Windows 7: ACL Stuff

I just got a new system with Win 7. I've been using XP since 2002 and I first used Windows in 1989 (version 2.11). The new computer is for my sole personal use.

Because I dont need a nanny operating system I have turned UAC off. Being an adult I'll take full responsibility if I break something.

Is there some way I can also turn off all this ACL stuff. I don't need it - its my computer, its my data, and I am the only person who uses the computer.

If that means a reinstall then I can do that - I bought a Win 7 Pro 64bit licence. The only reasons I got 7 were symbolic links and libraries, but I'm wasting so much time jumping over needless security hurdles that I've yet to even look into them.



I know all this stuff is relevant in a corporate environment - but this is my personal computer, its probably the last one I'll have - I dont need the hassle.

thanks pjd

All your data is yours...there is nothing you have to do to access it. Nor do you need to change ACls to access that data. So I don't see the problem. Nothing is locked away from you.

This should help
SetACL: Windows ACL management | Download SetACL: Windows ACL management software for free at SourceForge.net

Thanks logicearth, stoilth. Let me assure you logicearth, Windows 7 was telling me I could not access my own data because I did not have adequate permissions. I should have been more specific in explaining the problems I was getting.

I got errors telling me that I couldn't move or delete file system objects because I did not have requisite permissions - etc. I use the past tense because I may have overcome them by what I consider to be "brute" force.

Also until about an hour ago I didn't have a working screen capture program so I couldn't capture what was happening. But I've figured out that BugShooting 1.9 does work under Windows 7, its just that its not supported, I never needed any support before so I'll live with that.

My problems stem from having 6 hard drives (4 of them external), only drive C is new, the others were all inherited from an unmanaged XP system, i.e. only one user, no password etc. That system died unexpectedly and catastrophically so I couldn't migrate from XP to Windows 7. I needed to get something up and running fast. So due to lack of time and inclination I didn't build the new system myself, I got the shop to do that; a decision I'm already regretting.

The problems seem to have gone "away", here's what I've done,

1. given myself a user password - never had one on XP;
2. disabled UAC;
3. made my userid the owner of all drives and with full access control. That took time, I think Windows 7 modified the security data stream in every NTFS object - I used drive->properties->security sheet->advanced.

If I get the errors again, I'll capture the exact circumstances by taking some screen shots and post them here.

Its a pity that Windows doesn't have something like a superuser, I'm sure VMS had one, Cutler must have been asleep that day

pjd

Its called "SYSTEM", that is the god user on Windows. As for your problem, that is common when you pull Hard Drives from a previous installation. You have to reset the the permissions for the new system.

How do I logon to my new system as SYSTEM, the only accounts I see are MyAccount which is a passworded admin and a disabled Guest

I found a tweak that puts "Take Ownership" into Explorer's context menu, I suspect that will fix any problems that my sledgehammer hasn't already.

A half decent OS would recognise a "foreign" drive has been mounted and ask the OP what they want to do about it.Like SunOS, VMS and even OS/360, MVS & DOS-VSE did, interestingly they were all East Coast OS's, Windows is a West Coast OS

I think this issue is nailed - but not this one Outlook 2007

Thanks pjd

It always makes me wonder why myself and my fellow admin friends at work can run with our Windows 7 machines at home with firewalls, UAC and such all enabled and find that the computer is actually usable. I'm always confounded by those who are adament that these security features have to go and they will take their chances. I just cannot imagine what people are doing so often to make these features really that annoying. I hardly ever see them.

Hi pparks

You answered your own question mate . because you're all sysadm's, by definition you like this stuff.

I worked for almost 40 years in IT, I now breed cattle and I'm trying to write children's books, so by definition I know I don't need it.

I do need protection from others but not from myself. So I run an industrial strength firewall with dual bastion hosts and dual routers. I've not had any parasites on any of my personal computers since the mid 80's, nor have I lost anything that I couldn't recover from backup or elsewhere.

pjd

Being a systems admin it's not that we like this stuff...but we do see the value. However, seriously I don't see UAC pop ups hardly at all.

Ok, so if you now breed cattle and write children's books...what are you doing to cause UAC to pop-up all of the time? Word processors, and web browsers and such should not be prompting you all of the time with pop-ups and warnings.

I use sql apps for my stud book and other farm records, some of which I wrote myself in C++ & MFC. And I don't use Word much, I use storyboard apps and other tools targeted at creative writers - MS Word is too many things to too many people, I only use it for correspondence.

I use xplorer2 as my workbench because I prefer to drive from the perspective of data rather than process - I thinks its called object oriental or is it occidental

cya