Blog Entry

Vista - UAC + WIC = Security

03 December, 2007

Vista - UAC - Is Microsoft trying to control the world?

When Windows Vista first came out, Microsoft expected that sales would be better than they really were. What happened? Is the planet ready for Vista or what? I heard that Microsoft wants to control the world by forcing something called UAC or User Access Control on us.

Let's look at this logically for a minute. The Internet is the most dynamic growing thing on the planet. The Internet is not only houses awesome information and the potential for power, but it also is unfortunately home to crooks, bandits, and modern day pirates. These pirates use a modern day surf board called a computer rather than a boat and a sabre, and the results of their behaviour can be devastating and the blow they can administer can be world wide, not just the distance at the end of a sword.

Have you ever known anyone to complain that their computer is slow and they have ad pop ups and really strange things happening on their computer? Have you heard of ID theft? Have you heard of on-line bank fraud?

As an IT professional, I hear all the time, "my computer is slowing down" "I have pop up ads on my computer", and thankfully so far in my career, I have not met anyone but me that had a financial hit due to the Internet. When I go to the computer, the owner is usually not far away, and one common statement I hear a lot is "I didn't do anything". As a computer professional I can tell you that computers do not have minds of their own ... yet. Someone has to click the mouse, go to the web site, or make an entry using a keyboard to make stuff happen on a computer.

Let's move on to Vista now. Vista has something called UAC or User Access Control. I have heard complaints and seen advertisements on the TV cutting down this new technology. If you have not seen Vista, you may not know what I am talking about. When you want to do something on Windows Vista machine that requires administrative privileges, a window shows up letting you know that, and asking for confirmation that you really want to perform this function. This has been referred to as an annoyance and a control issue that Microsoft has incorporated into the new Operating System Vista.

Vista does this so that you will be able to recognize that something wants to be done to your computer. Have you ever gone to a web site and a box pops up and says that your anti-virus is out of date, and buy this or that. You click on the close button and over the next couple of weeks, your home page changes, your computer slows down and you now have more access to Viagra that you would care to have. Go surfing with Vista, and when you come up to a situation like this, the UAC box will come up and say, did you really want to install this software? And you can now say, you mean someone is trying to install something?? Absolutely not!!! And you now have the option to click on no. Sounds to me that Microsoft did not take control, but they have given you more control. Sounds like Microsoft is giving you an education tool to help you recognize when nasty things are happening to your computer.

It may appear as though there is an inconvenience using Vista until you get used to it with these pop up windows and the idea that gets forged into the back of our minds as a nightmare (Microsoft Rules Wants to Rule the World). If you take a look at the "Best Practices" papers from Microsoft say, they have always encouraged that you use a basic user account, then when you need to do admin work you switch over to the administrative account. Microsoft is help retrain us into this good safe way of working.

Even if you are a Network Admin, you would have read somewhere in your certification material that you never run as admin, unless you are doing admin stuff. If you have been running as admin and never had problems, great. If you have been running as admin and wondering why, Microsoft is offering a free solution to help you distinguish what tasks require admin privileges.

Windows Vista, and its UAC feature in the end will save you from the adversaries trying to attack you. It will save you from expensive cleanups. Vista will help to retrain you to use your computer the way it was designed to be used in a safe manner. The cost of the education is that you have to click on an OK or cancel button. This new feature is free when you buy Vista.

For me, Vista works well and the new security features built into Vista were put there not to make your life miserable, but to enhance your computing experience.

Remember that convenience + productivity does not = security