try it. If you find a good use for this -- and get it to work with that program -- write me and let me know what you've found...
To activate the "run as a different user" function, these are the steps:
Right-click on a program's icon and select Properties. Then, on the "Shortcut" tab, click on the Advanced button.
(click on the image for a larger version)
On the resulting Advanced Properties window, put a check in the box for "Run with different credentials" and click OK.
(click on the image for a larger version)
At that point, the window closes and you wonder if anything happened. "Wait a Minute", I thought — "I didn't get to pick which user I wanted to use!"
Windows XP is actually pretty flexible at this point.
When we double-click on the program's icon to start the program, that's when we get to choose what we want to do.
(click on the image for a larger version)
By selecting the "Current user" option, you should still be able to access your web browser favories, your My Documents folder, your email folders, etc. If you choose to run as a different user, you will NOT be able to access those items.
There are times where you might want to run as a limited user. But, as a different user, you won't have access to your normal files and data.
That is one of the big improvements promised for Vista — a easier way for us to do most things as a Limited User, with an easy change to Administrator mode whenever we need to do something special.
It's not beyond comprehension -- Linux has been able to do this for years. Windows XP just wasn't written with enough security capabilities for that to work.
Related articles:
Link to this page — just add this code to your web page!
<a href="http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/running-programs-as-different-user-win-xp.php">Running Programs as a Different User in Windows XP</a>
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