Excuse me for the unintentionally stupid question.
I have read some articles on DRM and such, but i haven't undestood a very
simple fact.
If i compile a simple "Hello world" program in Vista i can execute it
without warnings? Or i have to sign" it or something similar? And if i
distribute it to my friends...?

EXE's will run just fine on Vista without anything special.

However, there are a few restricitons.

1) Your exe will always run as a standard user, even if the user is an
administrator. If your exe needs admin privs, it will need to include a
manifest that will cause Windows to request permission from the user to
start.

2) Your exe cannot install "global window hooks" [or use functions that use
global window hooks, such as SendKeys] unless it is digitally signed, has
uiAccess set to true in its manifest, and is installed to Program Files.


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/

"Jimmy Brush" <JimmyBrush@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9656523B-5DA2-413F-8F76-0ACFD4FFED21@microsoft.com...
> 1) Your exe will always run as a standard user, even if the user is an
> administrator. If your exe needs admin privs, it will need to include a
> manifest that will cause Windows to request permission from the user to
> start.

Well, strictly speaking, you *can* run it as an administrator (elevated);
however, without manifest, you won't be *prompted* for elevation even if the
exe needs privileges. (Unless it has "setup" somewhere in its name, if I
remember correctly).

You're right, I should have made that clearer .

Without manifesting the application, you can right-click it and click Run As
Administrator to run it with administrator privileges.

--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/