PCTips Box

User Account Control can be annoying, but it’s an extra layer of protection that protects your computer from viruses, hackers, and poorly written software.

UAC lets you know when someone or something is trying to change a setting or install/uninstall software on your computer. It also removes administrative rights from software making it harmless to critical system files and services.

Before UAC, settings could be changed and software could be installed/uninstalled without you knowing. Software running under an account with admin rights also had full admin rights which gave it full access to critical system files and services. (more…)

As per experience and user reviews which I have read till now ,UAC (User Account Control) has been the most annoying feature which got bundled automatically with windows vista.

But some times there are cases when you may want UAC to enabled for one user but at the same time disabled for another user.

So , you can explicitly enable UAC for the specific user by following the procedure below.

1. Open Start>>Control Panel (more…)

Vista offers easy sharing with the Public folder, which is shared with other users on your network and also with additional user accounts on your computer. By default the Public folder will contain sub folders for the following: Public Desktop, Public Documents, Public Downloads, Public Music, Public Pictures, Public Videos,and Recorded TV. To share any files out on the network with other users you can simply drag and drop (or save) the files in the Public folder or any Public sub-folder. The capability to automatically share your Public folder, however, changes when you are connected to a public network, like Wi-Fi hotspots for example. When you initially set-up Vista Networking options you’re required to specify the type of network you are connecting to a Home, Work or Public network. If you connect to a Public network then Vista will default disable sharing, including Public folder sharing. (more…)

Windows Vista is a rather heavy operating system with many neat features, but unfortunately they all come at a price. Right out of the box it requires a pretty hefty system to run (arguably). Before you run out and buy a new computer just so you can run your base operating system, check out these 10 Simple Ways To Speedup Windows Vista tips to lighten the load. This is just the first in the series, so many of them may be very apparent to those experienced in tweaking. If you’re still using Windows XP, then check out 10 Simple Ways To Speedup Windows XP.

This article details the following 10 tips: (more…)

We all know how annoying UAC can get, especially when you’ve just installed Windows Vista and you have a dozen of programs and security apps ready to install. A small program called TweakUAC gets rid of this annoyance by putting UAC into “quiet mode.” What it actually does is without turning off UAC,

it doesn’t display any prompts for administrators when attempting to do an administrative task. However, (more…)

I’ve finally started making a few changes to my Windows Vista setup. One of the most annoying recurring problems I’ve had is that User Account Control, which is designed to protect your computer from unauthorized changes isn’t very intelligent and doesn’t learn from past behaviour. So, if you will constantly have to approve certain programs.

I’ve decided to turn User Account Control off. Yes, there’s a risk that I might be leaving my machine vulnerable but I’m pretty careful so I’m confident I’ll be ok. Disabling UAC is pretty easy: (more…)

“This series has so far covered Windows Vista kernel enhancements related to processes, I/O, memory management, system startup, shutdown, and power management. In this third and final installment, I take a look at features and improvements in the areas of reliability, recovery, and security.

One feature I’m not covering in this series is User Account Control (UAC), which comprises several different technologies, including file system and registry virtualization for legacy applications, elevation consent for accessing administrative rights, and the Windows® Integrity Level mechanism for isolating processes running with administrative rights from less-privileged processes running in the same account. Look for my in-depth coverage of UAC internals in a future issue of TechNet Magazine. (more…)

I’m sure you are well aware now of the advantages and disadvantages of UAC. It is great for non-admin users because it protects their computer from themselves. For advanced users, it can be a much different story causing many annoying authorization pop-ups. This is most common when you are doing a lot of activities that require admin rights such as installing applications and configuring Windows Vista after a fresh install. There is one practical solution to this issue that will help you with the UAC pop-ups if they annoy you and still benefit from the security of UAC.

This can be achieved by adjusting the local security policy to essentially disable UAC for administrators while leaving it enabled for low rights users. When you are using your PC for normal day-to-day use, log in with your low rights account. If you need to install a bunch of applications and make major system configuration changes then log in with your admin account. With fast user switching in Windows Vista you can easily switch between your accounts with little effort. (more…)