Programs running in the secure desktop vs. keyloggers, screen loggers, etc.

Excellent

 

Yes, that's correct. Forgot about that bit of information.

 

Installed the rogue "Security tool" in secure desktop and on switching back to desktop it showed it had installed but was inactive.

The rogue came up at reboot though.

 

if it came back and it was running i can callit a fail

 

@MrBrian
If the program has been infected for example firefox has been modified to log your keystrokes and you run it in secure desktop?
I think this trick works good on a clean system and you're paranoid enough to not trust even your most legitimate apps (that's me XD)

^that's how it should be... the unsecure desktop/real system will get infected.

But according to MrBrian, if you re-open a new secure desktop the malware that already infected your system would not be able to touch the programs running in the 'new' secure desktop.

SECURE DESKTOP does not prevent malware installs. It only creates a temporary secure place for you to launch an application while protecting your inputs from any program/malware running outside the secure desktop.

 

Did you try giving credentials for the built-in Administrator account? You will need to enable it if it's disabled.