I want to completely disable all this security

exactly, i know what im doing and i would just like if the OS didnt restrict me in anything. thts why im asking this question:

Does this this new security replace security features in XP or add on top of them? In other words, if I disable UAC and get everything to run as admin am I losing any security relative to the security within XP? If not then I dont see the big deal in disabling it, I never got any viruses on XP so if I have the same habits and the same security I should be fine on 7 as well, correct?

Disabling security isnt a good idea you know that. If it is interfering with your ability to do something it isnt configured correctly. While that machine doesnt have internet connectivity you obviously downloaded and installed win 7 and drivers from the internet and sneaker neted it to that machine. It could even be infected now. No matter how good you are, you cant detect virii without an app.

Know what they call 10,000 ppl with your views? Botnet

Do use all a favor leave it on and configure it so it doesnt bother you.

Ken

torrentg said:

Run as administrator privileged account instead of standard user account.

Control panel | user accounts | change your account type

Less secure this way. Basically everyone runs this way though.

Uhhh....no....not everybody runs this way. I've been able to perfectly perform my job as a systems admin with my Vista laptop without being an admin or disabling UAC. And I haven't had 1 need to consider doing this at home either.

I often wonder what it is, that you "computer enthusiasts" do, which require turning off these security measures simply because you know better. Somehow the rest of us IT Professional types and so forth manage to get by just fine by leaving them on. That's got to make you wonder.

esteban said:

After I turned off UAC, I haven't received any interruptions from it. For those who "care about their security," disabling UAC isn't a big deal if you know what you're doing.

Of course, the point of UAC isn't so much to inform you, the user, when you are doing something that requires admin privileges...you obviously know about it since you started it.

The point is when an application in the background tries to do something which requires admin rights. In your case, you simply have elected to let those applications do whatever it is they want to do. And you won't know any better since you won't be notified about it.

Regardless of how competent you are as a user on your own computer, you aren't going to know with 100% confidence EXACTLY what every application you have installed is trying to do. And with so many free apps today which come bundled with other garbage and people pirating and torrenting commercial software...I have even less faith that I have a great handle on what is going on.

My reasoning seems solid to me. I recently upgraded to windows 7 from XP. Im asking if the built in security is the same as XP and then some or completely different. Like i said, because i dont go on the internet much with my computer (mostly mobile browsing) and when i do i pretty much only use sites that i trust, dont click on links, etc i have never gotten a virus on XP so it stands to reason that if the same amount of security is present in 7 (what im trying to accomplish here) then i also will not get any viruses. I dont need all the run as admin and UAC stuff, i got along in XP just fine without it and in my opinion, dont need it. Plus i do have an up to date antivirus program installed.

Just to clarify, i am fine with the UAC telling me what programs are doing, i just dont want to have to run as admin when i AM an admin just to allow the program to access special folders like program files.

If you turn all of the stuff off...it's more or less going to be pretty much like XP. Which by today's standards, is a pretty insecure OS. In fact, if you do a quick bit of reading, if you install a Windows XP box and put it on the Internet with no patches, it's usually compromised in just a matter of minutes.

While I understand what you are trying to accomplish and understand that you feel you have been relatively safe with Windows XP...I still have to ask if these measures really are that obtrusive and cause you that much hassle. I mean UAC prompts a few times when you are setting up your box and from than on out, it's pretty darn quiet.

If you have an up to date antivirus, then your machine must be on the Internet. These things need to be updated every few days.

And what happens if a site you trust is compromised. Ever hear of a commercial site being hijacked and then people who visit the site are compromised. Just because Google has always been a trusted site in the past, is no guarantee that they won't be hacked tomorrow.

As far as programs being able to write to C:\Program Files....I'd really be wondering what it is they are doing that would require that. Windows historically has had quite a number of vulnerabilities and compromises and they have put measures and safeguards into place to protect their OS and their users. I've actually switched applications because of shady practices and questionable actions.