Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives

Non-administrator advantages / disadvantages


From: "Shalla, Kevin" <kshalla () UIC EDU>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:23:31 +0000

I'm trying to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of prohibiting administrator access for users of Windows 
computers.  Can you provide feedback on what I have below?  By the way, what's an example of software that is generally 
prohibited?  Is BitTorrent an example?  Is it common?

Advantages
Most malware stays on one user profile, so other users on same machine are unaffected.  Deleting the profile can remove 
the malware. Prohibited (by policy) software doesn't get installed.  Combinations of software known to be problematic 
are not installed (like multiple active versions of antivirus).

Disadvantages
User cannot install or update some software immediately - have to wait for desktop support.

Kevin Shalla


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