UAC

[dekard]

I'm posting this from Ubuntu and couldn't help but contrast the styles of UAC from Ubuntu to Vista. In Vista all thats needed is to click the continue button whereas in Ubuntu its necessary to type in the root password.

Yes, I'm sure its possible to change the default behavior on both os's.

[kill4killin]

What is UAC?

[dekard]

new vista security feature. it asks for admin access before it does anything dangerous.

[kill4killin]

That is an idea that was started by unix. It is similar to the feature you find in Ubuntu when you do something that requires admin access to do. It is intended for the same purpose as the Ubuntu version is. It allows for people with admin privileges to manage no admin privileged accounts without having to give the non privileged account admin access prior to doing any work. It also will minimize the amount of time a user spends in the admin account thus helping to minimize the likelihood the user will mess up anything by mistake and minimizes the risk that a virus will be able to install anything on the computer since the account will most likely not have installation privileges unless you type in an account to do so. As in Linux, I hope they allow you to turn that off though for those who do not want it because frankly, though I understand its value, I do not see it as a necessity per say.

[mikeblas]

In Vista all thats needed is to click the continue button whereas in Ubuntu its necessary to type in the root password.This isn't quite accurate. You only need to click continue if the account you're using has administrator priviledges already. If you're using an account that's not an administrator, then you'll have to provide credentials for one that is.

UAC stands for "User Account Control".

[dekard]

In Vista all thats needed is to click the continue button whereas in Ubuntu its necessary to type in the root password.This isn't quite accurate. You only need to click continue if the account you're using has administrator priviledges already. If you're using an account that's not an administrator, then you'll have to provide credentials for one that is.

UAC stands for "User Account Control".

Not to be too picky, I was referring to default behavior in both os's.

[dekard]

That is an idea that was started by unix. It is similar to the feature you find in Ubuntu when you do something that requires admin access to do. It is intended for the same purpose as the Ubuntu version is. It allows for people with admin privileges to manage no admin privileged accounts without having to give the non privileged account admin access prior to doing any work. It also will minimize the amount of time a user spends in the admin account thus helping to minimize the likelihood the user will mess up anything by mistake and minimizes the risk that a virus will be able to install anything on the computer since the account will most likely not have installation privileges unless you type in an account to do so. As in Linux, I hope they allow you to turn that off though for those who do not want it because frankly, though I understand its value, I do not see it as a necessity per say.

It is possible to disable it but I find that it is not intrusive in Vista. I can power use Vista for a week and only have to click continue 3 or 4 times. It all depends on what you are doing.

[mikeblas]

Not to be too picky, I was referring to default behavior in both os's.Huh? You said "in Vista, all that's needed is to click continue". Can you clarify what you meant?

[Pheoni]

I find it very intrusive with so many programs needing admin access... but that will change with time.

What happens in Vista is whenever a program tries to do something that requires Admin access, the computer pauses the program, dims the screen, and pops up a little window that tells you that the program is requesting admin access. From here you either click approve or deny.

The theory is that if you try a program (a free game for example), it shouldn't need admin access. If it does, it's trying to do something naughty and you can stop the rogue program (virus, spyware) before it hurts your system.

I'm a fan of the idea but not the implementation. It doesn't tell you what it is trying to do to get admin access. Once you approve access, the program has full admin access until you kill it. There's no way to monitor what it is doing with its admin access. So many programs abuse the default admin access in XP that its imposable to know if a program is doing something bad or if its just trying to do something normal. It doesn't really help anything, just makes you click the damn button over and over again.

Dekard: Has this been changed at all in the release code? I'm only running RC2

[dekard]

Ph, I think that basically how it works.

Mike, in my original post I said that these were the default behaviors of the OS. By default the OS creates an admin account which is what my comment was based upon. There are tons of scenarios that would change the default but for a significant percentage of users the default is all their ever know.

[mikeblas]

Oh, I see. I thought the default was to provide a non-admin account when joining the domain.

[dekard]

Oh, I see. I thought the default was to provide a non-admin account when joining the domain.

And I think you'd be correct, in a domain setting. Out of the box, in a stand alone environment or peer to peer network the behavior I described is default.