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Topic: Question for Wiz about Limited User account |
Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 2 May 2007 1:13 pm |
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| Our computer came with Norton Internet Security, which expires in October. Now, following your advice, we have two Limited User accounts and a separate "The Administrator" account. When we log on as a Limited User, we get a message that says "Norton Internet Security configuration is not complete. You must have administrator privileges to complete the configuration using the Information Wizard." What does this mean? |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 2 May 2007 3:46 pm Re: Question for Wiz about Limited User account
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| Brint Hannay wrote: |
| Our computer came with Norton Internet Security, which expires in October. Now, following your advice, we have two Limited User accounts and a separate "The Administrator" account. When we log on as a Limited User, we get a message that says "Norton Internet Security configuration is not complete. You must have administrator privileges to complete the configuration using the Information Wizard." What does this mean? |
Hi Brint;
Norton I.S. requires full administrator privileges because it hooks into the operating system, writes to the local_machine branch of the registry and creates files in the system directories, none of which are permitted under Limited User accounts. When you installed Norton you probably used the same account that used to be a Computer Administrator, but now is a Limited User.
You could temporarily elevate the Limited accounts to Administrator, log into them to allow Norton to do it's thing, then reduce your privileges and log off. When the last Limited account has finished elevating and reducing privileges for Norton you should be good to go, except for program updates via Live Update. They may still require administrator privileges.
The best way to deal with finicky programs like this is to log into the administrator account, uninstall and reinstall them from there, then update all components. If you run Live Update and it tells you that you lack credentials you will have to log off then log onto the admin account to update, then reboot, the log into the Limited accounts. I do this all the time. I also know how to use the Run As command to stay in my Power User account, but perform installs and some program upgrades that require privilege elevation. You should have read about using Run As in my articles.
There are a lot of security programs that cannot be installed or updated from a Limited Account. This is by design, to prevent Limited Users from damaging the operating system or network. In businesses the system administrators log on to machines as the Administrator, install updates, uninstall programs and perform or schedule deep scans and disk maintenance, then log off and move to the next machine.
Before you reboot you can schedule an error checking scan on the boot drive, which will occur during the initial boot process.
After rebooting you should go back to the Administrator account to delete un-needed temporary files (Disk Cleanup) and run the disk defragmenter. Also, check for updates to Flash (adobe.com) and Java (java.com), as well as Windows Updates, all of which can only be done as an administrator.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 3 May 2007 10:24 am
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| Quote: |
| You could temporarily elevate the Limited accounts to Administrator, log into them to allow Norton to do it's thing, then reduce your privileges and log off. When the last Limited account has finished elevating and reducing privileges for Norton you should be good to go, except for program updates via Live Update. They may still require administrator privileges. |
I assume by "do its thing" you mean virus scan? Are there any functions of Norton IS that are always running, and if so, are they affected by the Limited account definition?
I'm not sure which article of yours discusses Run As, but does that apply to Limited users, or only to Power users, which I'm under the impression isn't available in XP Home? |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 3 May 2007 10:48 am
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| Brint Hannay wrote: |
I assume by "do its thing" you mean virus scan? Are there any functions of Norton IS that are always running, and if so, are they affected by the Limited account definition?
I'm not sure which article of yours discusses Run As, but does that apply to Limited users, or only to Power users, which I'm under the impression isn't available in XP Home? |
Brint;
When I referred to Norton "doing it's thing" I meant that it had to finish configuring itself for each user account. That seems to be where it is having problems with your limited accounts. Normally, security programs like Norton are installed from an Administrator account, and updated from there, but are able to protect limited users that are logged in. The problem is that when you are logged in as a limited user you cannot update components of those programs, just the definitions (a good compromise).
You might want to consider uninstalling and reinstalling Norton from your Administrator account. You can also visit the Symantec website and look for help there. They have a help forum where you can post a new topic asking for specific assistance in getting their security suite to behave on a limited user account.
All security vendors are going to have to get their acts together regarding allowing limited users to install and update their products, on Windows Vista. All Vista installations run with limited user privileges and elevation of rights when required to install or uninstall a program. Applications that do not respect limited rights will not run well, or at all, under Vista.
Run As is available in Limited User accounts, in all versions of Windows 2000, XP and Vista. It is not always as effective as logging into the administrator account, but sometimes it gets the job done.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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