User Account Control (UAC) was introduced, with some controversy, in Windows Vista by Microsoft improving it in Windows 7 and Windows 8. UAC is a system protection that limits what programs can do without user permission .
Even using an administrator account, if UAC is active, the user will still have to give permissions from time to time when required by programs.
UAC is important because it solves a big Windows XP problem.
Since most people use the computer with the administrator account, each application obtained permissions for the whole PC.
Therefore, if a malicious program was run, it would have full read and write access for the entire operating system, easily managing to infect the system files and the entire Windows.
The user account control warning appears every time you need to install a new program, if it needs administrator permissions to work.
It therefore becomes necessary to confirm what you are doing or even enter the administrator password.
What User Account Control does and how it works
UAC is a security feature to prevent unauthorized changes to the Windows system.
These changes can be made by users, programs and, unfortunately, by malware (which are the main reason why UAC exists).
When there is a major system change, Windows displays a warning and UAC asks for permission to make this change.
If no approval is given, the change is not made.
On Windows, UAC is encountered especially when installing desktop programs that require administrative permissions.
For example, every time you run a setup.exe file, you have to authorize the installation saying YES, otherwise everything will be canceled.
Any attempt to change the system from a user account that is not an administrator, for example, the Guest account, will cause the UAC prompt to appear asking for the administrator password and authorizing the change.
There are many types of activities that can cause the UAC warning to appear :
- Running a desktop program as an administrator.
- Changes to settings and files in Windows and Programs folders.
- Installation or removal of drivers and desktop applications.
- The installation of ActiveX controls.
- Changing Windows settings like Windows Firewall, UAC itself, Windows Update, Windows Defender and more.
- Adding, modifying or removing user accounts.
- The configuration of Parental Control in Windows 7 or Windows Family Safety 8.1.
- The planned activities.
- Restore system file backup.
- View or edit folders and files of another user account.
- Change system date and time.
On Windows 8.x operating systems you will never see a UAC warning when working with applications from the Windows Store that are not authorized to modify system or file settings.
When you see a UAC warning on the screen, you can read the details of the notification to understand what is happening precisely.
Each request clearly indicates the name of the program that wants to make changes, the origin of the file and the author of the same.
By clicking on " Show details " you can see more information.
If an unknown file located in a suspicious location requires permissions with UAC, access should be denied.
To configure the attention level of user account control in Windows 7 and 8, you must open the Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Change User Account Control settings .
Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 have four levels of User Control notifications:
- Always notify: to get alerts every time a program requires administrator permissions and when another user account changes the Windows settings.
The desktop goes dark and you have to choose "Yes" or "No" in the UAC window before you can do anything else.
This level is the safest, but also the most painstaking.
- Notify only when programs / applications try to make changes to my computer : this is the default setting of Windows, to have warnings before programs make system changes and require administrator password.
This level is slightly less secure than the previous one because malicious programs can simulate keystrokes or mouse movements to change system settings.
- Notify only when programs / applications try to make changes to the computer : this level is different from the previous one, in the fact that, when the UAC prompt is shown, the desktop is not available.
This decreases system security, because different types of malware may be able to interfere with the UAC prompt and automatically approve the changes.
- No notification : this level, in fact, deactivates UAC.
All applications and any user accounts can make changes to the system without authorization.
Why you shouldn't disable UAC "> restrict or disable UAC checking in Windows 7 and 8 .
UAC has come a long way since it was introduced with Windows Vista and is an important security feature today.
