Protected Mode

Have W 7, and IE 8, all updated with the latest MS patches.

I wonder about "Protected Mode" in Internet Options > Security. The Security for Internet is set to Medium High AND the box for Protected Mode enabled is checked. Despite this fact. on this website it says below: Unknown Zone | Protected Mode: Off. On others it may say: Internet | Protected Mode: Off. Is there an explanation for this? The mode is enabled!
Is there possibly another setting somewhere else?

Did not have any issues so far. Have Kaspersky AV, W 7 firewall on, Spywareblaster active, and regularly check with Spybot.

Do you just have the Admin account on Win 7? Seems like I remember that the Admin account can't activate the Protected Mode. I know on a Vista PC @ work, IE 8 can run Protected on a 2nd user account but not the Admin account...

This is weird!! Admin. account cannot run IE 8 in Protected Mode. Really weird. Does anyoine know the reason? I am the only user on my XP desktop PC and the W 7 laptop. I have good reasons to do so.

So, given the circumstances, are both PCs less protected because of this weird condition?

Just found what it is with Protected Mode. Han is almost right. The reason is, if the UAC is disabled IE 8 puts the Protected Mode always into OFF. So I changed the UAC to next level and it sets Protected Mode to ON.

Still, I find it weird! Does MS want you to punish for setting UAC to off? It is certainly not right. Some UAC features even with W 7 can be annoying.

Another reason use a alternate browser.

Good catch on UAC! I had read that somewhere but had forgotten about it.

There is a minor bit of relief for UAC. You might look into Tune UAC http://www.codeplex.com/tuneuac