UAC -- What Do You Do With It?

So UAC is a part of Vista which the average user probably shouldn't turn off due to the extra security that provides, but I recognize that this forum probably isn't the average user when it comes to computers. That in mind, what do you do with UAC, keep it on, or turn it off? I dual-boot Vista, more as a novelty than anything else because my computer came pre-installed with it, so I leave it on since I don't use vista much, so I'm interested in hearing what people who use Vista as their primary OS do.

 

It's too childish.

 

UAC is overrated. On a new install, when drivers are getting installed and lots of tweaking is going on, yes UAC comes up a lot and it's tiresome. When that's all out of the way, and it comes down to everyday use, it's much less of a nuisance.

My only real complaint is I wish there was a way to whitelist an app. This is especially a problem when stuff installs itself in the c:\program files\ directory since Vista is paranoid about anything running out of here that MS doesn't know. My bittorrent client is there, and every time it runs I have to "allow" it to run. It would be a good thing to whitelist by some kind of signature, so if a file does change, and you try to run it, Vista can tell you "hey you whitelisted the filename, but the file has changed. DANGER!".. Better than the generic "allow this?" prompt that people just blow through.

 

I agree. I had UAC off for most of the time I've used Vista, but I recently did a clean install and decided to keep it on. Except for the initial tweaking and installing programs, I almost never get prompts so I don't find it intrusive.

 

UAC is like the label on the ladder that tells you not to stand on it.

 

I think you meant that UAC is over-bashed, right? Anyway, I was about to say the same thing... it comes up a lot when you're first setting up your computer, and not very often once your programs are installed and everything's set up the way you like it.

If you run as an admin, you should be able to use this trick:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=436&page=4

But that doesn't really seem like the right solution in your case... because I can't see any reason why a BitTorrent client should need admin privileges. And actually, I run third-party programs out of Program Files all the time without UAC prompts. Vista doesn't acutally care that it's in Program Files. It does look at the filename though to see if it looks like an installer, so you could try renaming the executable (for example try naming it "a.exe") to see if that helps. However, if the program is UAC-aware and the binary is marked as needing admin privileges, then there's no simple way to run it unelevated.

 

I turn it off. It's like big brother watching over you.

 

off, lived without it in XP

 

I believe this poll has been done before.

 

Leave it on, but disabled the prompts. I can't even tell it's on really.

 

I leave it on.

It's definitely been done before.

 

Yeah, but in the last poll OFF trounced ON by about a 2-1 margin.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222310

This time, so far it's close to 50-50.

 

Yea last time I voted "Off" but since my last clean install I've kept UAC on.

 

IE secuirty is also dependant on UAC, you remove it, you just lower your IE security.

 

As long as you use Firefox you don't need UAC for security. It's always off.

 

I leave it on, but I turn off the elevation prompts for Admin accounts. This is probably the best suggestion I give to other Vista users. If you run a standard user everyday, but you run an admin account to change settings, I highly recommend you select the elevate without prompt, which elevates if you are using an admin account without a prompt.

Otherwise, you rarely see UAC once you get your settings all settled down.

 

It got banned for being obstructive. It's a shame that Microsoft didn't learn from ZoneAlarm which you can tell to remember that an application is OK.

Jhn

 

I leave it on unless I'm editing files (which UAC usually blocks).

 

I don't see any reason to use it. I know what Im doing. and I have NOD32 installed so it's just another reason to slow down my experience.

 

I leave it on, even though I don't like:
- I have to run foobar in administrator mode in order to upload playing data to mixi. Prompts me every time I run a music player application is just so obtrusive.
- Prompt everytime I try to open Alcohol.
- Cannot use F8 shortcut for external harddrives in SpeedCommander.

Mind to tell how to do that?

 

It's more like big brother saying "stop hitting yourself."

 

You definitely shouldn't get any prompts when editing files, as long as they're your files. Move the files to a directory where you have permissions, such as your home directory.

 

It's great for beginners! A lot of my friends use it who first time use computer.

Off at my Vista, off course .

 

They are in the Program Files folder.

 

I leave it on and have never turned it off on a Vista install in all my time using Vista (over 1 year).

