Control Windows desktop administration rights for free

ScriptLogic introduced Privilege Authority, a free solution that allows IT administrators to maintain control of administrator rights while giving end users specific and limited privileges to change controls important to day-to-day activities.

Desktop management best practices advise that end users be given rights—or privileges—to control only the configurations on their machines that they need to do their jobs. However, certain end user actions require administrative rights and granting those rights lowers the level of security on those machines and increases risk.

Some scenarios where administrative rights are necessary include:

• Adjusting basic desktop settings, such as controlling volume and screen brightness;
• Downloading new versions of software to view documents, images or videos; and,
• Adding new printers or other peripherals.

Privilege Authority gives administrators granular control over administration rights for the first time. IT teams can create “elevation rules” specifying the Windows features, applications or ActiveX controls that end users can manipulate, while maintaining restrictions on all other functions. Those rules are transferred to the desktop client using Group Policy, an infrastructure that is already in place in Windows environments, eliminating the need to install a new system.