Speedup Vista to the Max !

[LiquidSolstice]

I will agree that UAC is not a speed tweak but the annoyance it may bring way be what could save you,Windows XP has been criticized for its susceptibility to malware, viruses, trojan horses, and worms. Security issues are compounded by the fact that users, by default, receive an administrator account that provides unrestricted access to the underpinnings of the system. If the administrator's account is broken into, there is no limit to the control that can be asserted over the compromised PC.

Windows, with its large market share, has historically been a tempting target for virus creators. Security holes are often invisible until they are exploited, making preemptive action difficult. Microsoft has stated that the release of patches to fix security holes is often what causes the spread of exploits against those very same holes, as crackers figured out what problems the patches fixed, and then launch attacks against unpatched systems. Microsoft recommends that all systems have automatic updates turned on to prevent a system from being attacked by an unpatched bug, but some business IT departments need to test updates before deployment across systems to predict compatibility issues with custom software and infrastructure. This deployment turn-around time also lengthens the time that systems are left unsecure in the event of a released software exploit. asking for permission allows you to decide if you trust what is allowed to run.once you get used to UAC you will like it. malware is worse now than when xp was released.

To be honest, with a decent AV (I use NOD32) and a good Firewall (comodo, personally), I've managed to avoid a serious virus issue to where I've had my main desktop running Vista for almost 2 1/2 years now, and have yet to run into issues. It's all in regular maintenance and day to day care. I defragment once a month, I scan each day, and I clean out the registry once a week.

I don't need UAC, and have never needed it. Which is why it is always disabled on every computer I use. I consider myself and advanced user, and I really do not see the benefit of it. Perhaps you devs may find it useful/need it on, but I certainly don't. If I ever badly needed something running and the fact UAC is shut off is the problem, I will not turn it on. I'll just run it in my Virtual XP machine. Not that difficult, especially when you have a bidirectional clipboard. :/

[hdood]

If it's all about permissions, I don't mind right-clicking and running as an admin.

And I'm not sure what you mean about it automatically controlling elevated privileges, whenever I've disabled UAC, I've never had a permission issue or an elevation issue. When i did have an issue, it was almost never solved by running as administrator or whatnot.

Were you responding to me? If so, I'm not really sure what you mean.

If you disable UAC, you are running as an administrator with full and unrestricted access to the entire system. This means that any software you run is free to make any changes it want to the whole system. If said software happens to be malware, the whole system is compromised (because the software can make completely undetectable changes to the OS) and has to be reinstalled.

With UAC enabled, you are running as a standard user (even though your user is actually set as an administrator), except when you are prompted by UAC in which case the action it is asking approval for will run as administrator. In this case, malware won't have automatic access to the whole system unless you explicitly allow it when prompted. This means that a virus/malware scan of just the files your user has write access to is enough to save the system. It also keeps files that belong to other users safe and lessens the risk of spreading the infection. It doesn't keep your files and any personal information like passwords safe though, for that you need antivirus software.

The third option is to actually use a standard user, in which case you will have to supply full credentials (like a username and password) whenever you want to do something that requires administrator access. This is the most secure option, but not as user friendly.

[Stingray]

Disabling UAC is not advisable.

Not advisable for noobs, yes.

[Panacik]

Not advisable for noobs, yes.

Agh. Please dont re-ignite this argument again! It is unadvisable for more reasons than that, which have been mentioned earlier in the thread, if you read it.

[NEVER85]

Not advisable for noobs, yes.

You obviously are a noob since you don't seem capable of understanding UAC's benefits as opposed to the very minor annoyance of taking a half-second to click Allow. After your system is configured properly, you should RARELY see a UAC prompt.

[LiquidSolstice]

You obviously are a noob since you don't seem capable of understanding UAC's benefits as opposed to the very minor annoyance of taking a half-second to click Allow. After your system is configured properly, you should RARELY see a UAC prompt.

Errr.

With a good firewall, Sandboxie, and a decent AV, I can do everything I want and still say I'm secure. Most people, like me, don't have much faith in Window's built-in security tools. we are the ones who know what freeware tools exist out there, and what they're capable of vs. Windows own security measures.

If I want to be annoyed by my computer, I'll ask it to annoy me.

And there's just one thing you people don't seem to understand: What happens when you click Allow and the program really is some sort of malicious code that executes the moment it is fully running?

Like I said, I understand what these "benefits" are, but you lose them ALL the moment you click allow. Just another confirmation dialog asking you if you're sure. Arguably, it makes you somewhat safer, but only marginally so.

