Thursday, November 1, 2007

Windows Vista UAC

User Account Control (UAC)

User Account Control, or UAC, is a security feature of Windows Vista. Any action that can affect the security or reliability of Windows Vista now requires a confirmation before Vista will apply the changes. Standard Users will need to enter an Administrator’s password before making changes, and if a user is already running as an Administrator, Vista still requires a quick confirmation to ensure the changes are not being made by male-ware.

In previous versions of Windows, users running as Admin gave viruses and male-ware free reign of their system because the administrator had privileges to make changes that would affect the entire system. UAC is a slice of security between the user and the Windows Operating System, which is enabled by default to save us from ourselves.

This security does not come without a price, however. Users will either be relieved or frustrated with the dialog boxes that continuously pop up asking for permission or confirmation on a change being made to Windows.

User Account Control should be viewed as a benefit, and users should give it a chance before disabling UAC. After time, the notices will seem to diminish and fade into the background. The more you use Vista, the less intrusive the UAC notices will become.

But User Account Control can be turned off, though it is not recommended. Login under the ADMIN login name, and then go to the control panel, then to the user accounts. Look for Turn User Account Control On/Off.

If you decide to do this, at least be sure to create a Standard User account and run under that name. Running as Admin without UAC can open your system to attacks as viruses will have full privileges on your system and be capable of doing whatever they want to your machine.

How to Check if DVD Decoder Software is Installed

By default, Windows XP does not come with compatible DVD decoder software installed. To confirm if you have Windows XP-compatible DVD decoder software on your system:

  1. Select Start > Run
  2. Enter cmd in the Open box, and click OK
  3. Type dvdupgrd /detect and press Enter
  4. A Windows dialog box will open with identifying information about the installed software. If No decoders found is displayed, no decoder is installed