In a computer system including a plurality of resources, a device receives a request from a software program to access a specified one of the plurality of resources, determines whether the specified one of the plurality of resources is a protected resource. If the specified one of the plurality of resources is a protected resource, the device denies the request if the computer system is operating in a protected mode of operation, and processes the request based on access rights associated with the software program if the computer system is not operating in the protected mode of operation.