Anilrgowda

The Devil's Guide to Vista Security If you don't need protection from yourself, then here's a way around Vista's security measures.
Microsoft has spent time and millions to make Vista more secure and protect users from themselves. But you don’t need this hand-holding. You were infested with malware that one time, but it wasn’t your fault. You and your network are ready for Vista without the locks. Here’s how to fly.

Turn User Account Control off
User Account Control, or UAC, limits the authority of accounts users are running in, restricting them from entering protected areas or performing sensitive actions on the system. Users log on, whether they are power users, ordinary users or administrators, and are assigned a security token.

When an action is requested that requires administrative privileges, a logon prompt is displayed and the user must enter credentials. An administrative security token is then assigned to users that allows them to carry out the function. This bothers some people who think they don’t need to be protected from themselves.

If you're one of them, it’s relatively easy to turn off UAC. You’ll need to open the file GPEDIT.MSC, acknowledge the very UAC prompt you’re trying to disable and then disable everything beginning with ‘User Account Control’ under Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options.

Expose the hidden administrator account
Windows Vista hides and disables the true administrator account that you’ve come to expect in NT-based versions of Windows. The idea is that you should use regular user accounts with ‘Vista administrator’ permissions, which grant administrative tokens to a normal user, allowing them to perform restricted operations. However, you can expose the true administrator account in Windows Vista.

Data Execution Prevention Off
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature introduced in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and now in Windows Vista that looks for malicious code. If DEP’s analysis makes it think that executing code will cause unwanted activity, DEP intervenes and shuts the process down.

Sounds good in theory, but often DEP shuts down legitimate programs. Equally often, DEP fails to show any warning telling you it shut a process, leaving you wondering.

You might want to turn off DEP globally by issuing the following at an elevated command prompt (i.e., a shell running with administrative credentials): bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

Neuter built-in IE protections
The new Protected Mode runs IE in an isolated security setting, working in conjunction with most other under-the-hood architectural improvements in Vista. With Protected Mode enabled, IE runs within a low-right environment no matter which user actually launched the process.Add-ins like ActiveX subsequently run with low rights too. This helps prevent browser-based malware from latching onto your system.

But maybe you want to surf with all caution to the wind. Maybe some of the restrictions of Protected Mode, like having to open separate windows to switch between intranet and Internet sites, drive you crazy. In this case, you can turn it off by double-clicking the lower right corner of any IE window and on the resulting dialog box, uncheck the Enable Protected Mode box.