UAC

I am a little puzzled by UAC in Windows 7 - though this was going to be much better than in Vista but I am not so sure.

With some programs UAC kicks in every time I run them asking for permission to "allow program to make changes to this computer" whereas it does not with others. All of these programs are being run by an administrator and each one has privilege level set up to run as an admininstrator so why the different behavious from UAC?

Is there some way to make the programs I use regularly and know to be safe to run without UAC kicking in?

Also, some of the program icons have a shield on them - what does that signify?

The UAC is a mixed bag. For the average user who isn't making many system changes, a lower setting can be good. If you are an advanced user always making system changes, any UAC setting above "Off" will be annoying as heck.

Win7User512 said:

If you are an advanced user always making system changes, any UAC setting above "Off" will be annoying as heck.

I agree, and UAC was turned off immediately after my fresh install of Win 7. I do not need training wheels, and I am the only user of this PC.

Dzomlija said:

Keizer said:

Win7User512 said:

If you are an advanced user always making system changes, any UAC setting above "Off" will be annoying as heck.

I agree, and UAC was turned off immediately after my fresh install of Win 7. I do not need training wheels, and I am the only user of this PC.

I too am an advanced user. The first thing I do after installing ANY Windows 7, even before installing any drivers, is to to turn up UAC to it's maximum setting, so that it behaves like it does in Vista.

I find it to be a good additional measure of defense should my anti-virus and/or firewall don't work as expected.

I cannot call myself and advanced user, but I have learned a lot in the past year, since I am really taking an interest in computing, but I digress. I agree with the above poster. I leave UAC on, just to remind me that I am getting into programs that may cause problems if I do not adjust them properly. I also, leave it set, to inform me if the computer or some outsider is trying to make unauthorized changes. I go one step further, however. I have 3 accounts (I am the only user) 2 are administrative and the one I use is regular. It is my feeling that if I am using the regular account. I get a virus on the computer, there is very little that it can change and I will get a notice of a potential change. Furthermore, I would try to stay out of the Adm. accounts until the virus was removed or rendered harmless. Why, two adm accounts, that is another safety feature. If one becomes disabled, I have a back up. I really do not want to be locked out of an adm. account.

Keizer said:

I agree, and UAC was turned off immediately after my fresh install of Win 7. I do not need training wheels, and I am the only user of this PC.

UAC does not equate to training wheels. At it's default setting, UAC in Windows 7 tells you when applications themselves try to gain administrative elevation. It does not tell you anymore when you do things that require administrative access.

I cannot imagine why people don't want to know when an application tries to elevate itself to admin on the box. Even if you are the super power user and know everything there is to know about the box....I would say that you might still be interested to know that some application potentially unknown to you at the moment is attempting to gain administrative rights.

It seems that SO MANY people are simply unaware of what UAC is designed to do. Honestly, if somebody thinks the UAC system is designed to stop a virus from infected a machine...they clearly have some more reading to do. And it's probably wise for them to begin this reading...rather than simply disabling UAC and moving on.