Understanding and Working in Protected Mode Internet Explorer
Understanding and Configuring User Account Control in Windows Vista
With IE7, we now have a protected mode environment that will surely reduce the surface area and chance of compromise of user systems, including the Shatter Attack (Wikipedia article). However, it’s now a bit more work for those of us that need to develop applications that run inside of IE7, hosted.
If you look at the System Vendors who have support programs that need access to things protected for analysis and possible correction, this has a direct impact on them. Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc., all have little programs that do some sort of dump & analysis of registry, files, programs, etc. However, if these things are not transitioned to an elevated process they will either get no information or incorrect information (see the Windows Compatability Shim).
Resources for Developers