User Account Control in Vista -- comments.

Hm... this feature's implementation sucks, but Vista sucks anyway?

Vista is a nice looking, nice feeling OS.... if the following are met...

Turn off UAC... Unplug computer from AC Power... Throw power cord to computer away... Cut power cord into 2 peices, approx. 2 feet each.

I find that utilizing these 2 steps and Vista becomes a much easier OS to deal with....

RedForeman.

You want to come up with some reasons here?

Actually, I like Vista better than any of the NT based O/S(s) for workstations. I also think that Vista is more secure than any of the previous versions of the NT based O/S(s) for the workstation out of the box setup.

But that's just me.

Yeah, I here the whine about Vista sucks, but I heard the same whine about Win 2k and XP sucked too, when they were released, but I guess that's just Human nature of the negative thinking Human Being, that has nothing good to say about anything.

Implementation of UAC sucks:

- no caching of credentials. Applications wants do A, you enter credentials. It wants to do B then, you have to enter them again. And again and again and again.

- legacy program detection hinders you. You application setup is named setup.exe? UAC will be forced on you. No way to specify "No, damn, this setup runs fine under a non-admin user, so let me run it as such".

- Vulnerable to spoofing (this is shared with many Unix sudo variants though). What exactly stops an application from taking a screenshot of the desktop, grey it out, draw this on the desktop and then open its own prompt, looking identical to the UAC thing? If UAC would f.e. put a logo on the screen that tells the user "hey, here, I'm the real UAC, because only I can know this logo that you provided at installation time". Keep in mind that Ctrl+Alt+Del focus capture can be subverted via DirectX or OpenGL.

Well, all these can be and hopefully will be corrected.

Vista sucks:

- DRM integrated in the kernel. And please don't come up with the myths of only working passively and only on DRMed media - the implementation tells a different thing.

- PatchGuard. Not just a stupid censorship to keep out open source project, but also a very dirty kernel hack that makes the system more bloated and less stable.

- Explorer spoofing. Due to this nice localization feature, you can present a file as whatever you want. Um, hello, Microsoft, this is a serious vulnerability, when will you release a patch?

- Removal of many good features, f.e. TCP/IP over FireWire, total crippling of various other features (Raw Sockets...).

- A lot of bloat, f.e. DirectX Media Foundation.

- Most security features suck and cannot be replaced by serious alternatives (f.e. ASLR with low entropy).

Did you ever take Windows Server 2003 in comparison? Most of the improvements in Vista over Windows XP can already be found there. And indeed, the rest of the "improvements" really sucks.

Hm... Windows XP RTM really sucked in comparison over Windows 2000 SP2. Just like Windows 2000 itself sucked until SP2 (but got at least a bit better in SP1).

Nonsense, I'll have to say that you don't anymore know what you're talking about than the man in the Moon. You have no *clue* about Vista.

I have not encounted that, so you must be reading this and you really have not put it to the test. Yes, it's ask for permission every now and then, but it has not aksed at the level you're talking about.

Well, all these can hopefully will be corrected. Nothing is perfect and it never will be perfect as long as Human Beings are invloved in it. Those are the facts.

I could care less about it, because it's not affecting my enjoyment of using the O/S.

The only thing I have seen is users installing Vista on machines not Vista approved causing problems for them.

And this is not on any previous version of the NT based O/S?

It doesn't seem to affect my enjoyment of using the Vista O/S.

What you see as bloat may be to some others OK. Again, it has not deminished my enjoyment of using this O/S on an entertainment laptop.

It is what it is and one deals with it, just like one deals with it with any previous version of the NT based O/S, if one knows what he or she is doing.

No one for the most part is going to be running Win 2K3 server. I didn't see Win 2k3 server being offered on any laptop or desktop I looked at when shopping for a new laptop. And the fact that the improvments in Vista that are also present in Win 2K3 are not present on any other NT workstaion based O/S is a good thing.

And what other improvments are you talking about that suck, because what I have seen of Vista to this point, what you are saying makes no sense.