But that's because I love the under the hood stuff it gives me like process isolation, protected mode IE (when I have to use that crap), and virtualization (having virtual registry hives and file system locations for apps so they can't tinker with anything but their own stuff).

 

This is why UAC prompts you. It's reasoning is that since there are executables, programs should not be writing to the Program Files folder.

There are definitely better ways to implement UAC. I would use Comodo's Defense+ as a example. It only prompts you when a program is writing to an EXECUTABLE or DLL, rather than red flagging every write to the Program Files folder. Plus it lets you temporarily shut off the protection for times like Installation or updating, when you could get bombarded by prompts. And it "learns" which files are safe files, thus only prompting you once.

 

I do it mainly for editing game files in Wordpad. I'm just a big cheater.

 

At least for me, my experience with Defense+ was the opposite! (It and UAC aren't the same, I think? ) It got so annoying that I got rid of Comodo altogether.

Anyway, I've had UAC turned on since day 1, and I like it, I almost never have to login to my administrator account.

 

True, Comodo Defense+ are not the same. But they are very similiar. UAC actually has a much broader scope than Defense+. I think Defense+ is better, since it will learn. I'm surprised it "annoyed" you. The fact you just put it into learning mode for a week and it sets up all the rules for you through watching watching which programs run. Now if you set it into safe mode, that's when you'll see prompts. You won't see prompts on the Clean PC mode either. At least not until you start installing stuff, then it asks you if you want to switch to install mode. Then after your files installs, it learns those files. Its so friggin easy.

I am just annoyed you can't customize the amount of UAC prompts.

 

I voted off in the last poll that came through here, and I'm voting off here.

 

I leave uac turned on.... once you install programs and such, it is no big deal.

It is another level of protection, that I doubt I need, but what the heck... it is there, might as well use it.

 

Do this guide and you can leave UAC on without it prompting when trying to run in administrator mode. (auto elevates) -- This is my choice.

 

I know the old adage of 'to each his own,' but I really don't see why it's so annoying to some people. After my clean install and only adding the programs that are necessary, I "lucky" if I get the prompt once per day. I know other people may have tons of other programs on their system, but still . . . do you really get the prompt that much that you have to turn it off, or is it something you do just because? I'm actually really curious and not trying to be an @ss.

 

As I said before, it became just too obtrusive for me. Because in order my foobar2000 (music player) to be able to save some setting correctly and send data to mixi station, I have to run it in Admin mode, and it is annoying for me to have a prompt like that just for running a music player application, which I run most of the time. It also prompts all the time for Alcohol 120%. And I put most of my data in my external HD, it asks everytime I want to do anything to the data in my external, like copying, moving, renaming, deleting...

 

I tried to leave it on but it's just too damn intrusive. Imagine this scenario, which I should think isn't that uncommon: I want to create a folder somewhere on C: that isn't in my user directory to put some files in. There's one UAC prompt to create the folder, another to rename it, and yet another to actually copy the files into it. God forbid I later decide to rename/move/delete any of said files, because it's another UAC prompt for each step with each file. That's just overboard in my opinion.

 

Okay. I just wanted an example of a situation where it's just that annoying. I guess this would make sense. Thanks.

 

I noticed this too. Ed Bott mentioned this in his article.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?page_id=48

The gist of it is because in Vista every account runs as a standard user, UAC appears whenever you do something that requires Admin privileges. What is likely the case with your external drive is that under the Properties/ Security tab (AKA the ACE), only Admins are allowed Full Control priviledges and Users are allowed only Read priviledges. The solution is to click the Full Control box for the User group and explicitly allow move, copy, and delete priviliedges to standard users.

Edit: IMHO, UAC is the right idea to help encourage users to start using standard user accounts. It will just take some time for developers to realize they should not access actions or areas that only Admins are allowed if the program is to run under standard users. For example, the Program Files folder hold executable code. This is why Vista is so anal about programs writing to this folder. It is trying to secure the folder from any malicious programs trying to rewrite a program's executable. Some programs, however, save their settings in files inside Program Files, which is bad practice. Programs should save settings under the User Account's data folder. That way, each user can have his own settings. Plus, this is where settings are SUPPOSE to go. Think about that one. A program that writes to the Program Files folder would not keep its settings if the user was in a domain and had a mandated roaming profile.