Once again, if you use a decent AV and a firewall, and you test all new executables in a Sandbox first, you'll be just fine. To those of us who are longtime Windows users, that's definitely worth the effort to keep a clean PC.

[Macalicious]

Why should anyone take the original poster seriously? 3 posts in total - it sounds like little more than a hyperventilating fanboy seeking attention.

Leave the damn settings the way they are. They are like that for a reason - and shock bloody horror, Microsoft programmers are smarter than you. If you were of the same level of intelligence you too would be working at Microsoft.

I've never hacked with my Windows or Mac OS X installations and don't suffer even 1% of the possible problems I see others face. Maybe less diddling around and more using your computer for something productive.

[+kjx Subscriber²]

Since most of the people who are reading this thread are interested in getting the most out of their Vista installation, here's a related thread: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=757688

When I say "most of the people", I mean those who are not bashing the OP.

[nplima]

Hi,

anyone has tried changing their Vista settings via the Ultimate Windows Vista Tweaker?

I found it on an article at ARSTechnica and have recommended it ever since:

http://www.winvistaclub.com/Ultimate_Windows_Tweaker.html

Instead of disabling UAC at all, what I do is disable it when I login as Admin and keep its defaults behavior when I log in as my day to day user.

The "quick boot" option is there as well, which leads to the question: "why would anyone want a slow boot?" :D

check it out, there's plenty of tweaks being added all the time.

Nplima, the man with the refurbished Compaq Presario.

[ScreamX2]

The master control panel is for 32bit systems only. It will cause endless explorer.exe crashes if it is used on a 64 bit machine. Especially if it's placed on the desktop.

Sorry for a somewhat epic revive folks.

I recently saw this same Master Control Panel posted on a forum I frequent although it said it was for Windows 7, So I quickly checked google to see if it was compatible, however I failed to notice that it said it wasn't compatible with 64 bit. So of course I tried it and ran into endless explorer.exe crashes, after googling, neds post was the only result I could find.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to resolve this problem?

[iamwhoiam]

Sorry for a somewhat epic revive folks.

I recently saw this same Master Control Panel posted on a forum I frequent although it said it was for Windows 7, So I quickly checked google to see if it was compatible, however I failed to notice that it said it wasn't compatible with 64 bit. So of course I tried it and ran into endless explorer.exe crashes, after googling, neds post was the only result I could find.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to resolve this problem?

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} as a shortcut works perfectly fine on 7 x64 for me. Maybe something else is wrong?

[Neyht Member]

he has vista 64bit. It doesn't work with vista 64bit.

Edited January 4, 2010 by Ned

[+Warwagon MVC]

To put this nicely. Anyone who disables UAC is not very smart.

[hjf288]

To say this nicely. Anyone who disables UAC is not very smart.

To be nice: Albeit I think if you need UAC to babysit you, you aren't very technologically inclined

I didnt need UAC to protect me in Windows 95/98/ME/2000 or XP what makes you think I need it now?

Yes I scan on a regular basis with anti spy/malware and antivirus and have yet to be infected..

Also Sandboxie is great

[Cy-Kill]

SPEEDUP BOOT

UAC DISABLED? SPEEDUP BOOT

If you choose to disable UAC then you might have noticed [ or not ] bit of slowdown in your boot time , this is because the UAC driver is still loaded during startup ,which is unnecessary and can be disable by doing this

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\luafv] 
"Start"=dword:00000004

How do you do the above manually, this is what I see in RegEdit:

[Wilhelmus]

How do you do the above manually, this is what I see in RegEdit:

<snip>

Double click the Start value, type 4 to value data and click OK. Restart.

[Astra.Xtreme]

To put this nicely. Anyone who disables UAC is not very smart.

That's actually a pretty stupid assumption to make...

Many people who disable it are aware of what's going on at all times and are in fact smarter than the average joe.

UAC is there for to look after people to keep them from making mistakes.

I personally know what I'm doing and find it really annoying, so I disable it. I've never had a single thing go wrong.

So does this make me not very smart? I think not...

[Cy-Kill]

Double click the Start value, type 4 to value data and click OK. Restart.

Done, but of course can't see the difference, doesn't matter, at least the last (?) part of UAC has been disabled.

[soldier1st]

warwagon: i partialy agree with you on UAC but the part i disagree with is if the user is stupid to disable UAC, if someone chooses to Disable UAC then they must live with that,, err a choice. i would never call someone stupid if they Even Disabled There User account or anything as they have that choice to do but the person must realize that it may not be the right one.