Robert Robinson

I disagree that Vista's security procedures are "implemented properly
the same way as Linux" (UNIX). In UNIX, a user can become a super user
or root by requesting this change and entering the appropriate password.
It is also possible to login as root, if one has has the proper password.
The situation is quite different with Vista. A user can have
administrator privileges, but the setting doesn't function the same as
"Administrator" as is true with UNIX's root. Vista continues to ask if
you want to act as Administrator when supposedly you already have these
privileges. Also, this level of user cannot change directory privileges
that stay changed except by going through a very awkward procedure that
results in a significant security risk. It is also apparently no longer
possible to log onto Vista as Administrator in a manner that would be
similar to logging on to UNIX as root.
It is extremely frustrating to discover that a long download fails at
the very end because a user with Administrator privileges cannot write
to the required directory or that "save" fails in Visual Studio after
modifying and recompiling a program.
Administrative privileges should be just that not Vista's implementation
of a "Quasi Administrator". The only current way to circumvent this
horrible mess is to painstakingly set all directories to read/write for
all users. This is a security risk, but Vista does not provide one with
a viable alternate given its current poor file security design.
Robbie