What is AlterEgo?

[Becky]

Sorry I couldn't find the description. But I think it will be helpful if a brief description is included at the beginning of the section.
I posted in here because I was not allowed to do it inside the AlterEgo section.
Thanks again,
Becky.

[drragostea]

Of course not, Becky :euro:. I don't really have the time now, but... I think Alterego is a project. It's for Spybot-SD if I'm correct. The reason you cannot post in there is because you're not a developer or working in the project. It is in public view. If it was something private, it would be... simple, hidden from public view.

What I would like to know is why would you even browse there?

[Zenobia]

I found a description post for alterego here:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=26555&highlight=Alter
That post includes a link to a flash tutorial:
http://safer-networking.org/flash/howto/howto-use-alterego-en.htm

[drragostea]

After reading the links provided by Zenobia, AlterEgo is really a program.

Zenobia, can you tell me exactly what the AlterEgo is used for. After reading the explanation, I'm still confused. Thanks. :santa:

[Zenobia]

It is pretty straightforward info.What part of the post do you not understand?

[drragostea]

It was late last night and I was up doing work and on this forum. I just skimmed through the contents.

So basically AlterEgo enables the user to runs programs at Admin-level? Nice.

[Zenobia]

No,from what I got out of it,it helps you run some apps,like Internet Explorer,etc. with less privileges,while still using an admin account.

[drragostea]

Hm. In other words... is it like running programs at Admin-level while the program is sorta like running with Limited Account privileges?

[Zenobia]

Well,no.A person would be still on their Administrator account,but the apps the person checkmarks when setting up Alter Ego would be run from a limited account,which would be safer than running the apps from an Administrator account with administrator priviledges.

[drragostea]

Thanks for the "comprehensive" explaination. :cowboy:

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.You could also ask questions there,if you like:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=26555&highlight=Alter

[drragostea]

Got it. :bigthumb:

[drragostea]

What I would like to know is how running applications in with LIMITED privileges make it safer? I'm running in a circle. :sad:

[Zenobia]

Because then the apps have less privileges,so they aren't allowed to do as much as an app run as administrator would.That could help keep a computer safer from malware,or help keep the malware from doing so much damage to the computer.

There's an older blog here that might explain a little better:
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2006/03/02/running-as-limited-user-the-easy-way.aspx

[drragostea]

I installed Alterego... in other words instead of saying install... I executed it. It's confusing Zenobia :sad:. So basically, all the media players, OE, and my browsers will run as Limited Privileges?

I can abide to that. Trillian, WMP, VLC Media Player, and IE I decide can run as Limited. But I'll choose FF to stay as Admin. Migrating all my add-ons and passwords is a pain.

What if I wanted to undo this "Alterego"? How can I do it? Thanks.

Also, if there should be an update? How should I update it? Just execute over the old one?

Note: I find that inputing the passwords can be tedious. WMP wouldn't set up correctly.

[Zenobia]

Yes,the ones you've checkmarked will.

What if I wanted to undo this "Alterego"? How can I do it? Thanks.
That I'm not completely sure of,since I haven't tried Alter Ego yet.Though at the end of this,it looks like you can checkmark your shortcuts to be run in their original form.
http://safer-networking.org/flash/howto/howto-use-alterego-en.htm
Removing it completely and undoing everything,I've seen no info on,so maybe you should ask about that here:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=26555
Good luck,godspeed and may the force be with you. :spider:
(Nah,I'm just kidding.) :D:

As for updates,I'd assume you could install over the top,but you better ask in the other thread as well,to be sure.
This is posted in the tracker forum:
http://forums.spybot.info/project.php?issueid=235

[PepiMK]

Benefits of limited privileges:

All that malware that exploits the browser and that installs into system folder will fail to install. Your regular admin account may be allowed to write files to C:\Windows\ - but the limited account may not.

Migration:

Actually, what Alter Ego does is it copies settings of your existing profile to the limited account. So no migration of add-ons needed, it even adjusts file paths inside configuration files etc.. Firefox is a bit tricky there though, I remember that addons were a bit tricky - they didn't run when just copied over. Passwords, cookies, bookmarks, preferences, history, form data etc. should be copied over though.

Uninstall:

The first page when you start it shows an Uninstall button, which should replace for example the shortcuts back with original ones, and removes the limited user account.
You could also start AlterEgo, switch to the Applications tab, select each application and tick where you want which kind of shortcuts, and manually remove the user account.
A complete undo of all the stuff the applications created on that account would be a very tricky thing to be done "automatically" - users might store data files in this new user account, so removing all the data files as well would be too dangerous imho.

Updates:

Install them over the current version, yes. Execute once and press the Next button three times, and it will apply any new changes (e.g. while it currently copies over network share settings, the limited user account is still missing printers, something that will come with a future version).

Ease of use:

Any suggestions on how to make it simpler, improve the description etc. are welcome of course :)

[drragostea]

@Zenobia. Godspeed indeed.
@PepiMK. So it's somewhat like I cannot "undo" the whole AlterEgo?

