The Good, the Bad, and the UAC

The UAC (User Account Control) is a very cool feature in Windows 7 (it protects us from ourselves!), Vista and Server 2008.  It helps you avoid getting a virus or spy-ware program installed on your machine.  In a nutshell, it protects us from ourselves! What it does is sits in memory and waits for a program to run, then a dialog pops up essentially warning you and asks if you really ran that program.  This is because many times the virus will run without you knowing it, so the UAC detects it and warns you.  It also protects certain files and folders, like the Programs Files folder and sub-folders under Program Files as well as the root of C:\.

With that being said, it isn't without it's drawbacks.  When I run a .exe file ( like setup.exe to install a program) it does its job and warns me.  I run a lot of programs thoughout the day and get tired of clicking Ok! OK already! 

Another drawback, since it protects files and folders under the Program Files branch you cannot easily saveas to that folder structure from say Notepad (or any other program).  You have to save to your desktop, then copy the file to the folder and once you receive the infamous warning dialog box again you need to tell it yes you really want to do that.

Another drawback, that crops up, is with licensing.  Sometimes when you activate the IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit it believes it created the license file but it really didn't.  So, you still cannot run the program and the activation was taken off the number of seats you are allowed to activate.  At this point you're typically locked out of activating again.  Therefore, it is recommended that you turn off the UAC before Activating IMAGINiT (or Avatech Solutions) software, this also includes the network named version too.

Use the following information to turn off (or disable) the UAC, you can always turn it back on later.

To disable the UAC on Vista:

1. Click on Start > Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel click on the Search and type in UAC, if nothing displays go back into Control Panel and click on User Accounts.
3. This will load User Accounts Window, and below make changes to your user account click on Turn User Account Control On or Off.
   
   Note: If a dialog box pops up with Windows Needs your Permission to Continue click on Continue
4. Un-check Use User Account Control UAC, this will disable the system from helping protect your computer.
5. Reboot

To disable the UAC on Windows 7/Win 8/Win 8.1/Win 10:

1. Click Start->Search and enter UAC and hit enter.
2. Slide the slider bar to "Never Notify" and click Ok
3. Reboot