Windows 7 - I want to completely disable all this security

PParks, don't think that I don't respect your experience, knowledge and opinions. If you did, you'd be wrong.

What it all comes down to is a user figuring out what is right for him/her.

What's right for me and many users is not having their screen turn dark with popups. When I install 7/Vista after not having done so in a while...then get the popup....I immediately cringe having forgotten it existed.

Absolutely right. Microsoft had to do something and they did excellent by letting user alter defaults easily. Win-win. Microsoft can no longer be blamed and user knows they are lowering security when they choose to do so.

As far as compromising identity or getting personal information goes: ZA is a good choice because it can block outgoing while setting and forgetting.

No, I don't think that at all. I think we have had a decent solid discussion..we are both just coming from different viewpoints.

And that is fine with me, but hopefully this decision is made after learning a little and weighing the options carefully. However, I've found the overwhelming majority of users who when they first experienced UAC and it's rather poor implementation on day 1 with Vista who simply shut it off and now that's step 1 on their deployment guide. Many haven't really given the much improved UAC system on Windows 7 a chance, but rather just turned it off rather than learning to work with it. And I sit at a computer on average probably 12 hours a day and somehow manage to get through each and every day with UAC enabled and in place. I just really don't find that it pops up much at all...so it's really not a nuisance at all. I'm far more bothered by my instant messengers and email then I am UAC

So under Windows 7, you can drop the UAC system down to the 2nd tick mark and it no longer darkens your screen. And remember that it only darkens now when APPLICATIONS try to elevate to admin and do admin tasks. It doesn't do it when the user manually does something like system configuration in the control panel, etc.


I've had problems with ZA just going nuts on machines sometimes and causing unexplainable behavior. I find that my hardware firewall (router), with Windows firewall, with either AVG, Avira or MSE for A/V, using malwarebytes or sbybot S&D usually keeps me running well.

Admittedly, I fall into this category.

ZoneAlarm can be hit or miss sometimes. True. It's all about finding the correct version number and sticking with it. Once they fix something though, it doesn't tend to reappear. So future versions usually don't exhibit same problem any longer.

For instance, I once couldn't cleanly shut down my system with it. It would hang indefinitely. And one version broke Winamp completely. They fixed those things fortunately. These are betas though, too, that I'm describing.

It completely amazes me that someone can ask for something and those that are there to help try to sell that person something completely different than what they asked for.

The person that started this thread specifically stated they didnt get viruses before on windows XP and they wanted to get loosen the security on windows 7 because of how much it slows everything down!

The first 2 pages of this thread is everyone trying to convince the poor guy he is wrong in wanting what he wants, and he eventually gives up and says basically, "ok, since your not going to give me what I want, what can you do to help"

I agree with the person carey, windows 7 is a resource hog and slows down the computer. I still prefer windows xp over windows 7 for usability/speed... when your doing multiple things, time and speed matters.

Don't give me the bs about viruses.... if we are smart enough to ask the question to turn off security then we know what the risks are and don't need a lecture from the "IT professionals" as to what can happen. Just give us what we ask for. Want to give your opinion when its not asked... fine.. but give us what we asked for too.

I had to read through all this garbage, hoping to find a answer the question carey asked.. but no, waste of time.

btw, Norton Ghost is a great option for those that want to screw with their computer... they can always revert back to previous backup.... exact 0s and 1s.... backed up every hour baby... eat it!

You do realize that this post is four months old?

Welcome to sevenforums, Clyde37.

Sorry that your first experience wasn't that good, but the folks here are just trying to help.

We've had people ask about re-flashing their BIOS to get better performance. While it might be a solution, the tendency here is to warn against doing things that can cause you serious problems.

Do you want to disable all the security on your system? If so, we can offer suggestions.

Hello Clyde37
I can see answer to the Thread Starter's question at the very first post.
Disabling UAC and running as admin should have solved almost all his problems.
I don't know why this thread have gone so far.

Please post back, if you need anything more specific for yourself.
Sarcasm?

Just as an update of sorts (got a notification email and checked back here) I did end up completely disabling UAC and running from an admin account. Now everything works without configuring and it doesnt annoy me at all, yet i still have never had a virus. And if i get one, well, thats what backups are for.

I'm one of those who suggested that turning off the security might not be wise. Part of my reasoning for this stems from the fact that many just assume or hear that it slows down performance, and thus they want it off. Or since they had to turn it off in Vista, assume the same holds true for Windows 7. Even in this thread, people mentioned their dislike for UAC stemmed from Vista and they didn't even give it a chance in Windows 7...they "assumed" it was the same thing and just turned it off. Hopefully some of my comments have at least encouraged some to take another look.

I'm not usually the type who will flame or attack a person for what they want to do, but rather just provide as much credible evidence as I can to hopefully encourage some thinking about the subject at hand.

My concern with resorting to a backup is
#1). If you have other machines on your local network, you might also compromise them...thus having to restore everything.

#2). If you connect via VPN to a work location and otherwise, you risk infecting that network if you do something to screw up your computer.

#3). You put other people on the Internet and such at risk if you unknowingly become a bot and start to attack others. While this isn't necessary your problem, it is a consequence of the actions.

And how much time is lost running these backups? Clearly these apps have overhead and slow down the computer. Couple that with the time to restore to get back to a previous point in time. My guess is that the amount of time here is far greater than a handful of UAC prompts. My point is that while some of the security measures slow you down a bit, so do the methods used to work around these measures as well.