Secure Desktop not transparent like other apps

duanej

I've been unlocking 1Password (1P) for Windows using the secure desktop option, and can't help but notice that the secure desktop 1P uses is different to all the other implementations I've seen that use the secure desktop.

The other implementations I'm referring to use a transparent background and sound the UAC alert when appearing, in an identical fashion to the standard UAC prompt that Windows uses.

How is 1P's implementation different, and why?

Thanks.

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1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Win 8.1
Sync Type: Not Provided

AGAlumB

@duanej: Sorry for the confusion! Secure Desktop is not a UAC prompt, which is why it does not appear (and sound) the same. The Secure Desktop feature give you an unlock prompt which is isolated from all but 1Password and privileged Windows processes, to guard against keyloggers. I hope this helps. Be sure to let us know if you have any other questions! :)

MikeT

We may be able to improve on this in the future by changing the background with a screenshot of the current desktop, blur it a bit to make it look like a UAC prompt.

duanej

Thanks for the responses. As an example of the secure desktop i am referring to please look at the KeePass implementation. The secure desktop it uses looks very much like the UAC prompt. You have me wondering now if this one is actually UAC or not now...

AGAlumB

@duanej: it appears to be doing just what Mike suggested, since you'll note that the time doesn't change. A real UAC prompt doesn't actually do the whole background blur thing anymore anyway, just a prompt on top of the desktop picture.

I think we might be getting into semantics here to some extent though. While a Secure Desktop prompt isn't the same thing as UAC, it kind of is functionally. Just think of it this way: UAC is a Windows system prompt (which excludes all other apps) for an action that requires elevated user privileges; whereas with Secure Desktop, the concept is the same, only instead of being OS-only, it's OS+app — nothing else can interact with it — and user privileges aren't involved.

I'm not sure that doing a UAC impersonation is the right thing for users, but I agree that it probably would't hurt to make it a little bit prettier. :)

duanej

Thank you for the responsiveness and the explanations. I don't think there is anything wrong with the implementation that 1P is using. I was just concerned over the differences I was seeing between the apps, most likely caused by the KeePass UAC impersonation.

AGAlumB

Any time! I'm the curious type myself, so I can appreciate your interest. Thanks for the feedback! We're here if you have any other questions. :)