Tweak UAC in Windows 7 and Vista

How-to Tweak UAC in Windows 7 and Vista

In Windows 7 and Vista tweaking User Account Control (UAC) options is a way to make the security feature less annoying. 

From a security standpoint UAC makes total sense and actually can prevent malicious hardware from installing on your computer, though on the other hand UAC can be a big irritation, especially for tech savvy users who enjoy tweaking their systems.

There are various ways to tweak UAC to make it less annoying, we are going to go over some of our favorites.

NOTE:  Modifying or disabling UAC can be a security risk, though tweaking UAC to be less annoying can be a great treat, especially for tech savvy folks who know what they’re getting into.

Completely Disable UAC

One of the first things that you can perform is to completely disable UAC.  Of course this will make you system much less secure, so we don’t necessarily recommend it, but just know that this is an option. 

Many tech savvy folks disable it first thing, though thankfully in Windows 7 UAC has been tweaked and improved by Microsoft from Windows Vista to be far less annoying so disabling UAC isn't necessarily a good idea. Toning it down one level may be the better option if you still can't stand UAC prompts, at least this way you still have an added security layer.

Auto Accept UAC Prompts for Administrators Only

If you work in Windows 7 under an account with Administrator rights, disabling the prompts from showing up under your account but leaving UAC on standard user accounts active is a great way to make it less annoying, at least for yourself.  

The setting is great for it still protects the standard user accounts like those for example setup for children or guest usage.

Disable the Blackout Screen

One of the most annoying parts of UAC for many is the screen that dims out everything other than the UAC prompt.  Sometimes it takes a lot of time to show up, especially on slower systems.

What you can do is disable the secure desktop feature but leave the UAC prompts how they are.  This lowers security of course since secure desktop is the feature which prevents applications from potentially clicking UAC prompts.  But nevertheless it makes UAC far less annoying.  Perform at your own risk.

Conclusion:

We hope you found this guide to tweak UAC in Windows 7 and Vista handy. Remember however to pay attention to your settings for disabling UAC is a security risk since it makes your system less secure.

For those of you who still can't stand UAC, in all honestly it makes more sense from a security standpoint to tone down the UAC feature opposed to disabling it completely.