UAC Sucks, And Microsoft Knows It

Hey, guess what kids? Microsoft has realized that UAC (User Account Control), that adorable little box that pops up in Vista whenever you try to run something (Yes, I want to play Warhammer. I've only said yes 30 times now, how long before you figure it out?), might just be annoying to people and that they should probably do something about that. Not in Vista though, only for Windows 7.

Some changes to the UAC program have been bounced around, and it looks like there will be a few fixes in the mix for the next iteration of the little pop up box that can't. First, MS has decided to make the box say something useful. Currently, it shows the program writer or maker and asks if you want to run it. Useful... Second, you should be able to filter what types of programs get the message. If you play games on your machine, you can turn off UAC for games specifically while still receiving the UAC protections for other stuff. Finally, duplicate messages should be alleviated. For example, several things in Control Panel require permission to run. After you grant permission, you then have to tell UAC that its ok. That's stupid.

I really do like the idea of UAC, which is why I generally leave it on, even though Microsoft admits it's annoying. Anything that requires deep level privileges on my system has to get my approval first, which helps protect me from many viruses and trojans. However, it's implementation is annoying. The fact that they are talking about these improvements for Windows 7 is great, by why not also make these changes a la patches for Vista? It still annoys the piss out of me that it feels like MS has just given up on Vista.

User Account Control to be less annoying in Windows 7 [Download Squad]