UAC "Training"

[Bigaldoc]

I guess I'm not too good at Lounge searching because I thought this topic was discussed here and I can't seem to find it.

Ever since my admittedly minimal use of Windows 7, I've not touched the UAC controls and just put up with the repeated prompts for permission. But I thought I read somewhere here where the UAC will "train" itself somehow. That's not happening for me.

Over and over, when I run programs that I installed, like Revo, PSP, etc. I get the UAC permissions prompt. Aside from turning it off, which I don't want to do, how can I tell UAC that it's OK to run Revo and stop bothering me on it?

[HansV]

You can't "train" UAC. If it's turned on, it will put up a prompt each time you start an application that may modify system files. This is by design - otherwise an infected program would be able to run silently...
(See the thread "Run as Administrator")

[Bigaldoc]

Thanks Hans. Yes, I think it WAS that thread where I got the impression in a post from DaveA that the UAC would "quiet down" after awhile.

I'm not as gutsy as Viking and am not gonna turn it off. Push comes to shove, I can live with it. It is somewhat annoying to run the same program, time after time, day after day, and always be asked if it's OK to run it.

[agibsonsw]

FWIW I wanted to contribute my belated opinion on UAC:

For someone on a work-PC it should probably remain 'on'. They are probably already restricted as to what they can download or install, so they won't see UAC notices very often and are, therefore, more likely to be wary if they do receive a notice/warning;
Someone with a new computer is likely to spend some time installing, and trialling, different software and settings. The warnings may become annoying but it is likely they will settle down after a while. That is, once the user has decided their software preferences.

Personally, I frequently install, and uninstall, applications, and tweak (play with..) system settings. So, for me, UAC is just too annoying - and I'm less likely to recognise an important notice anyway.

Then again, UAC seems to be a topic with no end cf Jarndyce v. Jarndyce.

[viking33]

Thanks Hans. Yes, I think it WAS that thread where I got the impression in a post from DaveA that the UAC would "quiet down" after awhile.

I'm not as gutsy as Viking and am not gonna turn it off. Push comes to shove, I can live with it. It is somewhat annoying to run the same program, time after time, day after day, and always be asked if it's OK to run it.

I thought that when we both got the freebie copy of VISTA, we both agreed that UAC had to go. In fact, I thought you beat me to it in disabling it.
Of course, I still think that way about UAC.

[Bigaldoc]

Just tryin' to "mellow" a little these days. Using MSE, Windows firewall, so I was hoping the UAC would quiet down a bit.

[John Gray]

There is a piece of software whose version 2 has been awaited for at least 9 months, if not more, called UAC Trust Shortcut 1.0 (scroll about half-way down the page to find it).
"UAC Trust Shortcut 1.0 allows you to disable User Account Control for a specific application, by defining a trusted shortcut."
The documentation is in a PDF in the download.

It is by no means perfect (hence the wait for v2), but can assist to reduce the number of pointless prompts for Stuff you use every day.

[ChrisGreaves]

... just put up with the repeated prompts for permission.

Ref Han's quote to the thread started 2? weeks ago.
More than anything else, what REALLY is bugging me is that I swear i didn't see this UAC thingy when I started using the Notebook Dec 22 2010, and that I see it now ONLY after I reinstalled (a month ago?)

Chances are strong that in my bewildered ignorance 11 months ago, I found I could turn it off and did so without thinking.
But I have no (documented) record of doing so.
Which is why I am left with a nagging suspicion that something changed on my system.

I am still on the "leave it on" side of the fence, while understanding Viking33's sentiments, but damn! these picket-tops are sharp.

From my life-long-love-of-computers point of view, I don't understand why MS doesn't render heuristics in cases like these.
The options should be straightforward.
(1) I'm a dumb-user; leave UAC on full-throttle protection (no dis-respect intended to Hans)
(2) I'm Chris Greaves; put UAC on Heuristic mode and let me, carefully, add trusted EXE's to a list, and OK them as long as their checksum signature remains the same
(3) I'm Viking33; DAMN the torpedos... (with all respect due to BobH!)

I note John Gray's reference to "UAC Trust Shortcut", and my chequebook is sitting right here beside me as I type.

This affair has turned into a repeat of "ClickYes", where MS puts in a blanket ban on auto-sending outlook eMail from Word, then someone writes a utility to circumvent the ban, rendering the initial exercise somewhat pointless for experienced users.

Although five seconds consideration reveals that dumb-users don't program in VBA anyway, so ... what's the point in the first place?

(signed) "I need a coffee" of Toronto.

[Bigaldoc]

Thanks, John. It's worth a look.

[Bigaldoc]

One of the "mysteries" of Windows 7 for me is how Windows decides which programs it gets (UAC) concerned about and which it will let operate without warning windows.

I have been trying to see if "pinning" a program to the taskbar will quiet UAC down ( Pin To Taskbar Failure ). But it does not.

On the other hand, some of the programs that I use on a regular basis, such as FastStone's Image Viewer (all day long), and Libre Office's Writer or Calc do NOT raise a UAC prompt and I wonder why that is.

[HansV]

FastStone Image Viewer and LibreOffice don't modify system/program files. Revo Uninstaller by its nature does.

[DaveA]

As for the USC training, it is really just the setup of some of the newly installed programs that need the permission. After the User information is completed, the UAC does not kicked in as no system settings are being changed.

[JoeP]

See Windows 7 vs Vista: UAC Benchmark for a list of what actions trigger UAC.

Joe