Windows 7 UAC

Barno

Barno

Barno

Associate
Joined
2 Aug 2004
Posts
1,161
My copy of windows 7 arrived yesterday and I've just finished installing it but I'm not very happy with this UAC (user account control) business. Both of the games I've installed have UAC shields on their icons and everytime I want to play one I have to allow it to make changes to the computer. I think I just turned UAC off when I was using the beta versions, and turning it off does mke the pop ups go away, but the shield icons remain and I'm sure they didn't in beta because all my desktop icons were as they should be.

I'm the only user of the computer, I'm the admin, I trust the games I've installed and don't want little shields all over the icons. There should be a way of either trusting the games or disabling the shields. Aan added security measure I would like to keep UAC on but its not flexible enough.

Is it functioning correctly and is there a way of disabling the UAC shield icons?
 
Fallen Earth and Heroes of Newerth, both brand new games that didn't have the shield icon on them when using the beta version of windows 7. In fact, nothing had the shield icon before and now with this install its on a lot of programs, java installer and razer mouse driver to name another two.

The other thing it does is ask me to provide administrator permission when copying or renaming some files, which is completely pointless because I am the admin so it shouldnt need to ask me.
 
Where have you installed the games, and where are you trying to copy the files? UAC will only kick in normally if the program wants to write to program files (which is bad programming practice and shows that the writer did not follow windows guidelines correctly).

Copy files, it will only kick in if you're trying to copy to program files, windows or similar...

All these things are bad practice anyway, generally if you keep coming across UAC prompts in general use, either you're doing something that's not recommended practice (no matter how long you've been doing it) or you're running badly written software.
 
Hi, I was copying a program (no installer) into C:/Program Files (x86) so that explains that notification. What I don't understand is if I'm the admin why does it need to ask me for administrator permission? If I was a standard user, fine, but as an admin I didn't think I should be getting all these pop ups.

The games are installed to C:/Games, both are new games and were installed correctly. Neither showed the UAC icon on my old windows 7 beta.
 
Interesting read Sparky. From the wiki entry:

Tasks that trigger a UAC prompt:

Running an Application as an Administrator

So in order to avoid this would it be an idea to get everything set up as I want it, all programs/games/drivers installed etc. and then run as a standard user? Is running things as an admin causing the pop ups?

I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this as I in the version of windows 7 I had before (final beta release) I ran it as an admin with UAC turned off and never had any shield icons or pop ups.
 
v0id said:
Hi, I was copying a program (no installer) into C:/Program Files (x86) so that explains that notification. What I don't understand is if I'm the admin why does it need to ask me for administrator permission? If I was a standard user, fine, but as an admin I didn't think I should be getting all these pop ups.
Click to expand...

You should, because Windows 7 uses a protected administrator account, which means that certain areas are locked from writing in normal use, and only allowed following specific permission.

The reason for this is not what you might do as admin, but what a malicious program might try to do with your admin privileges, by allowing normal programs only normal user access levels without specific authorisation, you dramaticallly reduce the number of attack vectors, and the mitigate the effects of exploits and so on.

The games are installed to C:/Games, both are new games and were installed correctly. Neither showed the UAC icon on my old windows 7 beta.
Click to expand...

Without knowing the behaviours of the games concerned, it's hard to know why they are doing this, the only thing I can say is that it will be the way they are programmed, rather than a flaw with UAC.
 
With UAC turned off, if a program attempts a task that would normally be blocked unless elevated, it can complete it without obstruction.

This also means any poorly written/malicious program can have some fun without obstruction.
 
Thanks for the help guys. Maybe its because this is a more advanced build of windows 7 and thats why its flagging up these games. They were both installed from installer files rather than dvds, also one is in beta and the other is from a small indie developer so maybe that has something to do with it. I tested Steam and it installs and runs without any UAC interference.

I just wish I could grant them permission permanently instead of everytime I want to play them. There isnt a way of doing that is there?
 
v0id said:
Thanks for the help guys. Maybe its because this is a more advanced build of windows 7 and thats why its flagging up these games. They were both installed from installer files rather than dvds, also one is in beta and the other is from a small indie developer so maybe that has something to do with it. I tested Steam and it installs and runs without any UAC interference.

I just wish I could grant them permission permanently instead of everytime I want to play them. There isnt a way of doing that is there?
Click to expand...

No, there isn't, because that would open a large security hole (all a malicious program would have to do is access the exempt list and spoof it).
 
Dolph said:
You can also cut the locks out of your front door to make it easier to get in, but I'm guessing you haven't...
Click to expand...

some how i dont see that being the same as UAC....:rolleyes:

anyways i got mine on never notify. wat did people do before UAC... just have your antivirus and a firewall and becareful what you install and you be ok
 
Ronaldo said:
some how i dont see that being the same as UAC....:rolleyes:

anyways i got mine on never notify. wat did people do before UAC... just have your antivirus and a firewall and becareful what you install and you be ok
Click to expand...

Before UAC, windows had a massive reputation for poor security and massive numbers of exploits...

None of the measures above will protect you against a zero day exploit in a website, for example, or even just a badly written but otherwise legitimate program that damages something it shouldn't.

Turning UAC off isn't the sign of an experienced or power user, it's the sign of an ignorant user because they clearly don't understand the importance of a layered security model.
 
Clairvoyant said:
Can you not use the UAC tweak that vista had. And make it silent (on but no popups)
Click to expand...

You can, providing you understand the security risks (in fact you can do this without a third party utility in Win 7 IIRC). Setting prompts to autoelevate does reduce security because the system will autoelevate malware as well things you want to do. There are still some advantages though, such as registry virtualisation and sandboxing (protected mode) applications still working.

The thing I don't understand is how people see so many UAC prompts that it annoys them, I rarely saw them on Vista, and so far have rarely seen them on windows 7 after the installation process. There are very few day to day tasks that should trigger UAC prompts unless the software has been written by a chimp.
 
if it's any consolation Dolph, i've turned UAC off because it asks me every time i try and do anything work related with my laptop.

as far as UAC is concerned, the software i use every day is a security risk, which is definitely is, but i need to use it, and the pop-ups cause considerable problems with my other programs, so UAC had to go.

(btw, if it all goes pear-shaped, i've got these things called "backups")
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll leave it turned on however I do find it quite intrusive. I was wondering if the UAC interference might have something to do with me installing my games on the C: drive? Or wouldn't it matter where they were installed?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom