A Programmer's Exploration of Vista's User Account Control

ow often have you been cajoled into troubleshooting a performance issue on an older version of Windows, brought up Task Manager and been bewildered by the list of processes running? Did you suggest a reformat, and sheepishly walk away with your engineering credentials slightly tarnished? Windows Vista brings order to this chaos through its new User Account Control (UAC) feature, which promises to put system administrators, programmers, and end users back in control. This article gives you the process you'll need to develop UAC-aware applications.

The Model
Imagine that you operate a factory and that all employees have an access card. Regularly, someone at the factory shuts down the assembly line, but you cannot determine who's doing so. Not only is someone stopping your production, but they are also allowing their friends in the factory. Those friends too, can stop the assembly line and invite their friends into the factory.