Run as administrator
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Run as administrator is a security-related concept introduced into Microsoft Windows Vista in an effort to limit the ability of non-administrative programs to compromise a computer.
This is distinct from the idea of a user having administrative privileges. A user may have administrative privileges on a machine while a program being run by the user may not, unless the program is approved beforehand or the user explicitly runs a program "as administrator".
A program can be "run as administrator" by right-clicking its icon or shortcut, and selecting "Run as administrator" from the pop-up menu, rather than simply double-clicking the icon.
Programs not running as administrator are locked out from modifying system folders and portions of the Windows Registry. Should a program need such access, it can request it from the operating system, which in turn will request it from the user. When the operating system makes such a request of the user, it blanks or dims all content on the screen, and shows a dialog box that must be manually clicked by the user (it cannot be automatically clicked by a malicious program running on the machine, as is possible in previous version of Windows). An example of a program that will typically cause this is the "setup.exe" programs that most software uses to install itself on the computer.
This behaves similarly to the Windows XP command runas and the Unix command su.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Windows Vista built-in help, "Run as administrator"
