...And the #1 Illogically-Sound Windows Dialog Box Award goes to....

[t4ki0n]

lol.... this is in Windows 7 build 7000.

i know, i know. if you know your stuff it's logical. but to the average no-brain Mac user for example, it would sound reaaallly dumb :D

[stevember]

Yes, thinking about it it should have more info area.

[Imran Hussain]

This has to do with read and write access and security rights on various folders. Not illogical at all.

[Dazer]

I've had this pop up several times when I try to delete folders I make on the desktop. If I press delete I sometimes get that message. I can avoid the message simply by dragging the folder into the recycle bin rather than pressing delete :p.

[LTD]

As a no-brain Mac user, it sounds pretty logical to me. It tells me the folder is either secured, locked, contains sensitive system files, etc.

We have similar controls:

[Sethos]

Sounds pretty logical to me

[sharp65]

Whats illogical about it, seems to make sense. At your current state you don't have the rights to access it.

[stevember]

This has to do with read and write access and security rights on various folders. Not illogical at all.

Sounds pretty logical to me

Whats illogical about it, seems to make sense. At your current state you don't have the rights to access it.

I know and poster knows exactly what it is. jeeezs

But Joe public don't even know such thing as permissions, that why poster says illogical to 95% of users. That why a little extra needed.

[Preppy Veteran]

? What reword would you suggest here?

I'm pretty sure ''permission" is an extremely common English word. This seems like a pretty reasonable wording. Perhaps you can do better: if so, how?

[Mordkanin]

So what would you suggest? A full screen dialog box with a detailed lesson on ACLs?

[DanManIt]

He means the continue button doesn't make sense grammatically, it should say allow access or something similar.

[FISKER_Q]

Whats illogical about it, seems to make sense. At your current state you don't have the rights to access it.

Just because you're an administrator does not mean you have access to all files on the harddrive, other users files will be protected.

He means the continue button doesn't make sense grammatically, it should say allow access or something similar.

Looks fine to me, it does say "Press continue to permanently gain access to the folder", and in the context of navigating it makes sense to me.

[Ambroos]

I know and poster knows exactly what it is. jeeezs

But Joe public don't even know such thing as permissions, that why poster says illogical to 95% of users. That why a little extra needed.

The average Joe who doesn't know about permissions should and will stay out of any files/folders that require any of those permissions in the first place. People who go looking in that kind of folders know what to expect.

[t4ki0n]

gosh you people!!!! i thought it would be obvious!

if you tell a down-to-earth common sense person, "Hey you don't have security privileges to access this stuff, but, you can just access it anyway. Do you still want to continue with this?", they will tell you, "Why are you wasting my time? Why are you even telling me this? And why are you saying I don't have access, if I do, ultimately, have access after all? What's wrong with you?"

lol

now do you get me? it's as annoying as double-clicking something, and it interrupts what you're doing, saying that you can't really double-click on that, but you can still do so if you really want to, so, do you want to proceed or bail? hehe

[Kyang]

gosh you people!!!! i thought it would be obvious!

if you tell a down-to-earth common sense person, "Hey you don't have security privileges to access this stuff, but, you can just access it anyway. Do you still want to continue with this?", they will tell you, "Why are you wasting my time? Why are you even telling me this? And why are you saying I don't have access, if I do, ultimately, have access after all? What's wrong with you?"

lol

now do you get me? it's as annoying as double-clicking something, and it interrupts what you're doing, saying that you can't really double-click on that, but you can still do so if you really want to, so, do you want to proceed or bail? hehe

The box clearly says that the user will permanently gain permission to access that folder. Afterwords, the user won't see that box again. Should the user decide they do NOT want to compromise anything, they now have the option to back out.

It isn't redundant in the slightest.

[Guest xiphi]

I think someone should lay off the crack pipe...

[zhangm Supervisor]

if you tell a down-to-earth common sense person, "Hey you don't have security privileges to access this stuff, but, you can just access it anyway. Do you still want to continue with this?", they will tell you, "Why are you wasting my time? Why are you even telling me this? And why are you saying I don't have access, if I do, ultimately, have access after all? What's wrong with you?"

The UAC emblem on the Continue button means that administrator privileges are required - that if the user doesn't already have elevated privileges, they will be prompted for an admin password upon clicking Continue. The take-home lesson for you is that a). You don't have access after all, and b). The dialog informs the user of what will happen when they choose to grant themselves access.

[stevember]

So what would you suggest? A full screen dialog box with a detailed lesson on ACLs?

The Joe public will first go 'Why have I not got access?'.

Ok something like extra info drop down in file copying explaining why dont have permission.

'These files are currently owned and maintained by another user on this computer continueing will allow you to modify and delete these file, you will not be warned again'

or

'These files are owned by xxxxxx etc etc'

I'm not suggesting for me or you it will help joe public.

[zhangm Supervisor]

I think it would be an improvement to integrate such information into the UAC dialog, just to cut down on the number of popup windows that a user needs to click through. The workflow currently looks like: (User attempts to access a restricted file) > (Dialog: You are attempting to access a restricted file, authenticate or not?) > (Enter authentication.) It would be better to cut out the first dialog, and instead associate the UAC prompt with whatever initiated it.

[mattmatik]

lol.... this is in Windows 7 build 7000.

i know, i know. if you know your stuff it's logical. but to the average no-brain Mac user for example, it would sound reaaallly dumb :D

Can you please explain this part of your illogical post to me?

Because, you know as a Mac user, I cannot interpret it. Thanks.

(As for the Windows dialog box, I don't see what the big deal is. Currently, you don't have permission to access the folder. Want permission? Click continue. But, we do appreciate your attempt at grasping for straws in trying to be funny and feel all warm and fuzzy.)

[Lt-DavidW]

Why does it ask you if you want permission? Shouldn't it just give you permission without asking so that you can complete the action? I can't think of any circumstances in which someone would not want the permission.

[Mordkanin]

Why does it ask you if you want permission? Shouldn't it just give you permission without asking so that you can complete the action? I can't think of any circumstances in which someone would not want the permission.

Why should it butcher the ACLs on the folder just because you clicked on it? I, for one, would be ****ed if Windows decided to change the ownership on a folder when I went into it.

In any case, that kind of "Just let the users have total access to the machine" thinking has historically been a cause of many, many, many, many security problems for Windows. Going back to it would be a huge mistake.

[ViperAFK]

Did this guy edit his OP because this thread makes NO sense.

[Lt-DavidW]

Did this guy edit his OP because this thread makes NO sense.

There was an image but the bandwidth seems to have been exceeded.

[y_notm]

Why does it ask you if you want permission? Shouldn't it just give you permission without asking so that you can complete the action? I can't think of any circumstances in which someone would not want the permission.

You need to elevate your priveledges to take ownership. In vista, this required showing a UAC dialog after dialog in question. In 7, I don't think it does by default when you're running as an administrator. But when you're a limited user, you'll need to enter credentials to take ownership. So the dialog in that case is informative and useful.