POLL: Do you have Vista UAC enabled or disabled?

I thought I would find out what Vista users are doing with regard to User Account Control. Please vote.

 

I have it enabled, as I split my computer time with XP anyway....

 

I disabled it and elevated it without prompting in the security policy..it's good for computer n00bs, but experienced users can't stand it.

 

I run with it disabled. I play with so much stuff that the constant reminders would be beyond annoying.

 

I have it disabled. It asks too many questions. I don't like things to be slow and it slows me down big time with questions like. "Do you really want to open Firefox? Why not give IE a chance?" "Do you really want to disable UAC? Why don't you give me a chance?"

 

disabled as within the first night of owning my new laptop it asked me like a million times "are you sure you want to do that?"
it gave me hell about turning off windows firewall xD

 

Disable it on first boot of Vista every time. Tried living with it for a while when I first tried Vista, no go got the boot as soon as I could find the first article on google how to disable it.

 

mine is on, hardly bothers me. ^^

 

Same as lokster, in normal use it barely ever comes up for me.

Greg

 

We just had this poll three weeks ago: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222310

But... here we go again.

You're all mischaracterizing UAC as a bunch of "Are you sure?" prompts for noobs who don't know what they're doing. It's not that at all. It never asks "Are you sure?"... it says "If you started this action, click Continue." It's there so that if something runs that could make changes to your system, it makes sure that you're the one running it rather than some piece of malware. It lets your web browser, media player, etc. run in a lower-privilege mode so that any exploit in a malicious web page or media file isn't able to compromise OS integrity and get complete control over your system.

There's a FAQ question on this page that I particularly like:
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/security/uac.aspx

Besides, once you install your programs and set up your computer the way you like it, there's no reason you should be getting a UAC prompt more than about once a day in normal use, if even that. Why are you getting them? Are you installing and uninstalling programs every day? Changing settings back and forth all the time? Why? If you're getting prompts from copying or editing files, then just save the files somewhere where you have permissions... or fix the file/directory permissions.

 

Where do you think my best free software for windows list came from? Also, i don't go downloading malware as i practice safe browsing habits and have software to protect me well enough. If i wanted to, i could turn on Defense+ in comodo and get all the "Application A is trying to do..." prompts i want. It's a good thing for people who want to use Windows firewall and use IE but i mostly use alternative software, and they protect me better than the default software does. I don't say it's bad in general, i just say it's bad for me.

 

I have it enabled using tweakuac to run it in Quiet Mode (no pop-ups). I have heard of Adobe installs going bad with it disabled. Not really sure if it's true just thought I'd play it safe. Anyone know about CS3 and UAC?

 

Yeah, I have CS3 and tweakUAC (quiet) and it works fine

 

I've disabled it since Vista's early betas, it serves no purpose for me.

 

Off, off, and more off!

 

Mine is on. It never bothers me.

 

Really funny, Calvin

Have it disabled immediately after fresh install

 

I have mine disabled. It is pretty useless if you ask me.
Tim

 

Yeah, I suppose it could be helpful sometimes to some people, but I keep pretty close tabs on everything as it is, so....

 

I used to have it disabled, but now I have it enabled.

 

Disabled....

 

pop uac click-click, again pop uac click-click that annoying...drive me nuts, so I disabled UAC.

I say UAC is bad move built-in Vista already enabled by default without user's permission in first place and not know what UAC blah blah about !? doggone ! it's me by myself !!! I am admin !!! too. UAC is the worst and stuipd security tool I have ever seen bar to none.

Why did MS put UAC in VISTA first place ? that UAC scared people away from Vista and buy XP instead for some many reasons.

too many security stuff up in my Vista 64 here and there.

1. UAC
2. WIN DEFENDER.
3. WIN FIREWALL SOFTWARE (built-in).
4. WIN FIREWALL HARDWARE (64bit cpu with 64bit OS) DEP thingy.
5. BOOT UP into BIOS set up password.
6. WIN Vista logon on password.
7. DRM thingy built-in.
8. required signed drivers.

mine settings below.

1. OFF
2. OFF
3. on
4. on
5. OFF
6. OFF/ON depends if i go travel with my notebook.
7. grr, can't disabled or anything.
8. workaround anyhow.

Dg

 

Swarmer,

I totally agree with you. I think it's really funny hearing all these folks say, I am the admin, I know what I am doing, I practice safe browsing etc. etc. etc. And then they go on to mis-characterize what UAC actually is. What is really funny is I am sure these are some of the same people who in the past bashed Microsoft for producing an "insecure" operating system. Or go on about how wonderful Linux is. (Which has its own flavor of a UAC, by the way.)

