Do you use UAC (User Account Control)?

derekimo said:

mitchell65 said:

This is turning into a most interesting thread. I am keeping a tally and will let the thread go until Friday and then post the tally. Looks very interesting so far but it would be good to get plenty more posts so that the final picture is more representative.
Thanks to all who have posted so far!

You could add a poll to the thread.

and poll by broad age maybe:
< 25 never notify
> 25 never notify
< 25 level two
> 25 level two
< 25 level three (default)
> 25 level three (default)
< 25 always notify
> 25 always notify
any age - what is UAC?

mitchell65 said:

Andreas W said:

Reading all the posts and I have to say that UAC is disabled on my computer, because of the sole reason it is quite annoying, my age 25. I don't know if I am doing anything bad or good but I am the only user of my computer, I never click on any link without checking where it is going first. I use adblock plugins for IE10, never click on any flash related ad on any sites, I also try to keep my installed programs to a minimum and regularly check my task manger and by now I have pretty much remembered all my trusted processes and I do notice if there is a process I don't recognize which rarely happens, I have tried with or without AV. one time I switched AV every 3 months or so because none of them never said anything after that I went without one for quite some time now trying the pro version of malwarebytes which I am considering buying.

So if I do have virus on my computer they are pretty damn stealthy.

The fact that you say " I don't know if I am doing anything bad or good" suggests that you are taking a bit of a risk in my view. If you were asking for advice mine would be to set UAC to at least the default level. Read through the posts on this thread from the start to get other opinions. I would maintain that it is better to be safe than sorry. Stick to one A/V, my choice would be Microsoft Security Essentials!

Read all the posts, and MSE gives me BSOD even on a fresh install of windows 7 tried 2 times on different occasions, haven't tried it for a while thou so not sure if it was a known problem or just my computer not liking MSE which I find funny.

UsernameIssues said:

Andreas W said:

....I have tried with or without AV. one time I switched AV every 3 months or so because none of them never said anything after that I went without one for quite some time now trying the pro version of malwarebytes which I am considering buying.

So if I do have virus on my computer they are pretty damn stealthy.

Sadly, a number of infections are quite stealthy. Anyway, you might be interested in this thread:
Are Anti-Viruses A Total Waste Of Time?

Think I have read it before or it might have been a different thread

A BSOD due to MSE on a fresh install is scary. I would spend some time in this sub forum after I ran a scan with WDO. Did you wipe the drive (remove root kit partitions) before doing a fresh install?

UsernameIssues said:

A BSOD due to MSE on a fresh install is scary. I would spend some time in this sub forum after I ran a scan with WDO. Did you wipe the drive (remove root kit partitions) before doing a fresh install?

I don't have a lot of information on my computer other then my games. So when I do reinstall windows that I do about once every year (not because the computer is slow or anything) so at the prompt when installing windows I wipe the drives I have so windows have to reformat them during install. I want to remember asking in that forum when I got BSOD on a new install of windows and it was there I got told it was MSE and my BSOD went away after removing it. also want to remember that I have used that tool once but not quite sure.

mitchell65 said:

Andreas W said:

Read all the posts, and MSE gives me BSOD even on a fresh install of windows 7 tried 2 times on different occasions, haven't tried it for a while thou so not sure if it was a known problem or just my computer not liking MSE which I find funny.

Never heard of this before but you would be well advised to put this BSOD issue on the specialist Forum.

This was like 1-2 years ago. I have scanned with SUPERAntiSpyware,AdwCleaner, according to those I am clean, superantispyware find regular adware with no threat. I don't have java or adobe pdf installed, got flash installed because of youtube. Never click on any ads, so I mean if my AV and those 2 programs don't show any threats I don't know what more I can do. not sure if makes any different but using a Router and as I understand it have a built in firewall (Asus RT-N56U) and I am using windows firewall.

mitchell65 said:

Andreas W said:

mitchell65 said:

Never heard of this before but you would be well advised to put this BSOD issue on the specialist Forum.

This was like 1-2 years ago. I have scanned with SUPERAntiSpyware,AdwCleaner, according to those I am clean, superantispyware find regular adware with no threat. I don't have java or adobe pdf installed, got flash installed because of youtube. Never click on any ads, so I mean if my AV and those 2 programs don't show any threats I don't know what more I can do. not sure if makes any different but using a Router and as I understand it have a built in firewall (Asus RT-N56U) and I am using windows firewall.

Sorry to be pedantic but this thread is about whether you have the UAC enabled or not. These other security issues would be better dealt with under the specialist Security Forum.

I know, I simply just answered questions they asked

I have UAC turned on at default level.

But, in the few years that I've been using Win7 I can not remember UAC ever popping up unexpectedly. That makes me question it's actual, practical effectiveness. Not that I push the envelope on risky computing. I research every program before I install it. And, I use Web of Trust and Avast plugins, which have warned me off of the occasional website.