Invisible wrote:
> - Allow Administrators to pretend to be another user, without having to 
> know that user's password.

Sure. We all wish security would let administrators make changes to the 
system they could blame on other users. :-)

> There are times when, in order to configure something, you have to log 
> in under the user's account before you can configure it. 

Not really. That's the easiest way to do it, but it isn't necessary. 
Everything about the user is stored in the file system, so...

If you knew how to work it, you could do it. Do you think people at 
Microsoft or American Express hang around to enter their passwords while the 
sysadmin fixes things?

> - Allow Administrators to unlock a workstation without destroying all of 
> the user's unsaved work. (IOW, without terminating all the stuff they 
> have running.)

Wouldn't be much of a lock, would it?

> - Log security events in a meaningful way.
> Do you know what
> 
>   Object Access Attempt:
>   Object Server:Security
>   Handle ID:144
>   Object Type:File
>   Process ID:3156
>   Image File Name:C:\WINDOWS\system32\notepad.exe
>   Accesses:WriteData
>   Access Mask:0x6
> 
> means? I certainly don't.

You didn't provide the actual interesting information, which is the Event ID.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/ee_advanced.aspx

> But then, this isn't human-readable data. This is simply a raw dump of 
> the low-level internal data structures that Windows itself uses to 
> manage object access. 

Not really. It's the codes the OS passed to be recorded in the event logs.

> As it is, all over the company we have event logs full of gibberish like 
> this that nobody can understand. We might as well not bother logging it...

Or, alternately, you could learn what the codes mean.

> - The ability to monitor CPU, HD and NIC activity from the notification 
> area would be useful.

CPU and NIC activity monitors come with Windows, if you're just interested 
in a approximate "is it doing anything". Task manager will iconify to a CPU 
activity barchart in the notification area, and there's a checkbox on the 
network connection configuration front page that says to show the icon even 
when you have good connectivity, and that icon will animate.

Your HD light on the front should work. :-) If not, google for "hd activity 
systray" or something.

Vista has sidebar gadgets for nic and HD activity like you want. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Ouch ouch ouch!"
   "What's wrong? Noodles too hot?"
   "No, I have Chopstick Tunnel Syndrome."

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