UAC. Have you turned your's off?

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  1. Posts : 1,377
    Win7x64
       #11

    blackroseMD1 said:
    Well, best practice is to install a good anti-virus as soon as you get your OS installed. I know there is a thread on here...I think it was ComputerWorld or someone who ran an article that said that even if you have UAC on high you are still vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses.

    In my opinion, UAC is a placebo...it's just designed to make you feel like your system is more secure. You are just as well off installing an AV like MSE or AVG and leaving UAC on default, or whatever level you feel comfortable with.
    UAC is not a placebo. Using AV is good but it works on another level which is complimentary. Whether a particular machine gets pwned or not has nothing to do with whether the user "feels comfortable" with their security practices :)
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  2. Posts : 64
    Windows 7 x64
       #12

    That is one of the first things I do. It's too annoying for me.
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  3. Posts : 1,040
    XP MCE .... XP Pro 64 .... W7 U x64
       #13

    yanks0826 said:
    That is one of the first things I do. It's too annoying for me.
    Ditto.
    I think this is a con from M$ to make me think they did something to make it more secure.
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  4. Posts : 31,238
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #14

    The weakest link in any security on a PC is the user.

    UAC informs the user that something they did not initiate or that may have potentially dangerous consequences is in process.

    This is an improvement in security as was found in XP

    If the user ignores the warning and clicks through the UAC without thinking then the UAC is useless. This is not the fault of the UAC but the user.
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  5. Posts : 686
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1
       #15

    Mine is set at default level.

    I find that to be both comfortable and secure - with autoelevation all my Windows 'tuning' gets done easily, and I know when something is asking for 'surrender your system 2 me' privilege.

    + all browsers are safer to use with UAC on.
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  6. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #16

    A lot of people just do not understand what UAC is or does. I already mentioned this in another thread, but clearly it needs to be repeated a thousand times before it sinks in. UAC IS NOT a security boundary. UAC is a convenience so you can run as a standard low privileged user. The reason for this is because application run within the context of the users privileges. The user has admin privileges, the application has admin privileges, and the application security holes has admin privileges. Anti-viruses, anti-malware, anti-whatever does not protect you from security holes in applications. Browsers are the most vulnerable along with any internet connecting application. Running with UAC on prevents any exploit from compromising the whole machine because the application is not running with super powers!

    The job of UAC is to run with administrative power only when the time is needed.

    BTW, I put UAC to the max possible setting.
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  7. Posts : 3,028
    Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) SP1
       #17

    I turn it off on my laptop but leave it on the pc the kids and wife use
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  8. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #18

    blackroseMD1 said:
    I think it was ComputerWorld or someone who ran an article that said that even if you have UAC on high you are still vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses.
    That's because that article made to sense at all. UAC does not, nor has it ever protected against viruses. It's simply a tool to let you run with a non admin level account, but escalate to an admin when it's required to run something. Obviously, if you get something with a virus, click on it and UAC asks if you would like to install it...when you click on Yes...it's going to install.

    I do NOT turn UAC off and I don't see why people feel like they need to. After getting the machine setup, it's rare for me to see any UAC prompts. I mean the people who complain about UAC make it sound like they have to click through 1,000 prompts a day and it takes nearly 3 hours for them to wade through them all.

    Remember, when you see the UAC prompts in the default settings, it's ONLY letting you know when an APPLICATION tries to get admin level access. I cannot see why people wouldn't want to know when their apps are becoming admin. That's usually a really good indication that something fishy could be going on...and it could be noticed in advance of your antivirus or antimalware application needing to get involved.
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  9. Posts : 5,807
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 - Mac OS X 10.6.4 x64
       #19

    pparks1 said:
    blackroseMD1 said:
    I think it was ComputerWorld or someone who ran an article that said that even if you have UAC on high you are still vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses.
    That's because that article made to sense at all. UAC does not, nor has it ever protected against viruses. It's simply a tool to let you run with a non admin level account, but escalate to an admin when it's required to run something. Obviously, if you get something with a virus, click on it and UAC asks if you would like to install it...when you click on Yes...it's going to install.

    I do NOT turn UAC off and I don't see why people feel like they need to. After getting the machine setup, it's rare for me to see any UAC prompts. I mean the people who complain about UAC make it sound like they have to click through 1,000 prompts a day and it takes nearly 3 hours for them to wade through them all.

    Remember, when you see the UAC prompts in the default settings, it's ONLY letting you know when an APPLICATION tries to get admin level access. I cannot see why people wouldn't want to know when their apps are becoming admin. That's usually a really good indication that something fishy could be going on...and it could be noticed in advance of your antivirus or antimalware application needing to get involved.
    I used to turn it off until I relealized that it isn't such a big deal to use...

    The only time I have to turn it off is before installing UxStyle Core BETA which is a little bugged when you are messing with it and UAC...after it gets installed I turn it back off


    It is not a for peace of mind...it prevents an app from running in full admin mode which may make the difference between pwned computers and computers still running

    MACs prevent you from running a program in full admin rights, linux prevents you from running as root without a password...Windows finally caught up to them
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  10. Posts : 1,377
    Win7x64
       #20

    noyb said:
    yanks0826 said:
    That is one of the first things I do. It's too annoying for me.
    Ditto.
    I think this is a con from M$ to make me think they did something to make it more secure.
    Let me guess - not a "security" MVP?
      My Computer


 
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