Windows XP Limited User

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Windows XP Home and Professional editions automatically create users with full administrative privileges at installation time. It is possible to better secure your computer by converting users to limited privilege accounts with one administrative account for software installation and maintenance tasks. (Vista has limited accounts as its default.) This page includes reference information and notes on my setup running as a Limited user under Windows XP Professional.

• Resources for Running As A Limited User in Windows XP - An overview of the issue and descriptive links to the main resources for those wishing to convert to running as a limited user to further secure their computing environment.
  
  
• Limited User Setup in Windows XP - Notes on my experience in converting my full administrative privilege user account to a Limited User Account (LUA). It covers conversion, one-time setup tasks, and some basics on running in a limited user account.
  
  
• Installing HomeSite 5.5 As a Limited User in Windows XP - This is a personal case study of one application that has trouble running as a limited user. Includes notes on diagnostic steps and tools with some screen captures to illustrate.
  
  
• Browsing the Web and Reading Email Safely as an Administrator - this blog article on MSDN describes why running as an administrator is bad and includes a utility for temporarily running with fewer privileges if you are.
  
  
• The Importance of the the Limited User, Revisited - An article on the Security Fix blog at the Washington Post (I hope access fill continue for this short article.) It give a quick description of why and how for the home user.
  
  
• FAQ: Why can’t I bypass the UAC prompt - Microsoft Windows Vista now sets accounts with "standard user" privileges, rather than the administrative privileges that XP had as default. This article discusses why its design won't let you "run just one application" as admin, describing the reasoning behind Vista's UAC (User Access Control) privilege escalation.

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