Re: How can I optimise UAC on Vista 64?

"Mr. Arnold" <MR. Arnold@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:e0aMye7$IHA.5096@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message news:ehx7iJ7$IHA.3936@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Mr. Arnold" <MR. Arnold@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23%23%23y4B7$IHA.1016@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<snipped>

Disabling the secure desktop feature of the UAC prompt
doesn't exactly "optimize" UAC - in fact it disables UAC
for any malware program smart enough to take advantage
of that change. Sure, maybe it is unlikely that a malware
program exists that can do this, but if enough Vista users
take this option - I'm sure some will be written.


You need to provide some proof here that disabling that black screen is disabling the security functionality you speak about.



http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709628.aspx


Yeah ok, I see it and see the functionality. However, that little utility program has some other nice features not that disable *Black* on UAC is a bad feature either.



Disabling the secure desktop isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you understand the implications of doing so. It is automatically disabled when you RDP to a Vista box for instance.

As the secure desktop is enabled by default it's very unlikely malware would be coded to look to see if it was disabled and take advantage of that fact. What percentage of users would be able to figure out that it could be disabled and then figure out how to do it? How many of those would just say "Interesting, but so what" then leave it enabled? Although you would be relying on security by obscurity I think it's very unlikely disabling secure desktop would actually cause you any harm. Security is all about assessing risk and managing a balance between mitigating that risk and performing a task without too many hurdles. For me the increased security of secure desktop more than makes up for the slight inconvenience it causes.

UAC gives us a few more tools to help manage that balance. All of the settings that the UAC tweak tools provide were built into Vista to help people manage UAC. I do agree that some of them give you nice GUI way to do it though.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/
http://vistahelpca.blogspot.com/




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Relevant Pages

  • Re: How can I optimise UAC on Vista 64?
    ... doesn't exactly "optimize" UAC - in fact it disables UAC ... You need to provide some proof here that disabling that black screen is disabling the security functionality you speak about. ... As the secure desktop is enabled by default it's very unlikely malware would be coded to look to see if it was disabled and take advantage of that fact. ... Although you would be relying on security by obscurity I think it's very unlikely disabling secure desktop would actually cause you any harm. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.security)
  • Re: How can I optimise UAC on Vista 64?
    ... XdN Tweaker has an option for turning Secure Desktop off (what the ... Disabling the secure desktop feature of the UAC prompt ... for any malware program smart enough to take advantage ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.security)
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  • Re: How can I optimise UAC on Vista 64?
    ... XdN Tweaker has an option for turning Secure Desktop off (what the ... Disabling the secure desktop feature of the UAC prompt ... for any malware program smart enough to take advantage ... You need to provide some proof here that disabling that black screen is ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.security)