XP and Vista are both multi-user environments. Which means you can have more than one user logged into the same system at any one time. It also means that you can temporarily utilize another account temporarily to get stuff done from within another account.
Hmm. What exactly is user space? Is that when you choose the other option when you create a user account in windows XP?
Sorry for tossing around lingo (userspace being it). Running around in userspace is lingo for using a limited permission set user account...in other words just using a user account instead of an admin account.
yeah, because the only other use account option in XP is "limited", which disables you from installing and executing many programs, period.
Don't always jump to conclusions so quickly, you don't even know what a limited user account is (if you don't know what something is, then google it). Limited user in XP is the exact same as standard user in Vista. Just different wording is all that's different. And yes, user accounts will keep you from installing programs, but you're forgetting about the accessing of admin privileges while in userspace. There's pretty much no restriction on running programs in userspace. The only reason why a program needs admin privileges is because you needed to make system wide changes such as anything in the control panel, editing system files, etc. Or that a program's specific function requires a permission that userspace cannot grant. Other than that, i run all of my games just fine from userspace as well as normal programs like firefox, instant messaging, office programs, bla bla bla.
How accessing admin privileges in userspace works...
XP does have the ability just as vista does. Just that in XP you get the similar and less automated "run as" dialog instead of the much better vista UAC. Vista and XP have different wording. They both have guest accounts which both perform the same function. But, in Vista to run as a user, when creating a user account, select "standard user". In XP when you create a user account, you select "limited user". Different wording in both OS'es for the same thing.
The way running in user space in windows is pretty cool. You set up yourself a password protected admin account, and you set up a user account. Then when running in the user account, everything administrative that happens is an approval by approval basis (it's really awesome). Basically nothing gets to be installed, nothing gets access to outside of the user account folders like my documents and the desktop (no access to core system files), and nothing gets to run amock crazily unless the administrator has approved any of this stuff.
Vista has uac, which is an annoyance if you run as an admin, but you really get to see it's power when running in user space. UAC is pretty automated, whenever you install a program from userspace, UAC pops up to give you an opportunity to temporarily access an admin account to give permission only for whatever you're doing at the time that requires admin privileges.
In XP, it's not so automated, but in general is similar to how things are in vista with uac. In xp, if you want to temporarily give admin privileges to something, you right click the icon and select the "run as" (this is similar to right clicking an icon in vista and selecting "run as administrator".
So, if you were installing firefox from userspace in vista, (without right clicking the install executable, just plain old double clicking it) )UAC would pop up, tell you what's happening and if you would like to grant permission for this program to be installed. UAC will show you a list of all of the accounts on the system that have the ability to do so letting you select one, pop in the password for that admin account, and admin privileges were given to nothing more than firefox for installation on the system. When firefox is done being installed that's when admin privileges specifically for the firefox installation end (in xp it's the same procedure...just that the runas dialog doesn't pop up automatically like UAC does....so you'd have to start out with right clicking the installable executable and select "run as").
That's how temporary admin privileges work in a multiuser OS for an approval by approval basis. After that, programs within userspace...they don't get admin privileges either, unless you right click the firefox icon in vista and select "run as administrator", which'll bring up UAC so on and so forth with admin privileges ending until you're done doing whatever needed admin privileges in firefox (of which closing out firefox after giving it admin privileges ends giving admin privileges only to firefox).
Basically nothing on your computer would get admin privileges unless you give admin privileges yourself. Means when something funky hops on your computer and tries to rewrite your registry in vista, UAC will pop up and see if you want to give permission along with a summary of whatever something funky is trying to do to your system. Like i said, if you want to do this, use whatever admin account you have, password protect it, and create a new standard user/limited (they're both the same thing, just different wording) account preferably with a password that you have to type in, but keep in mind, having your computer automatically login with a user account is much not volatile at all compared to many computers that automatically login to an admin account when a computer starts up.
