How to check if a program is working?

I know little of the desktop version of Opera. Is it possible to launch it via opera.exe or does Launcher.exe need to be used?

I've just tried setting UAC to maximum and everything still works so that's not the issue.

Tookeri said:

That article is written for people who have Windows XP. For Vista and later there's UAC. With UAC enabled it will disable administrator permissions for all programs you start. If the program requires to be run as admin then you'll get an UAC prompt. So if you never get an UAC prompt it means the programs is running as standard user. If you get a UAC prompt and you answer Yes, only then will the program have admin rights.

Think of it like this: UAC enabled = admin rights disabled (until UAC prompts and you answer Yes)

A browser shouldn't run as admin at all. If a browser requires that, then I wouldn't use it.

To be clear, I'm talking about an account type of administrator. Not the hidden/built-in administrator account.

Point taken but as far as I can work out if I can run browsers on the "least privilege" principle when using an admin level account then it seems like a good idea. Here's a more recent example of a trojan that can apparently attempt to bypass UAC.

Avast blog » Win32/64:Blackbeard & Pigeon: Stealthiness techniques in 64-bit Windows, Part 2

I don't pretend to understand the entire article but do understand that browsers and browser plugins may have undisclosed weaknesses at some point.

I'm not running any browser as admin (other than briefly for test purposes). As far as I can work out if malware gains access via a browser it's granted the same access rights as the current user. (Admin Level in my case). In theory that level of access if malware is ever encountered is reduced to Standard User level.

Okay so maybe it will never happen. But what harm is there in attempting to boost security? I accept that maybe this approach is overkill!

You could try adapting/converting these Firefox instructions:

Enable Protected Mode for Firefox
=================================

You can enable Protected Mode for Firefox with these steps:

1 - In order to change the Integrity Level for Firefox, execute:

icacls firefox.exe /setintegritylevel low

2 - You also have to change this for some folders in order to make them writable for Firefox by executing

icacls [foldername] /setintegritylevel (oi) (ci) low

Do this for the following folders:

• C:\Users\Name\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox
• C:\Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox
• C:\Users\Name\AppData\Local\Temp

3 - Create a special download folder and apply step 2 for this folder.

You should definitely create a backup HDD/SSD image before messing around with "icacls".

I can't vouch for these instructions; use at your own risk.

UsernameIssues said:

Callender said:

I know little of the desktop version of Opera. Is it possible to launch it via opera.exe or does Launcher.exe need to be used?

I've just tried setting UAC to maximum and everything still works so that's not the issue.

I don't use Opera. I just installed it in a VM for this thread. I did not see any thing about a launcher. That would seem to be a portable app thing.

I spotted the command line in your command prompt window in your attachment here:

https://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...ing-opera3.png

I thought it looked wrong!

Callender said:

Point taken but as far as I can work out if I can run browsers on the "least privilege" principle when using an admin level account then it seems like a good idea. Here's a more recent example of a trojan that can apparently attempt to bypass UAC.

Avast blog » Win32/64:Blackbeard & Pigeon: Stealthiness techniques in 64-bit Windows, Part 2

I don't fully understand the article either, it could've been more clear, but I think if you have UAC set to maximum and your OS is updated so there's no known vulnerability to exploit, you should be safe. The "problem" with Windows 7 is that the default UAC level is not the maximum one.

Here's a quote from the author of DropMyRights after Vista was released that I think explains this:

It's been a long time since I looked at DropMyRights, a little tool I wrote forever ago to lower a user's privilege level on versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista.
...
Remember, this tool is not needed on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, because by default users are not administrators.

from Update on DropMyRights - Michael Howard's Web Log - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Tookeri said:

I don't fully understand the article either, it could've been more clear, but I think if you have UAC set to maximum and your OS is updated so there's no known vulnerability to exploit, you should be safe. The "problem" with Windows 7 is that the default UAC level is not the maximum one.

Thanks! I hadn't noticed until yesterday that UAC was set to default rather than maximum.

That's what I've been trying to say, thanks! This was perhaps better explained :)