Again, the same things were being said about Win 2K pro, XP pro and XP home, when those O/S(s) were released.

Well, la de da, as long as there are improvements, it can't be ignored or dismissed.

I am happy with Vista, and like I said, I like it better that any of the previous NT based O/S(s) for the workstation I have used. The includes the home and work environments.

When you piss on something, just make sure you're not standing up wind.

It's much to do about nothing and Vista is just another NT based O/S that's on the market and people are and will be using it, no doubt about it.

I very well expected you to respond and you're true to form as always, bless your little negative heart. :)

You'd wish. But it is designed and most likely will hinder you in the one or other way. A typical example is a DirectShow-based video editing application, which will exhibit various limitations when encountering the DRM filtering drivers on enumeration. DRM also is a privilege escalation vulnerability. Just specify a license "revoke after: 1 second, action on revocation: delete license (C:\\*.dll recursively)".

No, since the problem is with this specific implementation.

Seems like you're not a gamer. The Media Foundation Usermode Service often interrupts about any time-critical process.

At the current state of implementation, ASLR in Windows Vista is worthless.

It can. Trivially. Since almost anything else is rather a deprovement, making the minor improvements rather worthless.

I just wonder: Can you name me any serious or just noticeable improvement in Windows Vista that cannot easily be decredited? OK, one beside DirectX 10?

Yeah, happiness really is an argument, and technical facts are unimportant.

Which translates to: They'll take whatever crappy software we'll give'em. As proven by experience.

I didn't even bother to read it.

It's time for you to disappear SG, because as always, you'll run it into the ground trying to give you negative view on things.

Like I told you before, if it was a clear blue beautiful sunny day, about 76 degrees with a nice breeze and a summer day, that would beautiful for most.

But for you it be a bad day.

Can't you write "I'm ignoring everyone and everything telling me the bad side of things because they're bad and I don't want to hear them." much shorter?

Mr. Arnold, may I top post, to point you to a few things of note....

Here I replied with my opinion...

Here, you interjected as if it was a yes/no question and I asked you another question... thus, you not liking the answer you recieved...

well, I may not... but I guess the certifications and student loans say otherwise...

Maybe if you had just started off by saying that you like it and anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong... then I would have just ignored your post and continued on... my bad, didn't mean to have an opinion on a one sided conversation....

I'll be on my way....

Have a great day....

RedForeman

I asked for comments on one thing and one thing only and you needed to run your mouth in addidtion to that. And on top of that, you never gave any reason about the topic of the post other than trun it off and unplug the computer.

Thus, you got my response.

I got certifications and loans myself, big deal.

And what makes you right?

Do that and take your negativity with you, with someting I would suspect you have not used.

You do the same.

I didn't ask you to start going to left field. You took that upon yourself to do that.

I do apologize for wandering off into left field... I tend to do that on mondays...

Let's start over...

You asked: "Anyone have any comments on this feature in Vista pro or con? "

My only problem with UAC is that it can be turned on and off...to me, that is a con.

...go ahead... ask me why?? Then, maybe then, we could have a 2-sided conversation... not just a RF'favorable-only'C....

;-)

RedForeman

Personally I have no issues with UAC. Try this article:

for an in depth viewpoint from one of Microsoft's ex security specialists.

Wayne McGlinn Brisbane, Oz

messagenews:_zs%h.8668$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...

article:

for an in depth viewpoint from one of Microsoft's ex security specialists.

But it's biased as long as it'a former, an ex, an anything that has to do with microsoft...

Good article though....

RedForeman

Thanks this is what I was looking for and not the nonsense from others that I got.

Thanks

Translation: I really didn't want to start any discussion. I just wanted to hear what I like to hear.

Unfortunately, Usenet is a discussion medium...

You can translate this. They need to lock you up and throw away the key, a life sentence.

There should be no way for to be released back into society.

And of course, with you being locked up, you would consider that to be a positive for yourself.

The user can turn it off, without being an Admin??