w7 - Is this normal?

[VirusType2]

Every time I launch winamp, or play a song, EVERY SONG, it asks me if I want to allow it to make changes to my computer and I say yes.

How can I get it to stop asking?

 

[Qonfused]

Turn off UAC, the first thing you should have done when you installed Win 7.

 

[VirusType2]

Really? Has everyone else disabled it too?

 

[Barney Fife]

Really? Has everyone else disabled it too?

YEEES!

Oops, did I say that out loud?

 

[VirusType2]

I don't mind it, if it would remember my decision.

My firewall did the same thing (but it remembers if I authorize something), but it's not compatible with Windows 7 yet.

Winamp. I lose reasons to use it all the time.

 

[Acepilotf14]

UAC is more or less useless. Particularly when it asks me for permission to ask permission.

 

[Adabiviak]

I haven't disabled it, but I don't get that message either. I'm guessing you installed it new, and it's in the program files (x86) directory? Try installing it elsewhere (another drive? Hell, it's pretty small, install it on a thumbdrive for the purpose of this experiment). I think 7 shows those messages when you install programs there that need to write to files therein (which only makes a little sense, as I would prefer that program files keep track of their issues locally, as opposed to writing to the registry).

edit - this is my first foray into UAC-enabled operating systems, and given the rest of the behavior I see, I think the UI caters to the less-savvy computer user (which seems to be the majority). You can certainly turn it off, and if you bork your computer by way of something that the UAC would have prevented, you can't go crying to Microsoft (which I imagine was more than half of their intention with the implementation of UAC).

 

[No Limit]

UAC is useless? Where do you guys pull this shit from?

Do not disable UAC, it is a very good form of protection. The problem is with the winamp installation and they will have to fix it. Have you checked if an update for winamp is available? And so I understand, if you have a playlist full of songs in winamp each time a new song starts you get the pop up?

 

[VirusType2]

It was probably a bad installation or something. I honestly don't remember the installation at all. I had done it yesterday or the day before. I had it pined to my taskbar.

Today, I clicked it to play music, and it proceeded with the last phases of installation, which was pretty strange. (asking me to choose a skin and choose whether I wanted to use the online services like shoutcast)

I'll reinstall it maybe. Right now I'm trying WMP for the first time, so I'll need to see if I don't prefer it.

 

[DreamThrall]

Why do you use a 3rd party firewall? You know windows comes with one, right?

 

[VirusType2]

Comparing windows firewall to a proper firewall is like comparing MS Paint to Adobe Photoshop.

I won't really judge Win7's firewall yet, since I don't know much about it. XP's firewall only blocked incoming traffic, and I know Windows 7's firewall is much better than that. But I can tell you it's not in the same league as TallEmu's OnlineArmor, which also has a Program Guard, which is essentially a vastly improved version of UAC, and it remembers your decisions for each program. Thereby I could disable UAC - ms paint version.

 

[Krynn72]

UAC is useless? Where do you guys pull this shit from?

Do not disable UAC, it is a very good form of protection. The problem is with the winamp installation and they will have to fix it. Have you checked if an update for winamp is available? And so I understand, if you have a playlist full of songs in winamp each time a new song starts you get the pop up?

Unless you're completely computer illiterate (im talking like, grandma style computer illiteracy), then UAC can be turned off because it just protects people from simple problems that anyone who knows how to use forums would already know to prevent.

So yeah, turn that shit off. And use Foobar instead of winamp.

 

[DreamThrall]

WMP all the way.

 

[Krynn72]

No. WMP never ever. It is awful and a major resource hog.

 

[Raziaar]

Really? Has everyone else disabled it too?

I've not disabled UAC, and I'm not going to. At first it annoyed me, but now I'm used to it. It's like a ritual I perform countless times a day!

 

[DreamThrall]

Resource hog? It takes up 35-50 MB out of 8GB RAM for me... 35-50MB is chump change even if you've only got 1 or 2GB.

EDIT: Also, it works properly in Win7 :thumbs:

 

[No Limit]

Unless you're completely computer illiterate (im talking like, grandma style computer illiteracy), then UAC can be turned off because it just protects people from simple problems that anyone who knows how to use forums would already know to prevent.

So yeah, turn that shit off. And use Foobar instead of winamp.

