What don't you like about Windows 7?

Dzomlija said:

saze said:

To be honest, UAC shows up A LOT more than once a month! That said however, it is super easy to turn off in 7. You don't have to take the command line route and can even use less annoying settings if you wish.

Seriously?

When I first switched to Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Retail from the RC (a bit more than a month ago), the first thing I did was set UAC to it's maximum level so that it acts more like it did in Vista. Excluding all the UAC prompts over the 2 days it took me to install all necessary applications and configure the system the way I want it, I haven't seen a single UAC prompt at all. Not one. Nada.

5 weeks and counting - still no UAC prompts AT MAXIMUM LEVEL!

How did you do that? Setting up each program to run at an admin level is cumbersom, and would take quite a long time to set up. Is there an easy way to get rid of the prompts and still keep UAC on?

cbleman said:

Dzomlija said:

saze said:

To be honest, UAC shows up A LOT more than once a month! That said however, it is super easy to turn off in 7. You don't have to take the command line route and can even use less annoying settings if you wish.

Seriously?

When I first switched to Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Retail from the RC (a bit more than a month ago), the first thing I did was set UAC to it's maximum level so that it acts more like it did in Vista. Excluding all the UAC prompts over the 2 days it took me to install all necessary applications and configure the system the way I want it, I haven't seen a single UAC prompt at all. Not one. Nada.

5 weeks and counting - still no UAC prompts AT MAXIMUM LEVEL!

How did you do that? Setting up each program to run at an admin level is cumbersom, and would take quite a long time to set up. Is there an easy way to get rid of the prompts and still keep UAC on?

Forgive the bluntness of my reply, but what's the point of UAC if you don't get visual prompts when programs require elevation?


Avoiding UAC prompts is easy. I just follow a simple set of personal rules:

1. I have a standard set of applications, utilities and games that I use everyday, and when I install Windows, I install ALL of them from the word go. I don't install programs on a whim, and also therefore avoid having to uninstall rubbish that doesn't work.
2. I set my Windows Update to download updates but let me choose when to install them. I then usually only install updates every month or so. (The work that I do on the internet demands that my connection maintains active traffic, and cannot afford even 5 minutes of downtime)
3. I only save or download files to my own standard user folders, which have all been redirected to secondary drives.
4. I only browse the 'net for research purposes (MSDN, Wikipedia, Forums, etc.), and don't use virus possesed social sites like facebook or youtube.
5. I also don't accept files transfers on Messenger from anyone that isn't in my contacts list.
6. The list goes on, but is off topic...

To cut a long story short: You can avoid Maximum-Level UAC prompts on standard-level admin accounts by using nothing more than common sense.

I really don't understand why people think UAC is a curse. Setup your PC properly from the start, and you'll not have a problem.

Well said Peter..

I have some difficulties to understand that people are complaining about the added security. I mean, I do really want to use UAC to avoid accidentally installing something.

Anyway, as this is (mostly) a free world, everybody is entitled to an opinion so I am not critisizing anybody.

Kari

Dzomlija said:

Forgive the bluntness of my reply, but what's the point of UAC if you don't get visual prompts when programs require elevation?

Blunt is fine. This is a discussion. Not just a platform for me to air my opinions.

I'm not against security, or being warned about programs. A security system, should be transparent after a while however. What I mean is, have UAC ask about a program, and provide a check box to never be bothered by prompts for that program again. A trusted program (Sort of like Zone Alarm.). If the program changes, Warn again, get aproval, then go away! To be honest though, the avarage person I talk to (Like you.), have the programs they want to run on their computer installed now, and probably will never (Or very infrequently) change them. ...and yet, the annoying prompts still show up. I have my setting at "Never Notify" and yet I am still bothered by prompts every day. The only way I have found to totaly avoid UAC prompts, is bypass it in admin mode, or turn it off. Yes, I could turn it off (And perhaps will in the near future.), but what would that teach me.

I run into people, who would like to get rid of it, but just don't know how, or think they can't. Most of them consider anything more than unchecking a selection box beyond their skill level. That is why I would like to see a menu option in the GUI.

When I told the "Story", I realy expected a lot or people to say they would take the more advanced option every time. To each their own. There are a lot of people that like UAC. I am not advocating getting rid of it. I would just like to see an option in the GUI to tone it down beyond what we already have, or turn it off. :)

cbleman said:

Dzomlija said:

Forgive the bluntness of my reply, but what's the point of UAC if you don't get visual prompts when programs require elevation?

Blunt is fine. This is a discussion. Not just a platform for me to air my opinions.

I'm not against security, or being warned about programs. A security system, should be transparent after a while however. What I mean is, have UAC ask about a program, and provide a check box to never be bothered by prompts for that program again. A trusted program (Sort of like Zone Alarm.). If the program changes, Warn again, get aproval, then go away! To be honest though, the avarage person I talk to (Like you.), have the programs they want to run on their computer installed now, and probably will never (Or very infrequently) change them. ...and yet, the annoying prompts still show up. I have my setting at "Never Notify" and yet I am still bothered by prompts every day. The only way I have found to totaly avoid UAC prompts, is bypass it in admin mode, or turn it off. Yes, I could turn it off (And perhaps will in the near future.), but what would that teach me.

I run into people, who would like to get rid of it, but just don't know how, or think they can't. Most of them consider anything more than unchecking a selection box beyond their skill level. That is why I would like to see a menu option in the GUI.

When I told the "Story", I realy expected a lot or people to say they would take the more advanced option every time. To each their own. There are a lot of people that like UAC. I am not advocating getting rid of it. I would just like to see an option in the GUI to tone it down beyond what we already have, or turn it off. :)

Sometimes less is more, which is I think the point of your story.

But the problem with a "Whitelist" (which is essentially what a "don't bother be again for this application/command" checkbox is) is that it can be thwarted by malware, defeating the whole purpose of UAC (I think a UAC "Whitelist" has been discussed before in another thread, but I'm not sure which).

Dzomlija said:

Sometimes less is more, which is I think the point of your story.

But the problem with a "Whitelist" (which is essentially what a "don't bother be again for this application/command" checkbox is) is that it can be thwarted by malware, defeating the whole purpose of UAC (I think a UAC "Whitelist" has been discussed before in another thread, but I'm not sure which).

Good point! My firewall option would require more than just checking a selection box too. ...but it's still annoying. Would A prompt when the "Whitelist" is changed be an option?

fseal: Although I get prompts every day, your response was well reasoned, and NOT over the top. Blunt (Which is sometimes good), but gentle. There people here who disagree without any type of, or very poor reasoning. Although Windows is not Linux, you made a valid point. Good job. just thought I'd say so.

IceFire said:

The network diagnostics wizard.
A while ago my internet stopped working, so i ran the diagnostics wizard to see what was wrong. Diagnostic's wizard's diagnostics: "your internet connection isn't working"
Comparatively the mac Diagnostics wizard said that
Airport card: good
Connection to router: good
Connection to service provider (which I believe means the modem, not the iSP: good
DNS service: not found
connection to internet: not found.
restarting the router fixed it tho.

hmm... I've run into that myself today. It just started though, and if your problem has been going on for a while, it's probably not related. My Vista and XP machines work fine (Or say they are working fine), but the router has "Lost" the 7 machine twice today. since I've had no problem up to now, and it hasn't repeated in a while, I thought it might be a hardware glitch. Reseting the router and the machine restored everything. Perhaps this topic would be better discussed on another (Dedicated) thread. Once there, the hardware you are using will probably be usefull. I'm going to "Take out the trash", and wait to see if the problem reoccurs.