Application Compatibility Toolkit and Standard User Analyzer

In my post last week about why XP should be buried along with DOS and other outdated software (which amazingly received quite a number of angry comments… imagine that…) I mention some great features of Vista including User Account Control. Obviously this has been the cause of some frustration… some of it… well… ok, most of it caused by the numerous prompts that UAC throws off. Well, here are a couple of tips to help you with your UAC issues.

First off, you can turn it off. I don’t recommend you do this, but it is possible. A quick way is through the msconfig command from the Start orb. Go to the Tools tab, scroll to the bottom and you can Launch the ‘Disable UAC’ options. Note: You will be UAC prompted when you go to run the msconfig tool, and you will have to reboot.

But I don’t recommend you turning off UAC. What you might try instead is the Standard User Analyzer. Let me explain:

While UAC is a great feature that adds to our security, it can be frustrating if a device we have or an application we are using is not up-to-date yet in terms of functioning without Administrative credentials. So you have a person working on a system that you have given the Standard User account. Unfortunately they are calling you over for your credentials every time they need to access the application that isn’t up to speed. Here is a trick that might help you to get around some of the frustration caused by UAC without turning it off OR giving away your administrative password.

There is a tool called the Standard User Analyzer that you can download as part of the Application Compatibility Toolkit (which can be located here: ).

The tool essentially looks at the needed access that an Administrator would have (that a Standard User doesn’t have) to run a particular piece of software or a hardware device and then it performs a process called “mitigation” which will simply loosen the ACLs for that software/hardware for a Standard User. So, the standard user remains locked down from Admin rights and the UAC remains enabled, but the user has access to what they need (without the annoying ‘over the shoulder’ credentials).

There is a great RTF that goes along with the tool when you download the kit. Now one little caveat that they don’t tell you up front is that you need to also install a tool called the Application Verifier (before you launch the SUAnalyzer). This is a runtime verification tool that locates ‘subtle programming errors’. Once the tool is installed and ready you need to select the Browse button and locate the executable for the program you need to test. Once you have it, select Launch. Under Launch Options, if you have the Elevate button selected it shows you with the Admin elevated privileges. To run it as a Standard User you need to deselect it. Close the application and then choose Mitigations, Apply Mitigations to see the ACLs that need to be loosened for that app to work for the Standard User. Select Apply and you are all set.

Back before Plug and Play… real Administrators did real work to get all the systems functioning smoothly. They were the gods of their world, not just donut eating complainers. They took pride in the puzzle, like a Dr. House of the network world. To recapture that spirit, consider the Standard User Analyzer.