I have been heavily involved in hardware and software for microcomputers since 1976. I am a sysadmin on three servers, eight laptops and a handful of desktop machines. I welcome what UAC does, from the protection it affords to the virtualization of the program folders and registry (something these "experts" ignore, or have no clue about). With the exception of Calvin, who I know is installing and uninstalling a ton of software all the time, I find it VERY hard to believe that UAC is as intrusive as these folks make it out to be. In fact I don't believe it at all. Unless you are messing with a system file or folder, UAC give you NO prompts.

But, swarmer, I think we are swimming upstream here. This backlash at UAC is really a matter of ego. These "experts" don't like to be questioned when they attempt to do something with a system file or folder. They take offense and are willing to forgo the OTHER even more important aspects of UAC because of it. Most folks who bother to dig into what it does and why it does it are perfectly happy to put up with the occasional UAC popup. I will say I do wish there was a way to tell UAC, "OK, for this particular action just remember that I want to forgo the popup." with that memory being a VERY FOCUSED SCOPE.

Gary

 

Doy you know anyone who has UAC disabled and installed CS3 without problems? I don't mind it enabled since I have Quiet Mode on, but if it wasn't for tweakuac... I'd be in the looney bin with visions of "Allow" messages floating before my eyes

 

When you install, uninstall, and do as much stupid changes to system files/folders as I do, you quickly get annoyed. I know it's good, and that disabling it is not the best idea. I'm also one of those idiots that run everything as Administrator.

However, one of the main reasons I do so, is that ATItool (and some other apps) get blocked otherwise, and they won't run properly.

 

I've disabled mine since I started this thread. I lived without it for 20 years Seriously, I see the merits in it enabling it, but for a home system, if you have your data backed up, run good antimalware programs, etc....what's the worst that can happen? Nothing is going to execute and melt your mainboard, come on....just trying to keep it in perspective

 

I know, I hear people complain it's too onerous and complain that it's too easy to dismiss the prompts quickly because it only requires a single click and doesn't require you to type in a password. (Never mind that you can set it up to require a password if you want to.)

Yeah, Calvin's usage pattern is sort of atypical due to maintaining his free software thread. So, I can't really blame him for having it turned off. The rest of us don't need to install and uninstall a whole bunch of programs each day.

I don't know... keeping the system files protected is pretty important... maybe the most important aspect of UAC, since programs writing there can install rootkits, etc. Why do you need to mess with that anyway? Put your files in a directory where you have permissions.

As far as swimming upstream, yes, you're right of course, but I don't mind. I know I'll never convince the "experts", the 31337 doods who think UAC is a bunch of lame "Are you sure?" prompts for noobs, etc. I'm just making my point for the undecided, so that people can understand it correctly and make an informed decision. I mean, if I really thought that all sophisticated users turn it off, and that it's only just a bunch of extra "Are you sure?" prompts to protect novices from themselves, I'd probably turn it off too.

I don't really care if someone wants to disable it on their own system... what bothers me is when people explain UAC in a way that leaves out or misrepresents the main purpose of the feature, which is to maintain control over which programs can mess with your system at a low-level, and which can't, and to prevent exploits in basic programs like web browsers and media players from getting control over your entire system. As long as you understand it properly, you can decide whether it's worth it to you or not.

I see your point, although I know that they did have good reasons for deciding not to offer that feature: http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2007/06/29/faq-why-can-t-i-bypass-the-uac-prompt.aspx
Mainly, software developers would never fix their apps if they made it easy to do that. They'd just tell you to set it to run with elevated privileges. (Unix doesn't really have this problem because they don't have a tradition of everyone running as root all the time.) And then it would be vulnerable to exploits that can control your system.

Personally, the only thing I do often that requires UAC is use the "show processes for all users" view in task manager. So I do sometimes wish I had a way to skip the prompt just for that. Of course if I have to use it very often, I can just leave it running.

I'm sure that was a common response when seatbelts were invented.

Here's the worst that could happen: spy software gets installed that is silent and doesn't seem to affect anything, but silently disables your firewall and sends all your passwords, and personal data to some other computer somewhere where they look for credit card numbers and stuff like that... and listens when you log in to web sites and sniffs your bank password, etc.

Yeah, that's worst case, but it could happen. Once some code gets to run on your system as admin, it can do absolutely anything.

You're right though that it's extremely unlikely that any malware would cause damage to your hardware.

 

I encrypt all that kind of data....seatbelts is not a valid comparison IMO.

 

Well one's computer security and the other is personal safety... but otherwise I don't see why it's not valid. Your argument was like, I don't need this security feature because I've used computers for 20 years without it, and I think that's analagous to seatbelts being introduced to a population that was used to driving without them for decades.

 

I disabled UAC right after my Vista install was complete. It's like a version of root privileges in Linux gone wrong....

 

After weighing the positives and negatives based on my usage, I have it disabled.

 

are you kidding??

Disabled!!!!!!

