How effective is a Limited User Account?

This is probably the most basic recommendation to secure your system.
Setup a limited user account for everyday activities and use an
Administrator account only for installing new trusted software. Linux
has always done this and Windows is slowly going that direction with
it's default configuration.

But how effective is a limited user account in preventing viruses
taking control of your system? Knowing a little about how permissions
work with NTFS, I can't figure how a virus could bypass this. Of
course there is a way because enterprises get viruses just as anybody
else (albeit not as often) and in a corporate environment limited user
accounts are exactly the norm. So how do viruses do it? If they don't
have write access to the registry, how do they make themselves
executable on system restarts?

I will only understand how protected I am if I understand what it
takes for a virus to circumvent this scheme. The worst security is
having the IMPRESSION you're secured...
.

Relevant Pages

  • WORKAROUND: Office 2007 Unusable in Limited User Account
    ... Since Office 2007 is forever wanting to reinstall itself in the Limited User account, I looked for some kind of installation log. ... I'll investigate this problem further as I have time, however, Open Office works without a hitch in the Limited User account, so that's what my Limited Users are using now.. ...
    (microsoft.public.office.setup)
  • Re: Limited user account problem
    ... I have an administrtiave account and a limited user account. ... sections of the Windows registry or protected Windows system folders. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: Limited user account problem
    ... I have an administrtiave account and a limited user account. ... "If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which is the default. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • problem installing and running IE plugins with limited profile
    ... We have successfully created a teacher profile with normal admin privileges and a limited user account for students. ... We are still trying to define the problem - is this an issue of changing access to a program file or an issue of changing permissions on the registry key for each plug-in vendor? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Loose File Association with Limited User Account with Office 2
    ... default to Wordpad whenever I logon with my limited user account. ... have to give Full Control permission to access at least the entire ...
    (microsoft.public.office.misc)