But the problem is that what you are saying is absolute myth. This myth gets repeated time and time again until it becomes fact in many peoples mind, when in reality its absolute bullshit. UAC forces you to run using limited system privledges, the only time those privledges are elivated is when you tell them to be elevated. So this protects your from virtually every threat out there, not just the most obvious ones. And it is the way every computer user should run their computer, you should never run as an administrator. If a virus does slip past it that virus will only be able to affect your own local user profile, it will not infect the entire system and removal is as simple as running hijack this and removing the virus from booting.

This is not just for grandmas. You are underestimating the way a virus can infect your computer, most of the computer virues that spread these days never prompt you to install or download anything. UAC protects you from that.

 

[DreamThrall]

Right... unless I'm mistaken, this is how most other OSs.. at least the *nix-based ones (linux, mac os x, etc) are set up.

 

[No Limit]

Right... unless I'm mistaken, this is how most other OSs.. at least the *nix-based ones (linux, mac os x, etc) are set up.

That's what I heard, but with my limited knowledge of linux and my non-knowledge of Mac I'm not sure how they actually deal with it. I think the Windows implementation is absolutely awesome, in my opinion one of the best features microsoft put in post XP.

 

[Krynn72]

I havent gotten a virus or any spyware in five years and I've just been using Avast! virus protection and no firewall besides windows.

 

[Acepilotf14]

This is not just for grandmas. You are underestimating the way a virus can infect your computer, most of the computer viruses that spread these days never prompt you to install or download anything. UAC protects you from that.

I managed perfectly fine pre-UAC. UAC manages to make everything take longer for some damn reason, especially when running installation .exe's. I've clicked an exe, and sat there for ten minutes waiting for the UAC thing to prompt so that I could actually install something. Not even exaggerating.

You should have a perfectly good anti-virus, which makes UAC redundant and unnecessary.

 

[VirusType2]

you should never run as an administrator. If a virus does slip past it that virus will only be able to affect your own local user profile, it will not infect the entire system

So after installing Windows 7, I've been asked to create a user profile. Consider this profile "virus's first w7 account" - the name I see when I log in. (an administrator)

So now I have my windows 7 installation, how do I go about things?

Do I create another user with reduced privileges, and leave my original "virus's first w7 account" as the administrator with full privileges, never using it unless I want to make a system wide change?

God, I'm tired. I think you can make sense of that if you read it fast and don't look back.

Is there any special thing I should be doing or can I just use my first account (an administrator) normally, granting permissions using UAC when necessary?

I've never used Vista and only been using Windows 7 for a couple of days, so I know nothing.

 

[Acepilotf14]

So after installing Windows 7, I've been asked to create a user profile. Consider this profile "virus's first w7 account" - the name I see when I log in. (an administrator)

So now I have my windows 7 installation, how do I go about things?

Do I create another user with reduced privileges, and leave my original "virus's first w7 account" as the administrator with full privileges, never using it unless I want to make a system wide change?

God, I'm tired. I think you can make sense of that if you read it fast and don't look back.

Is there any special thing I should be doing or can I just use my first account (an administrator) normally, granting permissions using UAC when necessary?

I've never used Vista and only been using Windows 7 for a couple of days, so I know nothing.

..I really don't even know what No Limit is talking about. It sounds like he's overly paranoid about viruses. Hell, most programs won't even run without administrator privileges. You only need one (admin) account for your PC, and the non-admin accounts are usually for businesses and parents who want to control what their children do. If you happen to get a bad enough virus that it kills your account, you're going to want to simply format anyway.

 

[No Limit]

I havent gotten a virus or any spyware in five years and I've just been using Avast! virus protection and no firewall besides windows.

You can use your own personal experiances to try and justify anything. The point is even if nothing bit you yet there really is no reason to run your computer as an administrator. Not running as an administrator is a lot more effective than any anti-virus program ever will be and it costs you nothing in terms of resources (if using UAC to accomplish this the resource hit is insignificant).

@AcePilot don't take this the wrong way but it really gets under my skin when people that don't do this for a living and really have no idea as to what they are talking about try to lecture people on why I'm crazy because I worry about these things. Running your computer as an administrator is one of the worst security practices people engage in, you can read numerous papers on this topic if you don't want to take my word for it. I bet you have anti-virus protection on your computer. Most people don't know that that virus protection is useless 9 times out of 10, yet you dedicate all those resources to that anti-vrius program when you could do something much simpler and get much more effective results. So yes, you might not know what I'm talking about, but your arrogance in this area doesn't mean I'm some crazy person in the street yelling about how dangerous viruses are. If you saw the amount of viruses I see on a weekly basis you would be a little more worried, and a little more understanding, of why this is a real threat to you.

