Prevent specific applications from being run as administrator

Posted by Unsigned on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Unsigned
Published on 2012-09-09T21:21:40Z Indexed on 2012/09/18 21:42 UTC
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Windows

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uac

Background

Most installation toolkits have the ability to launch, automatically or otherwise, external programs after installation. This is often appears in the installer via such options as "Show readme", or "Start program".

Issue

The problem is, many of these installers are poorly coded, and do not drop permissions appropriately. For example, starting the application automatically, or opening the application's homepage in the browser, often results in launching the application or browser with the installer's Administrative privileges, or a "High" UAC integrity level!

This has the potential to open up security breaches, by opening up the installed application, or a web page (and possibly browser add-ons), that are now running with elevated permissions.

^{(This is the reason I strongly recommend never choosing auto-launch options when installing software.)}

Question

The question is: Is there a way to prevent certain applications (such as a web browser) from ever being launched with Administrative privileges, i.e., an automatic drop-privilege?

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