Access Control System in Windows is completely based on Access Control Lists (ACL) and in this aspect it is quite different from Linux. Windows has a list of permissions / actions that can be performed over any object in the operating system and based on the ACL assigned to it OS determines whether to give the access to the user or not. This applies to any resource in the operating system, not just to the element of the file-system.
These are the standard set of file-system permissions available in Windows (simplified list):
Full control: A user with this permission can do anything
Modify: Ability to modify file system objects
Read and Execute: Gives a user ability to traverse through folder(s), list its content, read files, and execute them
Read: A user can open and read contents of any file
Write: A user can store the modified files
List folder content: A user can list content of a specific folder
Every file object can have a DACL (Discretionary Access Control List...