UAC problem for std user

I have an admin acct and a std user acct - I run in std user most of the time. It is becoming a PITA because it keeps asking me for an admin pw for just about anything. I tried to chg the UAC but it tells me I must be logged on as an admin user. If I do that I can chg the admin user but it does not affect the std user - it is stuck at level 3. if I chg the std user to admin I can chg UAC under the user login but if I go back and chg the login back to std user the UAC is back to level3. My purpose of running as a std user is for anti-virus reasons. I have a good AV program but it seems to me that some things that were installed invisibly when running as an admin user don't happen any more. I have read all the UAC issue posts I can find, but none r exactly my problem and no solutions fit either. I tried making std user a member of power users and others but that didn't do anything - unless I need to configure power users somehow. I even get prompts to allow ASUS utilities & help programs to run at boot up. 1. how can I chg the UAC for the std user? 2. will that stop all the prompts to run programs, and change things? If not is there anything I can do in the group policies to make some things work without UAC control? thx I can't even delete a shortcut from MY desktop without admin pw.

thx for the reply BUT - why does my laptop respond differently - it is configured the same way and most of my programs run without entering the admin pw. I just tried setting 5 ASUS startup programs to Run as Admin for all users, but it still asks for a pw. Deleting an icon from MY desktop isn't a 'damaging' event - it is an icon and it is from MY desktop.

ruggb said:

I just tried setting 5 ASUS startup programs to Run as Admin for all users, but it still asks for a pw

I guess you used the compatibility tab for setting it as run as admin for everyone. That DON'T means that you'll get a free elevation there regardless of the account, it just mens that it will show UAC prompts whenever it's run, it's more a convenience really, so you don't have to right-click=>run as admin every time.
Think about it. If it would let you elevate a standard user to an admin without asking for a pass, anyone would automagically get admin privileges, which defeats the whole purpose of using standard accounts in the first place.

ruggb said:

Deleting an icon from MY desktop isn't a 'damaging' event - it is an icon and it is from MY desktop

Believe it or not, this prompt actually makes sense when you explore where that icon comes from. Both the desktop and start menu really comes from TWO places, one under each user profile (c:\users\whatever) where the owner has full access (without UAC of course) and everyone else have nothing, AND a system-wide location that comes from c:\programdata. This folder holds a common start menu and desktop, shared with all users. The final desktop everyone sees includes both items.
Long history short, those icons in programdata aren't really "yours", they're shared among all users, so if you delete that icon from your desktop, it would delete from everyone's. That's a system-wide change and as such, requires an UAC confimation.


The whole point of using UAC is really to get it to annoy you, but that annoyance is intended to get your attention to something that affects something more than just you, but the computer as a whole. There is alway the option to disable that, or trying to get used to it and pay the price for the extra layer of security.

thx y'all a few more ??s if UAC is so good at top level, why is there so much advice for ppl to run as std user? what is the purpose of 'power user'? I set my user as a pwr user but see no difference. Is it a downgrade for an admin or upgrade for std?

why is there so much advice for ppl to run as std user?

By default programs run with the same privileges as the account that started them. Usually that is a good thing. But when the program is malicious we have a dangerous situation. If you are logged as an admin the malicious program has those privileges as well. The entire computer is at it's mercy. A standard user does not have the power to make changes to the system so any malicious program they might run has little scope for damage.

UAC was introduced to make running as an admin safer. When UAC is operating an admin user actually has only standard user rights but can grant himself full admin rights when required. Any program asking to run with admin rights will need to be approved by the user.

But this has some problems too. It is well known that most users will not normally read error or warning messages. The UAC dialog is often seen as an intrusion, something to be dealt with in the most direct and quickest manner possible. When a malicious program brings up the UAC dialog it is often approved, the warning message never being read.

I believe that the Power User account was introduced with Windows 2000. This OS tightened up the security from NT4 and some older applications would not run with a standard account. The Power User account made this possible and was somewhat safer than making the user an administrator. But the bridge between "Power User" and "Administrator" is a narrow one that can be crossed by a sufficiently knowledgeable user. Obviously the details cannot be discussed here.

thx for ur insight - good stuff