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I just stumbled across TweakUAC, a nifty free tool that allows you to turn off UAC faster than with Vista’s onboard method. What is so useful about this utility is that you can also disable and enable UAC Prompts with it.
(4 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
Loading ...With Vista’s UAC (User Account Control) enabled, you need an elevated command shell if you have to run commands with administrator privileges from the command line. This post explains how you can alter the Windows Explorer context menu to open an elevated command prompt in a certain directory using Microsoft’s Script Elevation PowerToys for Windows Vista. The elevate.cmd that comes with the PowerToys allows you to launch commands and scripts with administrative rights from a non-elevated command prompt. You can also use them to elevate other file types such as MSI or MSP easily.
(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5) Loading ...Most of the more tech savvy Vista users I talked to disabled UAC (User Account Control) or at least its confirmation prompts. I didn’t like UAC right from the beginning, but I was curious enough to see if it would really increase security and how it would affect my work. So I kept its default settings. But I wonder how many of you weren’t so patient and disabled it.
Stefan Krueger of the InstallSite Blog links to two posts describing how to elevate scripts, that is to run them with administrator rights. One has an example for VBScript and the other one is for JScript. Both solutions use a wrapper script that launches the main script. Note that they don’t circumvent UAC. If an admin is running this script, she will get the UAC prompt if this feature is not disabled. Under Windows XP, you only had the problem of running scripts with sufficient privileges, while under Vista you have the additional problem of telling UAC that a script will need admin privileges. So you have to take two lines of defense now before actually getting things done.
Some time ago, I listed eight ways to elevate a Vista application, i.e. to run it with administrator privileges. Now, I found the ninth way and I think it has one significant advantage over the others.
An InformationWeek article discusses a new study that provides information on what IT managers think about Vista’s improved security. Only half of the 300 respondents are impressed by Vista’s new security features, it seems. Even more interesting is that only 14% “are eager to use UAC”.
Over at Channel9 they have a video showing Jon Schwartz, UAC Architect, and Chris Corio, UAC Technical Program Manager, defending UAC. It takes time to watch it because it lasts more than one hour. This is obviously a reaction of the harsh critic they got for UAC. Jon Schwartz makes an uneasy impression to me. In my view, their arguments are not really convincing, especially if you compare UAC to better solutions like su/sudo under Linux.
I suppose, many working with Vista now are considering disabling User Account Control in Vista. There is at least one good reason to do so, but there also some reasons to give UAC a chance.
Yesterday, I described how to start an application at an elevated level, i.e. with Administrator privileges under Vista. Unfortunately, this won’t prevent UAC (User Account Control) prompts from getting on your nerves. Every time a user or an Administrator runs an application requiring Administrator rights, UAC will prompt you for confirmation to proceed. Microsoft calls this “Secure Desktop Prompting“. These UAC prompts only distract you from your current task and bring no extra security. Therefore, I recommend disabling this feature.
Some days ago, I promised to write about the different ways of elevating an application, i.e. to run it with Administrator privileges in Windows Vista. If you use Vista already, you have probably noticed these UAC (User Account Control) prompts. Every time you start an application requiring Administrator rights, UAC will bug you with this message: “Windows needs your permission to continue”.
Before I was just upset by these concentration destroying UAC pop-ups. When I played these past days with the OS Deployment Feature Pack of SMS 2003 SP2 and Vista, I encountered a new “nice feature” of UAC. If you are a sysop, you’ll probably have a lot of fun with this in the near future.
James Bannan discusses an interesting issue on APC magazine about UAC of Windows Vista. The simple tool tweakvista allows you to disable UAC without prompting for confirmation. This means that any malware which manages to get itself running on you computer can do the same. Remember, UAC’s purpose is to warn you that something which could be dangerous is going on.
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