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User Account Control to be less annoying in Windows 7
One thing to note is that UAC isn't intrinsically a bad idea. It's designed to prevent users from accidentally granting software access to protected parts of their systems. In other words, it can prevent security breaches, viruses and all sorts of other malware from infecting your Windows machine. But it's heavy handed, and according to anonymous usage statistics, Microsoft says that the UAC prompts showed up during 50% of all user sessions within the first few months after Vista was released. What's more, over 775,000 unique applications caused the UAC prompt to come up because of the way they were written. That number is now down to about 168,000, as software developers have learned to adjust their applications.
But there are still a few major issues to address. First, nobody can understand what the heck the prompts are saying. Microsoft conducted a study and found that just 13% of participants could figure out why they were seeing a prompt. Windows 7 will feature easier to understand warning messages, which should help users figure out whether or not it's really safe to click the Continue button. Right now, most people do click it most of the time, whether they really know it's safe to do so or not.
Another thing Microsoft plans to do is make it easier for users to adjust the range of notifications they receive. While you can currently disable UAC notifications or surpress them, there's no good way to say that you want to receive certain types of notifications but not others. It sounds like Windows 7 will include that feature. Windows 7 will also have fewer duplicated system prompts. For example, right now when you download and run software from the internet using Internet Explorer you'll receive a message from IE7 asking if you really want to run the application and then you may also see a Windows UAC prompt. Eliminating that duplication is also on the agenda.
[via ZDnet]
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsaustin316gbOct 9th 2008 4:54PM
It's the duplication that annoys me most. I don't mind UAC as an idea but the fact that you have to agree to three separate prompts to delete a shortcut out of your start menu it way over the top. One is sufficient and far less annoying. As it is I turn it off which has the unfortunate side effect of disabling protected mode in IE7 which I'd actually rather leave on. I'm not sure exactly how these things work but I'd like to think that these two things could be separated so that I can have one off and the other on.
QuikboyOct 10th 2008 12:30AM
I agree. The concept of UAC sounds good, but the way it's implemented is all wrong, and I can see how it might aggravate some users.
I just wish there was a check box that says something like "Don't prompt me about this again". So that I can easily check it, and don't have to deal with it again for doing something as simple and insignificant as deleting shortcuts.
I really hope those changes mentioned in the last paragraph of this post will happen. It would be nice of course if Microsoft could just bundle their OneCare AV to work alongside of UAC so security is even less of an issue, but those dumb anti-trust laws kill that idea.
kojo87Oct 9th 2008 4:57PM
am i the only one thats not that annoyed with UAC? sure i'd rather not have to confirm and continue every 3 minutes but there have been a few instances where it has saved me from running programs that i didn't initialize and knew i didn't want to run.
EvenioOct 9th 2008 5:35PM
Of course not! There are millions of Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux users who aren't annoyed by UAC. :)
Racetrack_OwnerOct 9th 2008 6:13PM
Doesn't bother me. I don't even see it all that often. I always assumed this was another case of the anti-MS crowd making a mountain out of a mole hill. For any reasonably current machine, Vista is just fine.
ToddOct 9th 2008 4:57PM
Hey how come we never see anyone installing software on those "Mojave" ads?
"I banish you. You are banished." - PC from the I'm a Mac ads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqfHAXypXZI
kojo87Oct 9th 2008 8:35PM
that was so incredibly insightful! thanks for that!
douchebag
JamesOct 10th 2008 7:38AM
I for one get UAC prompts a couple times a week, tops. I still don't get what everybody's problem is.
BufsabreOct 10th 2008 7:39AM
doesnt matter, im still disabling it
Matias KorhonenOct 10th 2008 8:59AM
Mind you, this problem wouldn't exist if Microsoft had implemented a proper distinction between user and super user accounts back in the mid 1980's...
JamesOct 10th 2008 1:13PM
110% correct, of course, but then in the 80s there was no reason to think people would ever have remote access to your computer unless you were running a BBS.
namln.comOct 10th 2008 9:36PM
No need to wait WIndows 7, a better User Account Control for Windows Vista and XP is available. This is SmartUAC. More information: http://en.namln.com/2008/10/smart-uac-10-control-executable-files.html
peskyeskieOct 12th 2008 8:07AM
It is quite humorous to read some of the complaints from users about UAC, and later to read about the horrible maleware that inadvertently wandered onto their systems. I have to wonder at that point which was the biggest annoyance?