Vista - Turn on UAC only for Standard Users?

Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard users,
but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?

Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I made
lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry, then
turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if this was
a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the registry.

Mickey Segal wrote:
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard users,
> but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>
> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I made
> lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry, then
> turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if this was
> a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the registry.
>
>

UAC is not user-specific. It is global, so it is either on or off for
everyone. I don't know the answer to your second question.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>

UAC is not user specific but a global setting

> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
> registry.
>

I'll make a guess. I don't run Vista with UAC off so I haven't tested this.
With UAC on when the misbehaved program wrote to system files areas or
system registry settings the operations were redirected to the virtual store
for that user. With UAC off you lose the benefit of this extra security and
the misbehaved program can do whatever it wants possibly trashing your
system in the process.


--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

You can also turn off UAC and do all your main configuration stuff, so
you're not constantly being prompted for elevation. Then turn UAC back on.

You'll still be prompted on program installs and sheilded options. But once
you're done with the initial configuration you probably won't be doing those
things all the time. I think I see fewer than one UAC prompt a day now.



"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>
> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
> registry.
>

On Mon, 5 Mar 2007 06:55:17 -0800, "Kerry Brown"
<kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote:

>"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
>news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
>> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
>> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
>> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>>
>
>UAC is not user specific but a global setting
>
>> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
>> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
>> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
>> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
>> registry.
>>
>
>I'll make a guess. I don't run Vista with UAC off so I haven't tested this.
>With UAC on when the misbehaved program wrote to system files areas or
>system registry settings the operations were redirected to the virtual store
>for that user. With UAC off you lose the benefit of this extra security and
>the misbehaved program can do whatever it wants possibly trashing your
>system in the process.

It seems some here still cling to a simplistic view of UAC's feaures
and purpose. Moving files or folders from one non system location to
another can't possibly be considered a "threat" to the system and
isn't "misbehaving" yet UAC at times will nag you to death if you try
or even simply try to delete such files, IF some application is seen
by Vista as "owning" the files then way too often UAC steadfastly
refuses to allow you to change the permisssions no matter what you do
short of turning UAC off. I don't view such heavy-handed inteference
as a "feature" and you wouldn't either if you had to deal with this
type of issue constantly.

As far as "security" that is a red herring. Source: Microsoft. People
need to educate themselves on what IT professionals, seasoned users
and Microsoft itself admits to regarding the failings of UAC. Such
things aren't often posted to newsgroups like this. Explore for web
and LEARN.

The intended real purpose of UAC is to educate users of the risks
running at administrator level. UAC does not prevent that, rather it
simply (if working correctly, which it often don't) pops up a warning
then if you are a administrator allows you to proceed or under some
situations allows you to elevate a process to have administrative
rights to do what you were planning on doing anyway. People that view
such mickey mouse features as real security don't have even a basic
understanding of security issues are all about.

The myth some here seem to be foolishly perpetuating is if UAC is in
it's default "on" condition somehow your system is safe. Since UAC
pops up usually when you are in the middle of trying to do some task,
human nature being what it is people will continue to do what they
intended to do and often nothing stops them except for UAC asking you
to confirm want you want to do. This quickly leads to people just
clicking through every time a warning pops up and is the electronic
version of crying wolf. In short order, nobody pays any real attention
to the UAC nag warnings, thus defeating the purpose.

That leaves us with all the false "security" warnings UAC has a bad
habit of nagging about, which quickly becomes an annoyance. Again how
often you see these things depends on what your use your computer for.

Unfortunately, UAC is a global setting it can't be turned off for one user
and on for another.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>
> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
> registry.
>

"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>
> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
> registry.
>


You can set these registry keys to the following values at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"= 0 (dword)
"ConsentPromptBehaviorUser"=1 (dword)

Doesn't turn UAC off, so you'll reap the benefits off protected mode /
virtualisation etc, but you'll see fewer prompts as an admin. Standard user
remains the same.

You can also achieve the same via

Start >secpol.msc ( depending on your Vista version)

--
Jon

"Group policy" provides a bunch of options for modifying UAC.

"Jon" <Email_Address@SomewhereOrOther.com> wrote in message
news:%23ZOkoK0XHHA.408@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> "Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
> news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
>> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
>> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
>> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>>
>> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
>> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
>> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
>> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
>> registry.
>>
>
>
> You can set these registry keys to the following values at
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
>
> "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"= 0 (dword)
> "ConsentPromptBehaviorUser"=1 (dword)
>
> Doesn't turn UAC off, so you'll reap the benefits off protected mode /
> virtualisation etc, but you'll see fewer prompts as an admin. Standard
> user remains the same.
>
> You can also achieve the same via
>
> Start >secpol.msc ( depending on your Vista version)
>
> --
> Jon

The details for tuening off UAC only for the administrator are now available
on my website:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable...count_only.htm

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:u4Og6ryXHHA.3272@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is it possible to turn User Account Control off only for Administrator
> accounts and leave it on for Standard Users? I see how to turn UAC on or
> off for the whole computer. I'd like to turn it on only for Standard
> users, but I don't see how to do that. Is it possible?
>
> Has anyone noticed changes in program settings when turning off UAC? I
> made lots of settings in a program that stores settings in the registry,
> then turned off UAC, and now all the settings are gone. I don't know if
> this was a coincidence or whether turning off UAC wipes out parts of the
> registry.
>

Thanks. I'll give it a try over the weekend.

"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:ugTKwqyZHHA.4420@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> The details for tuening off UAC only for the administrator are now
> available on my website:
> http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable...count_only.htm