I suspect that changing file associations is a super-user activity.
Here's the braindead simple reason why -
A trojan horse, run within a user account (so it's not out of control), can change the file associations to ensure it handles/steals the files handled by other applications. That is not only a security breach for other users, but even if one had isolated file associations to a per user, you'd have these issues:
- If all associations can be overridden per user, then a malicious association for things like text files, etc, might change how the explorer shell interacts and allow for a privilege escalation attack.
- If all non-essential (non-blacklisted) associations can be changed, then you probably end up fucking up legacy programs, as their associations (that their components may depend on) can be fucked with.
One of the SO answers correlates:
"It looks like only the admin can change the association globally. "
However, some people try to do file association registry manipulation (requires admin -- just give the per-user thingy up, as other apps like Windows Media Player may reset the associations).
REF: http://superuser.com/questions/51503/del...g-reg-file
A thread in Tom's Hardware Forums from a Windows XP group:
REF: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/60620-...er-account
So, I looked for Windows 7 supporting such and found nothing conclusive. Perhaps Tiberius has some ideas?
And Tom's Hardware Forum posters claim that Windows XP does not do this.
Here's the braindead simple reason why -
A trojan horse, run within a user account (so it's not out of control), can change the file associations to ensure it handles/steals the files handled by other applications. That is not only a security breach for other users, but even if one had isolated file associations to a per user, you'd have these issues:
- If all associations can be overridden per user, then a malicious association for things like text files, etc, might change how the explorer shell interacts and allow for a privilege escalation attack.
- If all non-essential (non-blacklisted) associations can be changed, then you probably end up fucking up legacy programs, as their associations (that their components may depend on) can be fucked with.
One of the SO answers correlates:
"It looks like only the admin can change the association globally. "
However, some people try to do file association registry manipulation (requires admin -- just give the per-user thingy up, as other apps like Windows Media Player may reset the associations).
REF: http://superuser.com/questions/51503/del...g-reg-file
A thread in Tom's Hardware Forums from a Windows XP group:
REF: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/60620-...er-account
So, I looked for Windows 7 supporting such and found nothing conclusive. Perhaps Tiberius has some ideas?
And Tom's Hardware Forum posters claim that Windows XP does not do this.
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
