IsAdmin

By: VDT Software

About this add-on

This extension shows whether the application is running with Windows administrator privileges, by means of a little icon in the status bar. This is useful if you're logged in as an administrator by default and you use privilege limitation tools such as MSDN DropMyRights, Run As or Windows' User Account Control (Windows Vista and newer). Now you can see at a glance whether these tools are activated.

Why was IsAdmin created?
Back in the days of Windows XP, applications (including browsers) were started with all privileges of the user who started them, which is often a lot, as being logged in as an Administrator is not an uncommon thing to do on Windows. Then, if there's a security hole (a.k.a. vulnerability) in your browser, malicious websites could use this hole to damage or gain control over your computer. Therefore, tools such as DropMyRights were created to remove these often unneeded privileges from selected applications as they start. Great for security, but usability and peace of mind would be even better if you could easily see whether the Administrator privileges have indeed been disabled. This is exactly what IsAdmin does, by means of a small, unobtrusive icon.

Things have gotten a little better with the introduction of User Account Control (UAC) on Windows Vista and 7/8, which requires confirmation before an application is granted extended privileges. However, there are still cases in which UAC restrictions might not be in effect. You or another Administrator might have deactivated UAC, or you opened your browser by clicking on a link in an application that already went through the UAC permission dialog (Opening an advisory from within Secunia PSI would be a good example of this). Therefore, IsAdmin retains its original use on these Windows versions.

IsAdmin homepage / support
http://isadmin.mozdev.org/

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