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How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?
f0dder:
Personally I leave it switched on - the one positive is it is much less irritating than it was in Vista.-Carol Haynes (July 19, 2011, 02:33 PM)
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If you haven't cranked UAC to the maximum setting, you might as well almost just turn it off - unless Microsoft have been a-fixing things, it's pretty easy to turn it all the way off programmatically.
The only time I install an anti-malware app is when I suspect I've been too trusting to something I shouldn't have, or if I just want to make sure I've got a clean slate.-wreckedcarzz (July 19, 2011, 02:47 PM)
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That's too late - if you've already got a nasty bugger, anti-malware might not be able to detect it. Be proactive!
Anyway, as to what UAC does: it doesn't stop stuff from running on your computer; it prevents stuff from going form LUA (Limited User Account) privileges to full administrative privileges. Not all malware needs admin privs to be effective - but the stuff that's nastiest to detect & remove does. And of course there's been a few privilege escalation exploits in Windows, letting you bypass UAC. Needless to say, bugs like that have a pretty high fixing priority.
Thus, UAC isn't an end-all-be-all. It's a mitigating factor (just like Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, and the various kernel enhancements that been added from 2003-server until Winy), and you'll want as many mitigating factors as there is (within performance reasons, of course).
It's a pity that Microsoft hasn't been able to devise a better tool after all this time.-cyberdiva (July 19, 2011, 03:04 PM)
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It's a pity 3rd party developers are ***hats who don't want to follow official programming guidelines - if they did, we wouldn't need administrative privileges (and thus an UAC popup) nearly as often.
As for the ActiveWords problem, that's a bit curious. But one added part of security is restricting how programs can interact with eachother - there's all sorts of attacks you can do by messing with other applications, so you generally DON'T want a low-privilege application messing with a high-privilege one. Is DreamWeaver, by any chance, started with administrative privileges? Even if it isn't, try starting ActiveWords with administrative privileges.
Ath:
It's a pity that Microsoft hasn't been able to devise a better tool after all this time.
-cyberdiva (July 19, 2011, 03:04 PM)
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Correct, even when knowing that the 'doors with all the locks' that are now named and enforced by UAC end filesystem virtualization have basically been there ever since Windows NT 4.0 (and maybe even in 3.5, but that only had about 3 1/2 users or so) was released. Yes, that's quite some years before Windows 2000 or XP where here >:( And now we all suffer with all this idiocy of counter measures because MS never enforced the available security.
Stoic Joker:
It's a pity that Microsoft hasn't been able to devise a better tool after all this time.-cyberdiva (July 19, 2011, 03:04 PM)
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It's a pity 3rd party developers are ***hats who don't want to follow official programming guidelines - if they did, we wouldn't need administrative privileges (and thus an UAC popup) nearly as often.-f0dder (July 19, 2011, 03:30 PM)
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I'll 2nd that. Glad to see you back f0dder!
And now we all suffer with all this idiocy of counter measures because MS never enforced the available security.
-Ath (July 19, 2011, 03:31 PM)
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It's not Microsoft's job to enforce security, that's up to the Admin. MS generated tons of documentation on how to properly setup Windows in a secure fashion ... Most folks were just to lazy to read it. Or whined constantly because it was too hard to use the Run as... command.
UAC is enabled for me. :) ...Because familiarity breeds contempt ... And just because I know a bunch of stuff, don't mean I know everything. It usually just means the scope and scale of the screw up when it happens is quite high.
Best to have a "net".
:)
Eóin:
I run UAC cranked up to max. Personally I don't find it obtrusive at, try running a Mac or Linux and you'll get many many more prompts for a password, that makes to occasional yes/no box seem like a Godsend.
Sometimes it is annoying when you have to quit a program and restart because it needed to be launched a administrator for a particular thing, but more and more powertools are including a "Restart and Administrator" button somewhere.
Personally I say put it to max and leave it there. If you have a badly written app that needs Admin privileges always then select that checkbox in the shortcut compatibility tab. Sure you'll have to ok it every time it runs, but at least you won't ever forget it manually have to right click and say "Run as Administrator".
Stoic Joker:
Personally I say put it to max and leave it there. If you have a badly written app that needs Admin privileges always then select that checkbox in the shortcut compatibility tab. Sure you'll have to ok it every time it runs, but at least you won't ever forget it manually have to right click and say "Run as Administrator".
-Eóin (July 19, 2011, 04:41 PM)
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:Thmbsup:
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