3 ms·

Ctrl+Alt+Del invokes WinLogon, the highest priority process, that then delivers the task manager. I believe this is a kernel invocation, so regardless of user l

Ctrl+Alt+Del invokes WinLogon, the highest priority process, that then delivers the task manager. I believe this is a kernel invocation, so regardless of user land dysfunction, it will always work. Tthis is possibly attributable as much to convenience as it is to security -- the Secure Attention Sequence[1] is intended as a login-spoofind protection which will suspend other tasks (like a spoofed login screen) before continuing forward with user auth. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_attention_key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_attention_key

theevilsharpie 4y ago
> I believe this is a kernel invocation, so regardless of user land dysfunction, it will always work. It may always work from the kernel's standpoint, but this doesn't necessarily make it usable. Anything that blocks the display of WinLogon (e.g., the GPU has crashed and is unresponsive) would render this emergency restart mechanism unusable, and typically, situations like this are usually the only time I would need such a feature.
rzzzt 4y ago
A group policy can be enabled on most variants of Windows (dating back to around NT 4 or Windows 2000, I think) to start with a dialog saying "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to begin", and pretty much nothing else, exactly for the reasons you describe.
- WorldMaker 4y ago
  Though Microsoft's current security recommendation is against setting that policy for accessibility reasons. [0] Windows since 8 has worked on hardening/strengthening the "Secure Desktop" that login flows (and UAC prompts) happen on so that as much as possible malware shouldn't be able to run in those sandboxes. [0] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/security-policy-settings/interactive-logon-do-not-require-ctrl-alt-del https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-pro...
AllegedAlec 4y ago
So what if the keypresses never get registered?

theevilsharpie 4y ago

> I believe this is a kernel invocation, so regardless of user land dysfunction, it will always work. It may always work from the kernel's standpoint, but this doesn't necessarily make it usable. Anything that blocks the display of WinLogon (e.g., the GPU has crashed and is unresponsive) would render this emergency restart mechanism unusable, and typically, situations like this are usually the only time I would need such a feature.

rzzzt 4y ago

A group policy can be enabled on most variants of Windows (dating back to around NT 4 or Windows 2000, I think) to start with a dialog saying "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to begin", and pretty much nothing else, exactly for the reasons you describe.

WorldMaker 4y ago
Though Microsoft's current security recommendation is against setting that policy for accessibility reasons. [0] Windows since 8 has worked on hardening/strengthening the "Secure Desktop" that login flows (and UAC prompts) happen on so that as much as possible malware shouldn't be able to run in those sandboxes. [0] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/security-policy-settings/interactive-logon-do-not-require-ctrl-alt-del https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-pro...

AllegedAlec 4y ago

So what if the keypresses never get registered?