New
#11
I am security minded, and as I type, my browser (Chrome) is sandboxed with avast! Internet Security while WinPatrol Plus, MBAM and Hitman Pro are all standing by for their by-weekly on demand scan. All of that said, the best thing that I have done to my W7 machine, is to turn off UAC. Wow, it's like I have a computer from the 20th century again!
Yes, I know all about not having the "always click me, no matter what" program enabled, and that it also deactivates IE9 protected mode, but since I never ever use IE9, I could care less. UAC is absolutely ridiculous.
I saw UAC for CCleaner, all my Auslogics programs, MBAM, HMP, WinPatrol, Slimdrivers, ect, ect... Disabling UAC didn't actually speed up my computer, it just makes getting to those programs easy again. UAC is just a false sense of security to me.
A good tweak I would recommend would be using EMET for Windows. Look it up in tutorials from Brink. It's a friendly GUI for users to optimize Window's protection systems like DEP, ASLR, etc. It doesn't inhibit any performance as far as I am aware of, and makes sure the protection systems are always active. Adds security without adding weight.
No problem, you are very welcome :)
I don't understand.
Let's say that you run into some sort of spyware/malware and now all of a sudden your browser throws a UAC prompt indicating to you that it needs to now run as administrator. By disabling UAC, you simply allow it to elevate to admin and it potentially does damage. With the UAC prompt in your face, you hopefully stop and thing WTF...why does Firefox/Chrome/IE/Safari all of a sudden need admin access.
I'm unsure why this would constitute a false sense of security. The entire purpose is to alert you to situations when applications require an elevation of privileges.
I just don't find my prompts annoying. The only programs that I use regularly which seem to prompt are 1). Acronis..I launch about once every 1-2 weeks to backup my system 2). malwarebytes..I launch about once per week and do a scan for any problems.
I guess my logic is, sense UAC pops up all of the time (for me anyways) with nothing more then a "Hey D, are you sure you want to do this?" pop-up that needs to be clicked to proceed, then the user (for me anyways) just hits OK.................. It's like the boy who cried wolf. My other security apps are far more protective then the wolf button.