Annoying Vista Security Issues

Ok for those of you who don't know, Micro$oft has is using the same security perspective as Linux and Unix systems. This is UAC (user access control). For someone who just wants things to work and could care less on how they work. This keeps them from installing something that may be destructive to their computer. However, to someone who is a an experienced user/admin; the UAC is just damned annoying and sometimes frustrating. Having to tell your system a minimum of five times to install this program or run this command is irritating beyond belief. You can cut the UAC off in the security panel of Vista. I've already done this, makes life for me alot easier. For more information on UAC consult microsoft's knowledge base by clicking here .

Taken from Petri.co.il:

Anyway, if required, you can disable UAC by using one of the following methods:

Method #1 - Using MSCONFIG

1. Launch MSCONFIG by from the Run menu.

2. Click on the Tools tab. Scroll down till you find "Disable UAP" (this should probably change to UAC in next Vista beta builds and in the RTM version). Click on that line.

3. Press the Launch button.

4. A CMD window will open. When the command is done, you can close the window.

5. Close MSCONFIG. You need to reboot the computer for changes to apply.

Note that you can re-enable UAC by selecting the "Enable UAP" line and then clicking on the Launch button.

Method #2 - Using Regedit

1. Open Registry Editor.

2. In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Locate the following value (DWORD):

EnableLUA

and give it a value of 0.

Note: As always, before making changes to your registry you should always make sure you have a valid backup. In cases where you're supposed to delete or modify keys or values from the registry it is possible to first export that key or value(s) to a .REG file before performing the changes.

4. Close Registry Editor. You need to reboot the computer for changes to apply.

In order to re-enable UAC just change the above value to 1.

Method #3 - Using Group Policy

This can be done via Local Group Policy or via Active Directory-based GPO, which is much more suited for large networks where one would like to disable UAC for many computers at once.

If using Local Group Policy you'll need to open the Group Policy Editor (Start > Run > gpedit.msc) from your Vista computer.

If using in AD-based GPO, open Group Policy Management Console (Start > Run > gpmc.msc) from a Vista computer that is a member of the domain. In the GPMC window, browse to the required GPO that is linked to the OU or domain where the Vista computers are located, then edit it.

In the Group Policy Editor window, browse to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.

In the right pane scroll to find the User Access Control policies (they're down at the bottom of the window). You need to configure the following policies:

You'll need to reboot your computers.

Method #4 - Using Control Panel

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Under User Account and Family settings click on the "Add or remove user account".

3. Click on one of the user accounts, for example you can use the Guest account.

4. Under the user account click on the "Go to the main User Account page" link.

5. Under "Make changes to your user account" click on the "Change security settings" link.

6. In the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure" click to unselect the "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer". Click on the Ok button.

7. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when ready.

In order to re-enable UAC just select the above checkbox and reboot.