What Triggers UAC?

[drfsupercenter]

So, I just got a laptop with Vista...

Before I disabled the crap out of UAC due to sheer annoyance, I noticed something.

Only certain programs need permission. For example, I can run Portable Firefox just fine and it doesn't bother me. But then something like CPU-Z (The run-only, not even the installer) needs permission. I've also seen installers, like the demo of Multimedia Fusion, that don't need permission... but most Microsoft apps do.

And on that note, I've even had a couple PortableApps that needed permission.

I'm just curious: Is there a flag in the EXE somewhere that tells it "This program can change your computer"? And if so, can that be modified?
The University of Michigan uses Vista on all its lab computers, and it's really annoying when even my PORTABLE programs can't be run... as on their machines you need an admin password (which I obviously don't have) to bypass UAC's protection... which severely limits stuff I can run. I couldn't even find out the specs of their computers in CPU-Z...

[MilesAhead]

On someone else's computer, anything that requires "run as administrator" and you need the admin password, you will need the admin to install and/or set it up. The admin would have to set it up to run as administrator and give access to all users. Or give your account additional privileges. Esp. with some program that monitors hardware, it probably ain't gonna' happen.

Try an apple on the guy's desk every day for a week.

edit: btw if you really want to know the ins and outs of UAC try the Microsoft information and also some tweak sites. For Vista, this is a good resource:

http://www.vistax64.com/

(even though it says "vista64" a lot of people on there are running 32 bit also.)

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah, but could a program be modified so that you don't need administrative access to run it?

[MilesAhead]

Yeah, but could a program be modified so that you don't need administrative access to run it?

There's not some hidden byte in the program that says "flag me.. I do stuff" but what it tries to do. What it's trying to do requires "elevation" of privileges. That's why the UAC pops up. Most of the time the only way not to request elevation is not to do the thing you want it to do in the first place(like monitor hardware.)

If you attempt to bypass stuff, it will probably be flagged as malware. That's what malware does, circumvents security(might even get you banned from using the equipment at all.)

[drfsupercenter]

OK... but I mean, does Vista have a big database of what needs raised permission and what doesn't?

Why would some Portable Apps need permission and others don't? (Portable apps mean NO changes are made to the host PC whatsoever, they're all stored on a flash drive or whatnot)

[MilesAhead]

The Microsoft documentation I'm sure is copyrighted material. You should read it there. I can't post it here.

[doctorhardware]

I turned it off on my new laptop, and I am done with it. It was getting to be a pain in the ass. The only thing it does every now and then, I get a message that the UAC is turned off.

[PurpleDemon]

I disabled it in Vista and Windows 7 as well.

I look at like this. I AM the administrator and I am the only one that uses my PC.

W7 even has it for the initial setup to turn it off.

[MilesAhead]

It would be a lot more useful if they set up user groups as they did in NT Server 4. There you could create an account in the Operator's Group. It would let you install and uninstall software to your account, backup files etc.. but it didn't allow you to delete the Windows folder and that type of stuff. The semi-Administrator accounts they have now look like a half-hearted attempt at that because you can do almost nothing from a normal account.

In NT Server 4 I used a Windows port of the 'su' command. A programmer wrote a freeware service for NT based Windows systems that did the same as Linux 'su' command. Plus he had a cool way where you could make a shortcut allowing you to double click to do an often repeated task that required admin privileges, but the password was passed through via an encryption scheme. It was much more convenient that this scheme.

Plus he had it set up to use sockets for communication between the service and the client app. At my suggestion he updated the code to only accept connection from 127.0.0.1 which is localhost. It worked pretty well. If I wanted to do a bunch of privileged chores I just opened a command prompt and ran 'su' and entered the admin password. I didn't have to click a box for every single job. Typed 'exit' when done. No problemmo!

[doctorhardware]

I am getting the free upgrade to win 7 for the laptop. The only charge was/is I had to pay $12.95 in shipping charges. I know that shipping charges are not that high. No free lunch, they always manage to get your money some how. Oh well, easy come easy go. That is real nice that it can be turned off on the initial setup for win 7. Vista should have been the same way. But old Uncle Bill wants you to be hand cuffed, and use his crap that he calls good working software.

[MilesAhead]

I remember when Multimedia was first coming in. CDROM was the new thing. People bought aftermarket speaker sets for their PCs. For a few extra bucks you could get these "system sounds" when dialogs popped up or other stuff happened. Being new, the sounds tended to be loud and obnoxious(got to make sure you Heard Them after all!) My contention was give the system sounds away for nothing. Charge people extra to turn them off!! Looks like they got a similar idea for pre-installed Windows. Put all the av software and gadgets on and make you waste 2 days cleaning all that crap off!!

edit: I think it would be worth it to pay $10 extra for a new PC to get the preinstall without the crap. That is, if there really was no crap, games, junk on the system it would save a lot of aggravation.

[doctorhardware]

The problem with the preinstalled crap the computer manufactures will not charge only $10 to leave off the crap. They will charge more in line that the geek squad does. Which is around $39.99 give or take. The manufactures will say that it is very hard to do, which it is not.

[MilesAhead]

Yeah, just wishful thinkin'