 

I have UAC enabled and I really can't see shutting it off. My question is this, however. Can I enable it for some programs and disable it for others? I'm sure the answer is 'no,' but I thought I'd pose the question anyway. I run CCleaner, and that is really the only time that it annoys me. Is there any way that I can "allow" CCleaner to run without completely turning off the UAC?

 

No, for better or for worse, this feature was purposely omitted. The reasons are explained here: http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2007/06/29/faq-why-can-t-i-bypass-the-uac-prompt.aspx

By the way, you can tell it to always run a certain program with elevated privileges, but it'll still give you the UAC prompt every time you run it.

 

That is not 100% correct, there is a way to tell UAC that certain APPS are to be run with elevated privs and UAC will not prompt. It is a bit of a hassle to do, and there is a thread here somewhere about it. You have to download an app from Microsoft (Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit) that allows you to create a manifest or a security database entry I forget which. It has been a few weeks ago since I did this for one of the apps I use a lot that required elevated privs.

Gary

 

You can? I'll have to experiment with it for some apps to see if it works with them when I get my notbook back.

 

Yes it CAN be done. USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND PERIL!!!

Here are some links:

Link to Microsofts own message forum

and another

Link to WinVista Club
Scroll down to the second article. The Microsoft Knowledge base article that both of these reference is off line right now. They may have pulled it but this will help:

Google search for KB946932

Gary

 

Interesting... I was not aware of that. Thanks.

 

I've reenabled UAC after much thought, not because of theoretically arguments for it, but just because it seems Vista does better if you let it do it's own thing....subjective reasons

 

+rep
currently, I have UAC turned off,
I'll try this after I installed all necessary software and tweaks

 

OK then one more point for you folks who are turning UAC on or off and then back off or on... or whatever.

While UAC is on, one of the things it does is to "virtualize" the Program files directory. Any application that tries to write to it, (like to save a game or store some settings) will get "magically" redirected to a special directory for the current user. (This way different folks using the same machine can have separate program settings or saved games.) But when you turn off UAC, these same programs will have access to the real program files directory and may not be able to find your settings or saved games. Likewise if you have it off and turn it back on, your programs may not be able to find things. The information is not lost, just inaccessible to the program. You can always navigate to the folders and move things around your self, but it can be confusing to suddenly have your favorite game tell you there are no saved games!!! With UAC on you will find a "ProgramData" folder with a similar structure to your "Program Files" directory. The data will be stored in that folder structure when UAC is active.

Remember be DAMN CAREFUL WITH THIS "TWEAK". Choose wisely the apps that you grant access. Make sure they present no vector to possible intrusion on your system. For instance you would NEVER want to grant access using the Compatibility Toolkit to ANY app that accesses the Internet. It is tooooooooooooooooo dangerous. I have ONLY used it for a couple of utilities that I use a lot and know that they do not retrieve anything from the Internet.

BE SAFE!!!!


UAC also virtualizes portions of the registry, but I have NOT delved into that realm. So I have no advice there, just be aware that the registry may look different to your app with UAC off than it did with UAC on (and vice versa).

Gary

 

UAC is totally useless to me, so I like it disabled.
However, in Server 08 it doesn't ask you if you are sure if you want to click, then ask again. Instead of that I never had any prompts, not even when I wanted to disable it. I guess they trust an administrator.
UAC should be on only for normal users and people shouldn't run an administrator account every time they download porn executables from the Internet.

 

ha, didn't know that before, i should think again.

 

i completely agree with swarmer and ScuderiaConchiglia on the usage for UAC.

i am a sysadmin and even on my own vista machine i am only a user, there is never a reason for me to even log on as admin. i believe ms made a good attempt to atleast make users aware of their actions.

i also believe that if ms had implemented this in their earlier os versions, that this argument would be a moot point. that said, if ms tweaks uac and continues to use this in their future oses, then this will be a moot point.

 

In Vista Biz/Ult you can set admin accounts to escalate without prompting, and leave the prompts only for standard accounts (in the Sys & Maint > Admin Tools > Local Security Policy control panel). In the home editions I think you might need to edit the registry or run some 3rd party tweaking app (which edits the registry) to do the tweak.

 

Probably, never tried as for me it serves no purpose, but it annoys tons of people.

 

UAC should learn things as it allows/denies programs. This will be less annoying to people.

 

Completely agree with swarmer and ScuderiaConchiglia.

I have UAC on and It appears only when I run Spybot Search and destroy and CCleaner. All I have to do is clic Continue and run the program normally. I like to control what programs I am running, and block the bad ones. If you have it OFF, you're in great danger. Every day new virus and spyware are created, so the antivirus and antispyware software will be always outdated, no matter if they are updated daily. UAC stops EVERYTHING, software, virus and files that try to install in system folders.

 

I don't even have an antivirus, why would I need UAC? To do what? Annoy me?

 

Now that may be taking it too far, but i agree that UAC is annoying.