Do you have flash on your computer? How about Adobe Reader? No Adobe Reader? How about VLC? Don't have that? well you have a very likely chance of having something else that can be very easily exploited and constantly is (ever heard of gif/jpeg exploits? No? well again just cause you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they didnt/don't exist). And if you aren't staying on top of the latest patches for all these programs by visiting the wrong web site you will eventually get ****ed if you are running as an administrator. Just because I haven't gotten herpes yet doesn't mean herpes don't exist and I should run around ****ing everything that moves.

One final side note, most programs run without admin privledges. Those that don't need to be taken off your computer because who ever wrote them is a shitty developer.

@VirusType: UAC is a fairly good system for keeping you locked down. But I personally create a new limited user account on my system anyway. So yes, you would have a built in administrator account that came with windows (make sure it has a password on it) and then you would create a new limited user account to browse the internet with and do all your other daily tasks with such as gaming, watching videos, downloading stuff, etc. I would leave UAC on if you do go with the new limited account route, it will make it much easier for you to elevate your privledges when you need to perform an administrative task as you will not have to log in under the administrator profile.

No matter what is said here there is absolutely no rational reason anyone here can come up with as to why running as a limited account doesn't make sense. Wether that be through making a new limited account or simply leaving UAC on and letting Windows manage that for you.

 

[Asus]

No Limit is right on. It's good to keep things separate. Doing so does improve security. If you don't notice, it is not because you are safe. Your PC and setup are vulnerable. Either you have not got hit with the worm-caring ad/website yet or you have and just don't know it.

Different example from the admin account. If you pay all your bills or manage stocks on your PC it would be safer to log into a separate limited account even if you never use the admin account. The reason it is safer is because your normal account could have picked up a key logger while browsing the web. If you enter your credit card to buy something on that account it would get recorded by the key logger. However if you log off your normal account and into a separate limited account you would be safe since the only sites you visit on the 2nd account is bank.com. Assuming a key logger didn't get installed from the admin account.

Win98 was terrible since it was all 1 account really. You log in for a different background basically.
XP was great since you had different accounts but still everyone used admin.
Vista is the best for an MS platform I think and Win7 is right up there (lowered UAC for MS programs I believe).

 

[PvtRyan]

Goddammit people, do I have to explain UAC to you again?

No, UAC is not "being retarded" for asking permission when you clicked that program yourself. It's asking permission because the thing you did requires elevated privileges, in one way or another. One example of that is wanting to write in C:\Windows or C:\Program Files. In Windows XP, you were pretty much forced to run as an administrator, because you could not be temporarily be elevated to have administrator rights, you had to log in as administrator if you ever needed elevated rights. Running as an administrator for daily operations is unsafe because a malicious program can do anything you can do, which means writing to C:\Windows, for example.

As of Windows Vista, UAC made it viable to actually run as a user with normal privileges, because it asks for elevation when the program says it needs it. For the rest of the time, you can run as a normal user. This means that a malicious program simply cannot write to System32 unless you have given it the elevation it requires yourself.

Another reason for UAC was that programmers on Windows did not stick to conventions, which they're very much used to on Linux or Mac, UAC helps enforce these conventions. Because if you do not follow the convention (like you wanna store user data in Program Files instead of in Users) your program will show tons of UAC pop-ups, annoying the hell out of the user. This is not a flaw of UAC, this is perfectly intended, it's flaws in insecure programs. That piece of shit software you just gave permission to store save files in Program Files now can be infected and use that permission to do whatever. When a programmer sticks to convention, a user will not see a single UAC pop-up during normal use. And it's working, programs now are a lot better at dealing with this than they were when Vista was just out (and all the bitching started).

I agree that UAC isn't needed when you run as an administrator, but you shouldn't be running as an administrator for anything but actual administration of your PC, anyway. However, because so many people run as admins, UAC is still active, but only requires a click on "Allow", which could potentially be forged by malicious software.

Recently, I had a trojan on my Windows XP work PC (probably because as the PC is malfunctioning, I never shut down properly and thus no updates were installed for it in months) and that trojan wrote files to System32. This simply cannot happen when you run as a normal user and don't give permission to "parishiltonnaked.exe". Running as a normal user is a natural thing on Linux and OSX, in fact, some Linux distro's and I believe OSX too, don't even allow you to login as root, requiring you to do everything through sudo (basically UAC). This is not part of Windows culture yet, but it should be and hopefully it will be. My parents are now running Windows 7 as normal users, and haven't heard anything yet about UAC.

