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> Only problem is that certain things update constantly (VSCode) Can't you just install it at the user level? https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/windows#

• pdonis 2y ago
  > Can't you just install it at the user level? Sure, if you want your ordinary non-admin user to have write access to the executables, which makes it a lot easier for some malicious piece of software to hack them since it no longer needs to get root permissions.
  • josephcsible 2y ago
    If malware is already running as you with the ability to write to your files, what does it gain by Trojaning your VSCode to do bad stuff instead of just doing the bad stuff directly?
    • pdonis 2y ago
      Trojaning your VSCode means trojaning the compiler that makes executables for you so what gets compiled is not just the source code you put in. And these are executables you might end up shipping somewhere. Is it really so hard to see why doing that might be something malware would want?
  • dataflow 2y ago
    > Sure, if you want your ordinary non-admin user to have write access to the executables, which makes it a lot easier for some malicious piece of software to hack them since it no longer needs to get root permissions. As if non-admins have no way to create a new executable and run those instead? Windows has a million ways to run code, both visibly and invisibly. Why would malware prefer to trash an executable that the user relies on for daily work and risk revealing its presence so quickly?