[drragostea]

Is there a thread where AlterEgo user's can post suggestions? Just find AlterEgo somewhat irritating because now I have multiple limited accounts in the Spybot Immunize Tab. :sad:

[nOInfectIOn]

Does AlterEgo make sense, if there is allready a restricted user-account?

[PepiMK]

@drragostea:
Somehwat like, yes.
From a pure technical perspective, I could say that the uninstall removes the AlterEgo file and it is complete. But from the overall perspective, it's way more complex. For example, if you write some text documents using Word, you don't want Word to remove them when you uninstall Word, right?
Same goes for the application you use through the registered account - you might create documents using them (e.g. saving emails or websites as textfiles in the restricted users home directory). What should AlterEgo do with these?

As for suggestions... I've created a new subforum for AlterEgo.
A project tools category already existed here, but that has been moved there as well of course. Keep the project tools only for well-formatted and clearly expressed suggestions please (see other examples); better discuss it in the regular new AlterEgo forum first.

@nOInfectIOn: depends ;)
Are you using that restricted account completely, or in a similar way compared to AlterEgo?
If you're still using an admin account often, AlterEgo would help to set up the "runas" links (shortcuts on desktop) to for example "quickly check your email on your regular restricted account" when using the admin account.
I've you're one of the few really well-behaving computer users (I have to admit that I am not myself :D ), you probably would never switch to the admin account though, and run admin-privilege applications through runas only, in which case AlterEgo would have no use at all.

[nOInfectIOn]

I've you're one of the few really well-behaving computer usershehe, don´t know what you`re talking about :D

I learned, while testing AlterEgo, that a restricted user-account should be such a matter of course... nothing to talk about...
Well, I thought - where, for [depends on religion] sake, was the problem to start this account? Laziness? I don´t know - but now I have one - THANKS ! for SBSD´s effort!

My next (understanding-)question:
When I am online with the admin-account only for updates and so on - then the AlterEgo would be not necessary - but if I want to use "normal" www simultaneously - then AE would protect?

[drragostea]

...but if I want to use "normal" www simultaneously - then AE would protect?

Are you saying running a web browser with AlterEgo? If so, then AE will make the browser run as a "Limited" privilege account. That makes malware a lot harder to get into your PC. Like PepiMK said, run the browser/program if you need to update or change extensions. The changing extensions and configurations I'm not so sure, but the updates I sure.

@PepiMK, this I'm about to say... should belong into the "Suggestions" topic? :fear:

Well, after testing AE, I found that there are multiple accounts on my Immunize tab in Spybot-SD. I have used the "Uninstall" tab. However, on my logon screen, I only see my account. No Limited Accounts. Nothing, just mine.

I created a account eg. "Family-online".
I tested it out and then uninstalled AlterEgo. Thinking that the "Family-online" account was gone from AE, I decided to create a another account named "Torchwood". During that point, I had no idea that the Family-online account was somewhat... still in AE. After using the "uninstall" button for the second time, I realized... well AE told me that "do you want to uninstall"? "Delete the files and settings..."

Then the last confirmation box said, something like (I removed AE, I don't have it on my desktop at the moment), "Family-online" deleted. "Torchwood" deleted. Thinking that something was not right, I clicked on Uninstall again. This time I received the same message. :scratch:

[PepiMK]

AlterEgo hides any accounts it creates from the logon screen, since they're intended to be used through the modified shortcuts. If you want to see if they still exist, open the system control panel, there's a user list in there.

I may have found why Spybot-S&D is still seeing those users during unimmunization: just removing the users does not get rid of their Documents and Settings folders, and these include the registry. Spybot-S&D is able to find user registries even if the users are not registered with the currently running Windows (to be able to scan and immunize other installations attached to the same machine, or for cleaning a harddisk when running from a CD).
To get rid of those, you would have to remove the users subfolders from C:\Documents and Settings\ ... only for those that do not appear on the system control panels user list, of course!

As for browser extensions: that varies. Firefox usually stores Extensions for each user account, so updating extensions is perfectly possible on the restricted user account. There are only very few Firefox extensions
(the officially installed Talkback and DOM inspector) that reside in a folder where write access is available only to admins.
With Internet Explorer, it could be similar, but depends a lot on how well-behaving the add-on was written ;)

[drragostea]

:laugh: I see PepiMK. Thanks for your "meticulously", vivid explaination. Lols. So what you're saying is that deleting the "subfolders" or folders with the Limited Accounts will remove the accounts from the immunization in Spybot-SD?

I was just taking a look at the User Accounts in the Control Panel prior to the posts, and I only found my account and the Guest account. Odd.

I guess I'll give it at the subfolders and deleting them. I'll report back.

[drragostea]

Phew that was scary. You were right Pepi, as you said about the "C:\Documents and Settings...". I used "Run" to find it quickly.

It was a bit confusing at first, because the primary account on my PC is named "Family". I'm the only one using it... I found some other folders named the ones I gave when I used AE. There were three folders in total not counting mine. How I distinguished mine from the Limited ones... was the size of the folders ^_^.

The accounts from Spybot Immunize tabs were gone. Thanks for the help. Just that I didn't realize the Documents and Settings part. :)