Microsoft made a good call on UAC, but honestly, when installing Windows, they should make an "Administrator" account automatically and then force you to create a normal user, instead of forcing you to create an administrator and letting it up to you if you want normal users. A thorough explanation on user rights should be given as well, but that's idle hope because they'll never read it and if they do, they won't get it as PC users are dogshit retarded.

But I'm sure, like last times, I'll have people below me going "HURR DURR UAC is stupid because it asks me if I'm sure when I just clicked it myself!".

To VirusType2: If Winamp really asks that for every song, then either Winamp is a very shit program (why would a music playing program require administrative rights?) or it's infected.

 

[VirusType2]

That piece of shit software you just gave permission to store save files in Program Files now can be infected and use that permission to do whatever.

Since Resident Evil 4 saves the game in the installation directory, that's why I need to run it as an administrator in order for the save game to work. (I'm assuming that will fix the problem) I haven't tried running as admin yet, but I played for a couple hours the other day and when I went to pick up my game the next day, my saved games weren't there. D:

I don't see a way to change where it stores the save games.

EDIT: running RE4 as an administrator works. I just have the UAC prompt when I run the game, but now I can access game saves.

 

[Hazar]

if you shift+ctrl click on the program when you start it this will run it in admin mode so it won't ask every time for permissions.

 

[Adabiviak]

UAC might be considered like a seat belt in a car? If you've never been in an accident, and are a pretty good driver, you may never need it. It doesn't largely influence your day-to-day driving, and it's a damn fine thing to have in the event of an accident. Thousands of people yearly are saved by having this feature, but it's not a guarenteed life saver either. If you don't like it, that doesn't make it a bad idea.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, I think the game saving them in the programs will cause it to act that way since only admins need to access the actual program directory. Created files for the user should be saved elsewhere. If the game is setup to work with that model then I think games are supposed to be using C:\Users\"LOGIN NAME"\Saved Games (next to my docs, my pics etc). Obviously that is not how it was before Vista so 'old' games will be using the app directory under programs and trigger UAC for admin under Vista and Win7.

 

[No Limit]

Yeah, I think the game saving them in the programs will cause it to act that way since only admins need to access the actual program directory. Created files for the user should be saved elsewhere. If the game is setup to work with that model then I think games are supposed to be using C:\Users\"LOGIN NAME"\Saved Games (next to my docs, my pics etc). Obviously that is not how it was before Vista so 'old' games will be using the app directory under programs and trigger UAC for admin under Vista and Win7.

To correct this you can always adjust the directory permissions directly. If you are using a home edition of windows you'll have to reboot safe mode since microsoft doesn't think you're worthy of adjusting permissions directly. The problem is these programs a lot of times also try to write to the registry where they don't have permissions, you can also adjust permissions directly on registry keys but unfortunately they can be hard to track a lot of times.

 

[Barney Fife]

UAC is actually implemented there to protect the computer from you (The user,) not from the Internet. Viruses aren't waiting out there to automatically infect your computers as soon as you boot up, or open your mailboxes. UAC isn't inserted there because a virus will install itself into your computer by itself, while you, on the other hand “innocently” check your stockings.
Most people setup their OS to run in an administrative environment (Super User.) Setting their account as the only and administrative one, for normal use. And most people undermine the need for additional security software, which could play a major role to keep you safe. Then they run out there amok, clicking and trying out everything: Searching Google for free stuff, hanging out at porn sites, clicking every hyperlink, installing freeware, clicking attachments, etc: That is pretty dangerous combinations, which made good old Bill to come up with this little nanny called UAC.
Most servers run in user mode and the only time a server is logged in the administration account is when doing maintenance and administration tasks, not for normal use. It is never OK to run systems in administration account all the time. Home users run system in Super-User, putting themselves out there for the elements, then UAC becomes nuisance.
Think of UAC as US government's checks and balances: Though Vista and Win7 gave you the option to be an administrator (Power-hungry bastards,) you aren't actually trusted with such a powerful title, so you must be double-checked at all time, So you don't step on booboo and walk into a waiting stray cat with rabies in a dark alley.
Being an administrator actually carries humongous amount of responsibility; that is why my password at work actually has an expiration date (lol. 'cause I'm responsible like that.) Not even the CEO knows our passwords, only the CIO and the COO. And we only work when no one else outside our department is looking. We don't Google, test porn sites, open attachments, click hyperlinks, or do any other crap while we logged as administrators. All that is because, if you get hit while logged as an administrator it is gonna be a doomsday, because no one knows what was taken and how deep is compromised. That is where UAC actually is your guardian angel... And the AVS.

