I am surprised that some people here don't. Though it can be annoying with some programs and games. Don't you hate when you go to install a program and it doesn't install the program's start menu folder in the limited user account section. Then you got to do it manually. It is not that big of a deal but annoying. Like for example SABnzbd. There is plenty others. Then there is the games that won't run as a limited user on steam. Nether for example. Really sucks.
I run as Administrator but have UAC enabled and set to maximum. I know it's not the same, but enough for me. As you said, some software is not designed to work under limited credentials.
Oh most software works fine it just won't install the program's start menu folder in the limited user account section.
UAC is enough for me as well. You should have it enabled whether you're a standard user or an administrator.
Have you given it admin rights? Then it can install wherever it wants, but you can sometimes choose to install for the current user only.
I do. It's technically better, although I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort involved (vs. UAC at maximum).
At home (Win 7 Home Prem), I surf under a Standard User (plus a bunch of other tweaks.) At work (Win 7 Pro), I am an admin, so it's not a Standard User account. I do have UAC on high at work but as MrBrian notes, I don't think it's as good as being a Standard User. (At work, nearly everyone else is a Standard User. Not always very handy but provides some piece of mind!)
That's also why I just go Admin and have been since Vista- games. I don't even use UAC honestly, I hate the prompts telling me what I already know. One day I'll learn EMET and lock down some key things, like browses, and that'll be enough for me. All that time using Windows 95/98 too makes me dislike multiple accounts on one system (cause I never did accounts under early Windows). I like to keep it simple.
On Win XP, I´m running as admin because it´s too annoying to run in LUA. Luckily in XP Pro you can use SRP to run certain apps as non-admin. In Win 8 I turned UAC off, but if I´m correct even then you still don´t have full admin rights. So in Win 8 you always run in LUA.
If you run as Administrator on Windows 8 and have UAC disabled, you will get Admin privileges automatically without any prompt and you (or malware) will not be running in LUA after that. IMO that's not secure.
Actually that depends on how you turn off UAC. If you do it from the control panel, everything runs with admin rights, or limited rights for standard users. If you go for admin approval mode instead, only things that need admin rights run without prompts, everything else is still limited. Protected Mode, registry virtualization, etc. still works and standard users get default UAC prompts for passwords.
In second option (admin approval mode) malware would still get admin rights without prompt if run by administrator?
Depends on if there is a shield icon or not. If there is, it is designed to run as admin and will do so without prompts if you execute it. If there isn't, it will run limited. Of course, right-click > run as admin works normally, just without prompts.
I think I may have misunderstood it then, so it´s best not to turn off UAC completely in Win 8? I can´t remember why I turned it off, I´m currently not on Win 8, but it probably annoyed me. Now that I think of it, it´s probably because my 32 bit apps (not written for Win 64 bit) didn´t work correctly. I think it´s explained best in link number 2. http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/how-to-disable-user-account-control-in-windows-8/ http://www.petri.co.il/disabling-user-account-control-uac-in-windows-8.htm
Oh, so Windows 8 changed some things from Windows 7. All my statements applied to Windows 7, which I assumed carried over to 8. About your apps, how come they don't work correctly? I never had an issue where setting a program to run as admin under compatibility, or using task scheduler to bypass startup prompts, didn't fix.
No LUA on Win 7 & 8. UAC on max, AppGaurd and SBIE stripping rights let's threat-gates run restricted but gives easy access to Admin privileges when needed. I would do on XP though as no UAC. Cheers
I´m a bit confused, if an app is designed to run as admin, does this mean that it can´t do any serious damage on Win 8 even wit UAC turned off? Some older apps must be run as admin, otherwise they won´t work on Win 8. However, this is quite easy to fix by using the "run as admin" feature, so I´m still not sure why I turned UAC off. I figure that out when I buy a new machine again.
Btw, a bit off topic, but this was very funny, when Apple made fun of UAC which was introduced in Vista. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuqZ8AqmLPY http://www.zdnet.com/blog/ou/should-apple-be-making-fun-of-vista-uac/450