Microsoft: Vista UAC intended 'to annoy users'

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 04/14/2008 07:32 AM | source: | 0 comment(s)

One of Windows Vista's design features was deliberately implemented "to annoy users," a Microsoft executive admitted yesterday at the RSA 2008 conference in San Francisco. David Cross, a product unit manager, explained to an audience that Vista's User Account Control scheme was built to discourage people from running as an administrator on their computers, which in case of attack can grant hackers deeper access than they might otherwise be allowed. "We needed to change the ecosystem, and we needed a heavy hammer to do it," said Cross.
The problem, many Vista owners have complained, is that it is common for users to run as administrators regardless, and UAC can harass people regularly and unnecessarily. Cross dismisses these concerns, noting that "most users" have no UAC warnings on an average day, although only 66 percent of sessions are said to be alert-free. Cross also rejects the notion that that users are shutting off UAC, citing Microsoft statistics that 88 percent of Vista users keep it active.

"Are there some annoyances with UAC? Yes, but advanced users know how to get around them," says Cross.

Related Stories

Microsoft urges companies to dump Windows XP - 09/19/2011 09:09 AM
In an new post on the official Windows blog site, Microsoft's Stephen L Rose stated that there are two big reasons for leaving Windows XP behind. One of them is, of course, the fact that there is a ne...

Microsoft shows off Windows 8 preview - 09/14/2011 09:04 AM
Microsoft presented a developer preview of Windows 8 at its BUILD conference in Los Angeles. The company demonstrates the new Metro user interface, Internet Explorer 10, new touch features and many ot...

Microsoft adds RAW preview support to Windows 7 - 07/28/2011 09:04 AM
After a quick codec pack download, those of you running Windows 7 or Vista should be able to preview RAW files straight from Windows Explorer, without having to use third-party tools like Adobe Bridge...

AMD Bulldozer APU could Power Microsoft's Next Xbox Console - 07/22/2011 09:43 AM
Accriding to a rumor on the web Microsoft's next-generation Xbox gaming console might be powered by an AMD-designed accelerated processing unit that is based on the Bulldozer architecture, according t...

Microsoft reveals 128-bit AES encryption based wireless keyboard - 06/07/2011 08:04 AM
Mircosoft announced the Wireless Desktop 2000, a new wireless keyboard that protects your keystrokes with AES 128-bit encryption. The unit will be available within about a month for roughly $40. The e...