Tiny Tool for UAC bothered Vista users

[troubadix]

AdminActive runs out of the unzipped folder, creating an icon (rightclick) for applications to start with elevated rights, one after the other without nagging UAC

http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~schmit ... Active.zip

Ciao, troubadix

[BacKInTown]

I just disabled the UAC in the control pane instead, very easy! Just google for it!

[GomJabbar]

I am sure Mr. troubadix knew that a long time ago.

[Xenomorph]

I just disabled the UAC in the control pane instead, very easy! Just google for it!

Turning off UAC is not recommended.

Any application that required UAC will fail (adding gadgets to the sidebar comes to mind).

There was also a Windows exploit discovered this past December, and only systems with UAC enabled were immune.

If you must mess with UAC, then change it to silently confirm operations (so it doesn't prompt you). Disabling UAC is not the answer.

[Marin85]

Any application that required UAC will fail (adding gadgets to the sidebar comes to mind).

I have UAC disabled from the beginning on (not per default of course) and have never had any problems adding gadgets to the sidebar I don´t know, things may have changed, it was quite long time ago when I used sidebar and gadgets for last time...

[troubadix]

Completely disabling UAC is no good idea, says Norton (link to professional freeware)

[jdhurst]

I disabled UAC at the beginning and never suffered any ill effects from having done that.

However, @troubadix, are you saying ActiveAdmin allow UAC to be enabled but not nag you? And for it to work, I have to have a whole new way to work (context clicking)? .... JDH

[troubadix]

I disabled UAC at the beginning and never suffered any ill effects from having done that.

...you know, once is too many times

Imagine there are people taking M$'s words for truth, running Vista with 12-digit admin passwords and operate by guest account always while surfing: in this case it would be nice to have some predefined applications with admin rights at your finger tips

...but the world belongs to the brave

[bloodparrot]

If you must mess with UAC, then change it to silently confirm operations (so it doesn't prompt you). Disabling UAC is not the answer.

How do you make UAC to silently confirm?..

[troubadix]

How do you make UAC to silently confirm?..

short http://www.tweak-uac.com/home/
long http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... px#BKMK_S3

You cannot disable Admin Approval Mode on Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, or Windows Vista Home Premium because secpol.msc is not included.To disable Admin Approval Mode:
1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Run, type secpol.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue..
3. From the Local Security Settings console tree, double-click Local Policies, and then double-click Security Options.
4. Scroll down and double-click User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode.
5. Select the Disabled option, and then click OK.
6. Close the Local Security Settings window.

[jdhurst]

This approach has some limitations. Specifically if you set UAC to ON - Silent Mode, then a number of necessary things won't run (you cannot make a new shortcut for example). I assume this is because UAC is getting in the way, but the silent mode is not giving any message.

In the long run, better to turn UAC on and be bothered by it incessantly, or turn it off total and use one's common sense. I turned it off, and my computer (as forever) never gets compromised. ... JDH

[bloodparrot]

I've tired both AdminActive and TweakUAC. I guess AdminActive is troubadix's own creation, right? It seems once AdminAcitve gets its right it stays on the mem and the programs run through it bypass UAC I guess. It looks like it was made for XP to start as there are some XP program listed on .ini file. It may be useful for someone who wants full UAC function and wants some of frequently used programs to bypass the approval.

On the other hand TweakUAC silent mode seems to change part of UAC settings and suppress the elevation prompts. It seems TweakUAC silent mode is also useful and safe(what they claim from their website and it sounds valid).

I wanted to try those tips from Microsoft.technet but since my system is home premium I couldn't.

For those power users who knows how to keep their system clean may not need UAC I guess, since it only provides you with choices not absolute protection. I was using my vista with UAC disabled because I couldn't be bothered but peole say UAC is one of the greatest feature (yeah so great, it's so noticible) of vista. I think I would try it again with silent mode, it seems valid for me.

BTW JDHurst, does making shortcut need admin permission? It seems to work with UAC on and also in silent mode as well.

[GomJabbar]

For what I do, I do not find UAC much of a bother. When I installed Vista, is was Vista SP1. I waited for the lower price, which coincided with the release of SP1. I heard that improvements were made in SP1 to make UAC less obtrusive.

However I was talking to my brother about this and his experience was different. He told to me that while Adobe Photoshop (which he uses a lot) might be Vista compliant (not triggering UAC all the time), the multiple photoshop plug-ins he uses do trigger the UAC dialog box. I suspect many of these plug-ins work across multiple versions of Windows, and primarily concern themselves on working with Photoshop and not with Vista UAC. For my brother, UAC was too much of a nuisance, so he disabled it.

Probably over time, virtually all software will become Vista compliant (and by extension Windows7 compliant) and not trigger UAC for normal tasks. In the meantime, I guess it depends upon what you need to have installed and how you use your computer whether disabling UAC is desirable or not. These other tools such as Tweek-UAC and AdminActive could make UAC more palatable in certain scenarios.

For how I use my computer, I find UAC less of a bother than booting into an Administrator account to run certain applets and other administrative tasks - as I do in XP. For Vista I only use the default account. For XP I have a Power User's account for day to day use, an Administrator account for administrative tasks, and a restricted User's account for when other family members wish to use my computer.

[jdhurst]

<snip>
BTW JDHurst, does making shortcut need admin permission? It seems to work with UAC on and also in silent mode as well.

I set UAC on and in Silent mode. I worked away for a while with no issues. Then two things happened:
1. I went to exclude a folder in Symantec Endpoint Protection and I could not. I did not associate that with UAC at the time.
2. Then I parked TweakUAC in a folder and proceeded to make a shortcut in Systems tools and could not.

So I reverted back to No UAC and all was well. As I write this, it is feasible that UAC doesn't want non-admins making shortcuts in System Tools, and that may be the reason.

..... JDH

[GomJabbar]

It seems like I read that once you disable UAC for a time, then there is no turning back - I believe for reasons such as you mention JDH.