Take Care Guys.

 

[Krynn72]

Too much work. I'll risk viruses.

 

[ShinRa]

Hai! I'm going to hi-jack this thread for a minute, since I have a semi-relevant question.

When I upped to Win7, my entire Itunes was there, but none of the songs could be located. I have to manually go a locate EVERY song when I want to listen to it. I tried "add to library" of my folder, but it just re-adds EVERYTHING and then I have DOUBLE of everything. How can I make Itunes recognize all my music without having to locate over 2000 songs?

 

[VirusType2]

I've never used iTunes, but don't you load iTunes and select add media to library? Then just point to your music folder/s.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Too much work. I'll risk viruses.

Fool. You heed not the walls of text above? Lazy bastard. You're not worried about having sensitive information stolen or anything?

 

[Barney Fife]

Hai! I'm going to hi-jack this thread for a minute, since I have a semi-relevant question.

When I upped to Win7, my entire Itunes was there, but none of the songs could be located. I have to manually go a locate EVERY song when I want to listen to it. I tried "add to library" of my folder, but it just re-adds EVERYTHING and then I have DOUBLE of everything. How can I make Itunes recognize all my music without having to locate over 2000 songs?

Hijacking is never cool and I will insult you after I answer your question.

First: Before you do anything, make sure that iTune media folder isn't as same as your music folder. To do this, you'll need to launch iTune, click "Edit" click "preferences" then click "Advanced" in the box under "iTune media folder location" make sure iTune has it's own location, otherwise you'll have say "Bye bye" to your music files. If it isn't, you're fine, so close the preference window.

Second: Go to iTune library, highlight all the music files in your iTune library by clicking once any of one of the music files, then hit "Ctr+A" then hit the "Delete" on your keyboard, hit "Remove" in the warning dialog, and wait for them to be removed. Don't worry they won't be removed from your music folder.

Third: Click "File" then hit "Add folder to library" select the folder you like to add to library, and off you go.

Good Luck.

[Edit] Bastard. [/edit]

 

[Krynn72]

Fool. You heed not the walls of text above? Lazy bastard. You're not worried about having sensitive information stolen or anything?

Like what? My credit card with a 300 dollar limit? OOOOOH NO, THEY'LL RUIN ME!

Also, once I get a new external drive on thursday and back up everything, I am reformatting to do a clean install of windows 7. I'll give this whole not-being-administrator thing a whirl. But if it pisses me off too much them i'm coming back here to bitch at you No Limit. And chances are high, because I tend to install all sorts of programs that might need privledges.

Also, at work, if I install a game on steam, it wont complete the "first time run" installation unless im logged in as administrator (I know the password teehee). So that will make me rage unless there is a way to get around that. In fact, I'm not even going to bother with this whole thing unless you tell me there is a way. I install too many games/etc every day to be logging off every time. And it does it for demos and shit too? ****, I might have just convinced myself to not do it. I hope you have some good arguments to counter mine.

I await your reply.

EDIT: Wait... if I give permissions to my steam directory, that would let it install right? But then games also have to install directx and the .net redistributables and all that crap. Shit.

 

[Barney Fife]

Krynn, for me it is the very first time I have installed crap that UAC asked me a permission to give permission, and after that, I only press "Allow" once each time I start the system, and that's because eVGA Precision isn't up to date, or I haven't figured a way yet.
Steam launches with Window and there are 8 games installed. I have all the CODs, Crysis, FEAR, MOHAB and other stuff installed. The only time I have to press "Allow" is the first time system is booting, and eVGA must get permission, so it can launch with Windows, which is a whole lot less annoying than what others say about UAC on the Net.

 

[Krynn72]

Krynn, for me it is the very first time I have installed crap that UAC asked me a permission to give permission, and after that, I only press "Allow" once each time I start the system, and that's because eVGA Precision isn't up to date, or I haven't figured a way yet.
Steam launches with Window and there are 8 games installed. I have all the CODs, Crysis, FEAR, MOHAB and other stuff installed. The only time I have to press "Allow" is the first time system is booting, and eVGA must get permission, so it can launch with Windows, which is a whole lot less annoying than what others say about UAC on the Net.

With steam, I'm talking about when you first download a game. It installs it, and then the first time you run the game, it will say it needs to be run on the admin account to finish the install. Which on my XP computer at work means I need to log off my user account, and log back in to admin, run the game, exit, log back out, log back into my user account and then the game will work. Which sucks. And if I have to do that every time on my own PC, it will suck even more because I install way more games.