User account control vista

It could also be applied to individual privileges and even individual directories and registry keys by extending the information stored in the white-list. In this way, programs could run with only the rights they actually need. For instance, it should be possible to grant a program the right to change the time without giving it full access to the registry.

DEP is a hardware technology supported by modern CPUs that prevents data being unwittingly run as program code - this is the essence of so-called "buffer-overrun" attacks by hackers. Currently, DEP is switched off for all programs by default because some will fail if it is switched on, and may do so very subtly. Instead, DEP should be enabled by default for all programs that connect to the internet.

If a program for which DEP is switched off attempts to connect to the internet, a warning should be displayed with the option to refuse the connection and mark the program as requiring DEP. The user could then close and restart the program. A new manifest-statement that identifies programs as being DEP-aware should be introduced but only programs that connect to the internet would need to use it.

Beyond User Account Control Programs that access the internet could be restricted to "guest user" rights rather than "standard user" rights. This should make it impossible for a hacker to introduce code that is capable of adjusting the user startup or program code so even if an attack were successful, it should not survive beyond a program restart.

Additionally, browsers could be adjusted so that secure pages always open in a new process requiring a new window, not a new tab. This would mean that if a hacker managed to introduce a keylogger temporarily into a browser, it would be unable to access data entered in a secure page. Combating Spyware Another method by which criminals can breach security is by adding keyloggers, etc.

With the exception of core operating system components, few legitimate programs should ever need to install a global hook to monitor events such as keystrokes. Therefore, if any program does so, a discrete popup warning should be displayed immediately and thereafter whenever the computer comes out of standby, etc. A similar approach is required when monitoring internet activity, however, users should be able to white-list firewalls such as ZoneAlarm that are published by Microsoft-approved companies.

These changes would not break any existing software but would alert users to the presence of spyware thereby making it largely ineffective. It would also provide a reasonable warning to employees if their company installs legitimate monitoring software!

Additionally, if a discrete popup warning were displayed whenever outgoing email traffic was detected, users could be alerted to the presence of botnet software used to send spam. Some email clients already implement a similar feature for legitimate outgoing email so this should not be a nuisance to users.

NB: Spyware installed at the device-driver level has to be tackled differently. Conclusion - How would these changes be better for users? The basic concept of User Account Control is good. Not all programs require admin rights and those that connect to the internet should be denied such rights.

However, it is clear that Microsoft have done the worst possible job of implementing it. Currently, UAC prompts are unnecessarily annoying being almost invisible by flashing a taskbar button or totally "in your face". However, worse than that, often they are inappropriate. For instance, a UAC prompt is sensible before installing a program that may change the existing Windows configuration but a prompt before opening the registry editor is not but would be sensible before critical changes are made.

Also, assuming that there is no way for a program running with standard rights to remotely control a program running with admin rights, Windows Explorer could safely run with admin rights which would mean that UAC prompts should not be required at all to delete or rename otherwise protected files.

Naturally, this could be controlled by the white-list discussed above. Currently, although you could open Windows Explorer with admin rights, doing so would negate all the benefits of UAC because all programs launched from Explorer would automatically have admin rights too - absolutely crazy. For Windows 7, virtually all existing UAC code needs to be discarded and reimplemented roughly as outlined above.

It would be straightforward to implement existing UAC features within the new system, therefore no compatibility issues with existing Vista applications should arise. Overall, this should make life easier for programmers so they can spend more time creating useful features.

Moreover, it would be more flexible, more secure and should result is fewer prompts which can only be an improvement for users. In order for it to work properly, people must understand what it is, what is does and why it is needed otherwise many people will simply click "Allow" making it almost worthless. To this end a DVD should be produced together with a short teaching schedule covering all the basics of computer security.

This should be sufficient for adults to digest at home and could be the basis of perhaps three or four half-hour lessons for schoolchildren followed by questions and discussion. Since Microsoft are working on a cut-down version of XP for the one-laptop-per-child project, this should not be a problem. Also, by extending the useful life of old computers, it should be good for the environment, it should help poorer countries, and it might even provide a useful additional revenue stream! As far as old hardware, i say let it die.

Modern PC's are much more power efficient in many ways than the beasts of yesteryear. Spend the money on a BE cpu, and g motherboard, a decent power supply and a 2. Q: Why would you be surfing the net or doing any day-to-day work while logged on as an administrator?

That's what standard user accounts are for :- Vamm Msg pm on May 8, gmt 0 Junior Member joined:Oct 30, posts votes: 2. This is not going to work because you cannot revoke rights on an open handle. If the handle for an object is open with high access rights there is no way to recall these rights as far as Win32 API is concerned.

The RevertToSelf if I recall it correctly works the other way round, allowing to lower permissions temporarily. Because despite the promise, Vista is still incredibly annoying if you try to do anything other than surf from a limited account, and since I'm rarely just surfing The brilliant User Annoyance Central makes this all the worse.

Thanks JDTurner for this huge write-up. One can only hope that they do it better the next time around. This may or may not be Vista's fault. What kinds of things can't you do logged in as a standard user? Maybe now that my system is installed and more stable, not making big changes, it may not be such a problem. I suspect it works great in a managed environment where there is a standard set of corporate apps that get put on the computer and they don't want you to add other stuff, so they do want you annoyed.

I had almost forgotten about UAC I turned it off so long ago. Did you turn it off with nlite? If so I had a problem when I turned it back on after not installing it with a clean Vista install. Thanks for the help. Trying to set up some medical diagnosis software for a palm pilot and even as administrator I still get an elevation request.

I justg bought one laptop with Windows vista home premium from one of my French friend and im from USA, now I want to change language from french to English. I did try all from Administration tab but still no change. I turned off UAC because there were some Windows updates that needed to be run and kept failing for months so i got the idea to turn off UAC to see if that would help.

The updates ran and executed perfectly. I just turned UAC off again and it is still off and I save files again.

Comments violating those rules will be removed. Comments that don't add value will be removed, including off-topic or content-free comments, or comments that look even a little bit like spam. All comments containing links and certain keywords will be moderated before publication.

I want comments to be valuable for everyone, including those who come later and take the time to read. Search Ask Leo! Do this Subscribe to Confident Computing! I'll see you there! Turn off most annoyances on the fly without reboot. This article also describes how to run a program as an administrator in Windows Vista. User Account Control UAC is a new feature that helps prevent malicious programs, also known as "malware," from damaging a system.

UAC stops the automatic installation of unauthorized applications. UAC also prevents unintended changes to system settings. You receive a UAC prompt when you do any of the following:. When you run a program function or a system function, you may receive a UAC prompt. Most of these programs are legacy programs. Newer versions of the same programs do not trigger UAC.

You cannot set UAC to automatically run a program as an administrator without the user being prompted. In Windows Vista, some programs only run correctly if you run them as an administrator. You may be able to run newer versions of the same programs without having to run them as an administrator. Note A security risk may result by using administrative credentials to run an unknown program. Only run programs that you trust as an administrator.

Important These steps may increase your security risk. These steps may also make the computer or the network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We recommend the process that this article describes to enable programs to operate as they are designed to or to implement specific program capabilities.

Before you make these changes, we recommend that you evaluate the risks that are associated with implementing this process in your particular environment. If you decide to implement this process, take any appropriate additional steps to help protect the system. We recommend that you use this process only if you really require this process.