quick windows 7 newbie question

DiscoZombie

So I've only had 7 about 3 days and I'm already sick to death of having to right click on all my programs and running them as administrator. I also don't want to have to go into the properties of every program I install and make that the default per program. I assume this feature is to protect idiots who download shady executables from the internet and then don't scan them for viruses?

is there a way to make run as administrator the default for all programs? Can I safely turn on "Never notify me when programs try to install software or make changes to my computer" if I'm not one of those idiots who runs shady executables? I've only gotten one virus in my 20 years of computing, and that came in through a banner add so I didn't even have to click anything to get it...

Dedian

First, install some sort of AV if you haven't already, then turn down UAC to a comfortable level (I have mine off, and like you haven't had a virus in forever). As long as you don't do shady things, and run a browser that doesn't condone shady scripts, you should be fine (and sane)

DiscoZombie

yeah, I think I'll do that. my common sense has gotten me this far, I don't think I need Windows babying me now. Thanks!

Mr_Rose

Why do you have to run all your programs as administrator in the first place?
A properly built application shouldn't need admin privileges to do anything once it's installed.

DiscoZombie

well, haven't installed too many games or programs so far, to be honest. the game I've mostly been playing this week is Bad Company 2. I wasn't getting any pings when I searched for online games. I googled the problem, and it turns out BC2 requires admin access for pings to show up, so I switched it to always run as admin. The thread I read that in also said I should make sure Steam has admin access too, so I changed Steam to always run as admin. Then Steam started complaining that I shouldn't change its compatibility settings... a lot of hoops to jump through just to see pings in the very first game I play.

Satsumomo

That's BC2's fault, we all had to do that. I have UAC off, and I had to do those exact steps you just mentioned, including Steam's whining.

Mr_Rose

Ah. See, this is why I said "properly built" - no application, especially not a popular internet-enabled game, should require admin level access to function; that's just begging to get your ass hacked. Seriously, one tiny "arbitrary code" exploit in a game and some ne'er-do-well will be writing code to your Windows directory and all the nominally protected DLLs therein because the game that's doing the changes has admin access and therefore legitimate permission to do that shit.

UAC isn't there to bug you because Bill Gates hates fun, it's there to stop programs doing things they really shouldn't.

Herkimer

Yeah, ditto. I haven't had to run any other program as admin in the 2 months I've now been using 7.

edit: the ditto was to Satsumomo's comment. Really DICE just don't know how to code a server browser.

DiscoZombie

Maybe I should turn it back on, then, if BC2 is more of the exception than the rule. I hate nag screens in general though. Does UAC protect you from anything other than malicious executables? I have no reason to turn it back on if all it protects from is shady .exe's that I already screen with my antivirus before running.