Recently, I installed Windows 7 and was quite impressed with the UAC tool. Unfortunately, due to lack of proper hardware, I was back to Windows XP within three days.
However the UAC option had impressed me already. I’ve always wanted a lightweight tool that can help protect your system without bringing it to a complete standstill. Was there such a program for Windows XP?
At my sister’s house, the word “windows” is an anathema since my brother in law is a “mac freak”. Even with 1.5 gigs of ram, the system was fast and smooth. When I tried Linux distros like Open Suse and Ubuntu in the past, they were also pretty fast. I was amazed by the fact that these OS’s needed no antivirus software at all.
Windows has always been plagued by bloated antivirus applications and no proper sudo options seemed to exist for Windows and there began my quest for a lighter system with a decent security program.
It was then that I came across a program called “SuRun”. I decided to test it out and so far it is working fine. Here’s a tutorial which I hope will help out beginners.
Before we can install the program, let us look at the “sudo” concept which Linux users are familiar with (that’s the abbreviation for “Super/Substitute User do”). Simply put, Linux does not allow users to run as “root user” (the “admin” equivalent in Linux) for obvious reasons: A super user can do anything including damaging the system files, install any kind of applications and basically mess up the system. But a super user can also install programs, perform maintenance tasks and take care of user accounts. This applies to any operating system.
Certain tasks may require the user to “temporarily” become the “super/admin” user. This requires the user to enter the “root/admin” password. So the user temporarily becomes the “super user”, the task is done (this could be anything from installing certain types of software, system updates etc…) and the user is back to his older normal Joe self. Here is an example of a computer running an Open Suse (Linux distro) update which requires the root password.
No Linux user ever runs as root (admin) unless really, really necessary. This protects the system from any kind of nasty surprises. Unfortunately, most Windows software can be installed only under an admin account. Surun attempts to give Windows users a “Linux sudo” like experience so that users do not have to log in as admin to install/remove software or perform administrative tasks. You might have realized by now that running as admin all the time will do more harm to your system than good.
Before installing this program, it is recommended to:
a. Set a password for all your user accounts
b. backup your data
c. Create a system restore point
Setting a password for all your accounts (including your “admin” account which can be accessed through safe mode) is very important. Otherwise there is no point installing this program at all. Points b and c are optional and not even necessary (extra paranoia from my part!)
Next step is to download the program from here, then unzip the contents and install it. Check all options.
Your desktop will fade and you won’t be able to access it…Oh no! a virus??…Nothing to panic! it's only the SuRun options.
All the tabs are pretty self explanatory. Please check the options shown in the screenshots for all the tabs. Do not check the "show SuRun settings for experienced users" option". This is for experienced users only. You could try out these settings once you're comfortable with the program.
In the second tab “SuRunners group” choose the “add” option and add your user login or any other desired user login to the “SuRunners group”
You will get a notification “Do you want “your user login here” to become a “SuRunners” member?. If you press yes “your user login here” will become SuRunner and will loose the administrator status. Press yes. Note: the screenshot is only an example. Do not add the account titled "Administrator" to avoid any type of problems that may arise.
Now you have become a limited user, but you can become an admin user only if the software requires you to run as admin. Best of all, you do not need to logoff and login again as admin. Neat huh? Click on the “save” and “apply” options. Reboot your system. Now let’s see what happens when I try to run a program (in this case, I’m trying to run the system utility”msconfig”)
Oh noes! “What do I do now?”, “I hate you” etc.? Don’t worry! .You’re a limited user now. Remember?
If you want to run msconfig or any other program that requires admin access, you will have to “whitelist” the program in SuRunner so that you can run it normally. To do that, you will have to know the location of the program. For msconfig, the file is usually located at: C:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\msconfig.exe. The easiest way would be to use the search function in Windows (Windows key + F)
The SuRunner icon will be a green smiley in your system tray. When you double click on it, it will ask for a password. Use your system/user login password that you use for logging into your computer.
You can now go to the “SuRunners group” tab AKA second tab and add the required program through the add option. A number of options will be available.
If you trust a program, you can use option 3 “automatically start this program with elevated rights and never ask for a password” and then choose “start the program automagically (nice word eh?) with elevated rights”. Msconfig is the system utility and can be trusted. Using option 1 “Guess if the program needs elevated rights” did not seem to work properly for me.
Now try clicking on the system clock to change the time. You will receive the error “you do not have the proper privilege to change the system time”. Neither will you be able to install or uninstall any program (oh that sucks big time)
Simple! Right click on your desktop and you will see a new option “control panel as administrator” has been added. Click on that and voila! you will now be able to run the control panel as admin (change the system time, add remove program, whatever you want to do!)
If you’ve got the hang of the program so far, good! If not, just give it some more time and you’ll get used to it. Don’t give up.
Now let’s try running a game (Airstrike 3D) and see what happens.Oh good grief! That’s all Greek and Latin to me……No matter which option I clicked on (Abort, retry or ignore). The game did not work for me.
As you might have guessed, I simply made SuRun "trust" the application through the second tab and the game ran smoothly!
By this time, you might have noticed by now that the green (SuRun) icon turns red when you run an application as admin.
Some applications try to play nice with SuRun and politely request you for admin status. I really liked that! One example: the Microsoft Security Essentials Installer:
When Comodo firewall was updating to the next version, SuRun asked for my password. Good!
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of some programs. For example: I was trying to install the trial version of the game Deimos Rising. It seemed to proceed for some time and then wham! I got an error. I did not get any error when I ran the installer as "admin". Oh well! no software is perfect
I tried the "Windows Update" option and could not do so since I was not an admin user. It worked properly after I right clicked on the IE icon and choose the option “start as administrator” and clicked “ok”. Now when you go to the windows update site, you will be able to install the updates. Note: It is important that you close your browser window after installing windows update and restart it so that you will be running as a limited user again.
I tested this program on my computer which has the following specifications:
Windows XP SP3 professional with the latest updates, 1.93 Gigabytes of ram, Comodo Internet Security (firewall only), surun and no antivirus, antimalware, anti. whatzisname software.
So that’s basically it. Obviously, this tutorial is not perfect since we human beings are not perfect. Please feel free to suggest corrections or other amendments in the comments section below.
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