The Great UAC Debate!

[Brandon Live Veteran]

/waits for Brandon to try and defend UAC yet again.....

What does that mean?

Yes, fewer prompts is better. Duh. I've never said otherwise. Heck, I was almost certainly the single most vocal person in Windows in complaining about the excess dialogs that the shell displayed before SP1 (they aren't all gone, but the worst offenders are).

SP1 removed some annoyances, and going forward you can bet we will work to reduce the number of dialogs that are shown in common tasks, as much as possible. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with the current implementation, it just means there's room for improvement.

The day that isn't true, birds will sing and the sun will shine, and all people in the world will live in harmony. And I'll be out of a job.

[carini]

Hated it from the moment I installed Vista, been turned off since.

I am on Home Premium 64 and other than UAC and windows defender, Vista is great.

[soldier1st]

at first i didn't like UAC but now i find it a good thing,a little more clicking for more security..now i can live with that.

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

UAC does it's job. It only pops up when you try to change a system setting or write to a system area, and using a computer normally for day to day activities shouldn't trigger any UAC popups.

[Rapid Dr3am]

I turned UAC off at first, it drove me crazy when I first got a Vista machine. That was when I was installing things, then I found SQL server 2000 was blocked on start up which also bothered me. I then saw my friend get infected by malware drive-by downloads several times (same site, PICNIC). I turned it back on, only things that prompt me, are Spybot, Visual Studio 2008 and CCleaner these days.

[zhangm Supervisor]

I can see it being a good thing in a business. Having an actual, functional user privileges system has to make administration easier. As for my own machine, I run a limited privilege account and have it on all the time. I don't really care much about the prompts, its not like my entire life consists of installing and uninstalling programs anyway.

[crawlerbot]

Im always Tweaking and messing with my system

UAC is off for me and will stay off

every time CPU-Z or HW monitor starts its a prompt

I hate prompts >_>

[ViperAFK]

Im always Tweaking and messing with my system

UAC is off for me and will stay off

every time CPU-Z or HW monitor starts its a prompt

I hate prompts >_>

You can leave it on and put UAC in silent mode using TweakUAC. More secure and you get to keep IE7's protected mode and such and no prompts.

[mad_onion]

You can leave it on and put UAC in silent mode using TweakUAC. More secure and you get to keep IE7's protected mode and such and no prompts.

i really hope microsoft consider putting a silent option in windows 7. so many people are unaware that silent mode is possible and if when people went to turn off UAC they could just make it not display the prompts then that's what people would do. (or remove the option to turn it off entirely)

[franzon]

silent mode = automatic elevation when a process is starting = you're pwned !

[mad_onion]

silent mode = automatic elevation = you're pwned

well yeah if the program is malicious. but UAC in silent mode is still a significant security feature over having it off.

[ViperAFK]

silent mode = automatic elevation when a process is starting = you're pwned !

Running as admin with no UAC = even worse...It's better than people turning it completely off.

I personally leave it default with the prompts. You are doing something wrong or using poorly designed software if you are getting prompted very often. I almost never get prompted, and certainly not more often then when I do when I use linux. Basically only when I install software.

[kl33per]

If I were Microsoft, I would never have made it so you could disable it in the first place. It just allows people to shoot themselves in the foot. I hope for Windows 7 that they remove that particular bit of group policy, although I think that is probably unlikely.

[crawlerbot]

Ok so i have to ask why you guys care what i do with my computer ???

[jesseinsf]

Running as admin with no UAC = even worse...It's better than people turning it completely off.

I personally leave it default with the prompts. You are doing something wrong or using poorly designed software if you are getting prompted very often. I almost never get prompted, and certainly not more often then when I do when I use linux. Basically only when I install software.

It also prompts for Tweaking programs that access system settings. Which is normal. Mac users get the same type of prompts for the same kind of actions. SP1 made things better.

[jesseinsf]

Ok so i have to ask why you guys care what i do with my computer ???

Well many people complain about UAC when there is nothing wrong with it after SP1....All operating systems have this type of prompting. Your tweaking programs should activate UAC prompts because they are accessing and changing sytem settings. Viruses and hackers also change system settings. So that is why Tweaking programs get the UAC prompts.

[soldier1st]

or apps that need admin access.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I have it turned on, and find that once you learn how it works, it's less of a nuisance.

[thealexweb]

If the number of infected computers falls as a result then it was worth while.

[CrimsonBetrayal]

There's a lot of people using Vista!

I'll stick with XP until they actually bring out something revolutionary again, or something that actually maintains compatibility with all the software I use for work. Foresight, not so good.

[NEVER85]

There's a lot of people using Vista!

I'll stick with XP until they actually bring out something revolutionary again, or something that actually maintains compatibility with all the software I use for work. Foresight, not so good.

Not Vista's fault you use old software.

[+virtorio MVC]

I have it on but turn off secure desktop as the screen dimming really annoys me, and seems to slow it down.

[Ci7]

I have it on but turn off secure desktop as the screen dimming really annoys me, and seems to slow it down.

it work better for me this way at least it doesnt slow me down

[jesseinsf]

When in says "Have you ever been saved by UAC? It says more people answered "No". That answer is false because it is also counting people who don't use UAC or have it on silent mode. These Polls should have the ability to not allow people to answer questions that don't pertain to them. Example: In this poll if you answered yes to using UAC then you will be allowed to answer the next question. If you answered no or you use it in silent mode then it will not allow you to answer the other question which is "Has UAC ever saved you??:):)

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Nevermind the fact that most peope "saved" by UAC will never know it. That's like asking if their eating habits have helped them avoid getting sick. They'll never know if drinking less orange juice would have meant they'd have gotten sick sometime when they didn't.