Windows7How

Windows 7 User Account Control (UAC)

November 1, 2009

In Windows Vista, Microsoft gave us the first taste of User Account Control. It was designed to protect the operating system (OS) from malware by locking the Desktop and then confronts you with a warning dialog asking you – the user – to confirm or deny the operation in question. A good idea but, in the eyes of many users, imperfect execution. In Vista, the administrator could either have it on or off. This feature was meant to protect you from something harmful being installed and ensuring system settings remained intact. Thus, you either used it, then had to deal with the warning dialog every time you installed a program or changed your settings, or you disabled it and then you were unprotected. Not exactly the best way to handle security. Most people did not use it and it was a big factor in Windows XP recidivism.

Microsoft has finally dealt with this in the Windows 7 OS. This new version finally gives control to the administrator and allows for several levels of security to be enabled – or disabled. To find this adjustment, click into the Control Panel and choose either Action Center or User Accounts and you will find User Account Control Settings. Here is where you can make the changes you wish to the User Account Control. The main control feature here is a slider located in the center of this tab. There are four different settings to choose from:

• First, and most common, will be Default Mode. This is the second notch from the top on the slider bar. This level simply issues a warning message when an application attempts to make changes to the Windows system settings. It will not warn you when you, the user, make changes to the system settings. So, running Disk Defragmenter will not launch the warning, but if you install an anti-virus (which does make administrator-level changes to the Windows system settings) it will be launched, ask you if you “want to allow” the settings change, and Secure Desktop will be activated. Thus, you will be locked out of the desktop until you choose ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• Next, there is the “Always notify me…” setting at the top of the slider bar. As appears obvious – and nicely intuitive – I don’t have to tell you that this is the top security level of the User Account Control. At this setting, you will receive warning when you, the user, or an application attempts to change administrator-level Windows system settings. This is back to the Vista level which was quite annoying.
• Below the Default Mode, you will find the third notch from the top which is known as the “Notify me only…” mode. This is the User Account Control level which only notifies you if an application attempts to make administrator-level changes to the Windows system settings. Secure Desktop will not be activated and the Desktop will not dim as it normally does when it is ‘locked’, but you must make a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ choice again. It will not launch the warning message when you, the user, make changes to any administrative-level changes. This is easy to deal with as even Windows XP had a similar security feature that worked well.
• Lastly, is the “Never notify me…” level at the very bottom of the slider bar. As you have already worked out, this is the lowest level of User Account Control and is, essentially, turning it off. You will not be notified – have a warning message pop up – if either you or an application makes administrative-level changes. This, of course, is not recommended as it leaves you completely vulnerable to this type of damage.

The final bit of information concerns the ability to make settings changes to the User Account Control. If you are not signed in with an administrator account on your local system, you will only be able to select the first two settings – Default and “Always notify me…” modes – on the slider bar. To switch to either of the other two modes, you will need to have administrator rights to do so.

Windows 7 has definitely improved this feature; it is finally configurable and you can use it without being so annoyed by it. User Account Control has become what it was intended to be.

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Tags: Action Center, control, defrag, desktop, malware, notify, pop up message, settings, uesr account control, vista, w7, windows 7, xp