Access the real Administrator account in Windows 7

As you know, the User Account Control (UAC) system is the heart and soul of the security system in Microsoft Windows 7. It is designed to protect your system from inadvertent or malicious incidents that could compromise stability or security while you are logged on using an account with administrative privileges, where you have full access to the system. Of course, you can perform administrative operations simply by working through the UAC prompt. Or, if you totally dislike the UAC system, you can also easily disable it. However, there certainly are times when it would just be nice to log on to your Windows 7 system with a good old-fashioned, full-fledged Administrator account. When you do, you’ll never encounter a UAC prompt. Read more.

What Windows 7 means to security administrators

As you know, ever since Windows XP SP2, Microsoft has been very serious about operating security. And while Windows Vista may have been a flop in the performance and compatibility areas, it wasn’t ever criticized for its lack of security. In fact, one of Vista’s main detractions was its over emphasis on the security of locking down the system via the heavy hand of User Account Control (UAC).

Well, with Windows 7, Microsoft has toned down UAC a bit (while not letting up on security) and added a whole slew of security features that will benefit both the end user and the security administrator. Let’s take a closer look.

Taking a closer look at UAC prompts

As you know, Windows Vista has a built-in security feature called User Account Control (UAC for short) that is designed to reduce the potential for security breaches. UAC forces all users, even administrators, to request permission via the UAC prompt in order to perform tasks that require administrative privileges. Standard users must be able to provide an Administrator user name and password and Administrators must simply consent to the operation.

While this is all pretty familiar territory to Vista users, that fact that there are actually four types of UAC prompts each with a different color scheme isn't. Sure we've all encountered UAC prompts, but most of us think of them in generic terms. Seriously, who among us has actually taken the time to look at the color scheme of a UAC? We usually just click a button as fast as we can to move past the prompt. However, like the Homeland Security color levels, each of the successive UAC color coding schemes is designed to convey a greater sense of warning.

In this gallery, I'll take a closer look at each type of UAC prompt and point out the different color schemes.

Temporarily disable User Account Control prompts in Vista

I’ve been receiving a lot of email lately from Microsoft Windows XP users who are buying discounted Windows Vista computers now in order to get the free Windows 7 upgrade. Most of the questions revolve around how best to deal with Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC). As you know, going from XP to Vista and encountering UAC prompts for the first time can be very frustrating — especially if you consider yourself an experienced computer user who isn’t likely to fall into the kind of traps that UAC is designed to protect computer users from. As such, many of these users have permanently disabled UAC in order to avoid what they perceive to be a regular onslaught of “Are you sure?” type of prompts.

However, I recently discovered a technique that will allow you to temporarily disable UAC during those times when you know that you will be performing operations that generate a lot of UAC prompts and then re-enable UAC when you are done. That way you will be able to avoid UAC prompts when they are most likely to occur, yet leave the UAC protection in place when it will most likely save you from disaster.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll explain this technique and show you how to use it to your advantage.

More user options with User Account Control in Windows 7 Beta

In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced User Account Control (UAC), which is designed to mitigate the impact of malware by locking down the desktop (the Secure Desktop feature) and displaying a notification dialog box that warns you of a possible unauthorized operation and prompts you to confirm or deny the operation.

This system will prevent unauthorized applications from automatically installing as well as prevent users from inadvertently making detrimental changes to system settings.

In Vista, UAC is very strictly controlled — you either have it on and in full-force protection mode or you disable it completely and fend for yourself; there is no middle ground. This extreme level of security is often mentioned as a big source of users’ extreme dislike of Vista.

In order to improve UAC’s image while still providing this type of security, Microsoft has modified UAC in Windows 7 Beta to give more control to the user when deciding how UAC works. In this Windows Vista Report, I’ll take a closer look at the new UAC features shown in Windows 7 Beta.

More user options with User Account Control in Windows 7 Beta