13.3. Windows 2000 Security Vocabulary

When you log in to a Windows 2000 system, the system gives you anaccess token. The access token is your key to all of the locks found in a Windows 2000 system. Your key will turn some locks, but it will not work in all of them unless you log in as the administrator. Each process that you create contains a copy of your access token.

The access token does two things. First, it identifies who you are. For example, if you logged in as the user "smith," then your access token contains your identity as that user. The access token also identifies you by all of the groups you belong to. For example, in the User Manager you may be a member of the Power User group, the Backup Operator group, and a custom group named ...

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