![]() We know how well that worked with unsigned ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer – so well that even Microsoft isn't signing most of its own ActiveX controls. Ah yes, now we're making progress: Ask users on EVERY program you launch that isn't signed whether they want to elevate permissions. As Rick Strahl notes, this is the ultimate form of nagware: The operating system cries wolf so much that when a real wolf- in the form of a virus or malware- rolls around, you'll mindlessly allow it access to whatever it wants, just out of habit. All those earnest warning dialogs eventually blend together into a giant "click here to get work done" button that nobody bothers to read any more. The problem with the Security Through Endless Warning Dialogs school of thought is that it doesn't work. Even though you're ostensibly logged in as an "Administrator", you're inundated with a sea of security dialogs if you try to do anything even remotely, well, Administrator-y. We have fairly recent internal builds of Vista for a project we're working on at Vertigo, and we've run into this problem too. It is, in fact, almost criminal in its insidiousness. ![]() It would be hilarious if it weren't going to affect hundreds of millions of people in a few short months. That these dialogs pop up repeatedly for the same action would be comical if it weren't so amazingly frustrating. The problem with UAP is that it throws up an unbelievable number of warning dialogs for even the simplest of tasks. It's the most annoying feature that Microsoft has ever added to any software product, and yes, that includes that ridiculous Clippy character from older Office versions. The bad news, then, is that UAP is a sad, sad joke. But this is Microsoft, we're talking about here. The feature is called User Account Protection (UAP) and, as you might expect, it prevents even administrative users from performing potentially dangerous tasks without first providing security credentials, thus ensuring that the user understands what they're doing before making a critical mistake. In Windows Vista, Microsoft is indeed moving to this kind of security model. This type of security model protects users from themselves, and it is something that Microsoft should have added to Windows years and years ago. Modern operating systems like Linux and Mac OS X operate under a security model where even administrative users don't get full access to certain features unless they provide an in-place logon before performing any task that might harm the system. Paul Thurrott's scathing article Where Vista Fails highlights my biggest concern with Windows Vista: ![]() Yes, even though it’s “not recommended”.Windows Vista: Security Through Endless Warning Dialogs You know what I clicked on: Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended). However off to the left in that same dialog you’ll see a link Change the way Security Center alerts me. (In case the irony isn’t clear: it’s not horrible, it’s not awful, if you know what you’re doing.) That’s the Security Center warning you about the (apparently) horrible, awful thing you’ve just done. Press OK and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.īefore you even rebooted, you probably saw this:ĭouble click that and you’ll get the Security Center dialog that includes this: Now, uncheck Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer: Naturally, since User Account Control is on you’ll have to confirm that you intend to do this. Start by firing up Control Panel and clicking on User Accounts:Įven though it seems redundant, click the resulting User Accounts again:įinally, click on the link Turn User Account Control on or off: Perhaps like you, though, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve wished I could have said no. But one of the times it asks for confirmation is when malware strikes … exactly the time when you want to be able to say, “NO!”. Yes, on occasion it does ask for confirmation where “in the old days” Windows XP would not have.
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