> You can prevent this by setting the UAC settings to max or logging in as a standard user, but then you get Vista-style annoyances again... And I'm not even s

> You can prevent this by setting the UAC settings to max or logging in as a standard user, but then you get Vista-style annoyances again... And I'm not even sure UAC at max level is officially a security boundary. As for the second solution, yep, and you actually could also log in as a standard user in XP (and 2000, and NT) Now there is a fun thing about security, is that it can be sometimes counter-intuitive. A yes-no popup on a secure desktop can be way more secure than asking for a password in some cases, because the popup screen could be spoofed, and while obtaining an admin pwd is obviously valuable, obtaining a yes-no answer from the user at the console is not... (Some mitigations exists like SAK but they are not perfect, because the users can make mistakes, especially if asked for their password all the time)