Windows Vista includes a security mechanism that labels objects with an integrity level. Files and folders have integrity levels, as do users and processes. Vista has six integrity levels, from highest trustworthiness to lowest: Trusted Installer, System, High, Medium, Low and Untrusted.

So, what are integrity levels? Well, they act as a kind of second level of Windows permissions. When a lower-integrity user tries to modify a higher-integrity object, then Windows integrity controls blocks the modification attempt, and blocks it even if the object’s permissions list contains a “full control” permission for that user.

CHML is a utility to manage Vista integrity levels. Its allows you to:

• view a file or folder’s integrity level.
• change a file or folder’s integrity level.
• experiment with extensions of the basic Windows integrity control, and go beyond the standard “no write up” policy to the implemented but unused “no read up” policy, which blocks any attempts by a lower-integrity process or user to read the object.

You can read more about CHML here. Download the latest release of CHML here.