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Shame on Windows for just letting an application install a new root without express, and on-going user context.

This is something that the OS should be at some regularity reminding the user that has happened. It is not reasonable for a user to assume that installing an application is just going to let that application completely switch the trusts on the computer.

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Does Windows really not show any warnings at all in such a case? I would assume it does, but I’m not sure.

Windows doesn't show any special warnings for the certificate installation, just the usual UAC prompt.

If a root/admin user installs a root there is no prompt, if a user does, it is scoped to the individual user profile and a prompt is displayed. No prompt as root would be meaningful because the root/admin user could just update the configuration without using the API. Long story short, don't give root/admin to applications you don't trust.

Right but basically all application installers basically require “root” on windows.

This is an unfortunate side effect of how installation works on Windows I think.

I really think we need to move closer to requesting permissions to specific things rather than a binary “admin or not”.

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