TweakUAC

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TweakUAC

What is TweakUAC? | Is the “quiet” mode of UAC less secure? | Download

What is TweakUAC?

TweakUAC(TM) is a free software tool that you can use to quickly turn UAC (User Account Control of Windows Vista) on or off, or to make UAC operate in the quiet mode:

Using TweakUAC is extremely easy: just download and run it, then select the desired option on its window and press OK:
» Turn UAC off

This option turns UAC off completely. If this is what you want, select this option, press OK, restart the computer, and you won’t see the elevation prompts anymore. Windows Vista will operate pretty much like Windows XP does when you login to its administrator’s account.
» Switch UAC to the quiet mode

This option does not turn off UAC; instead, it only makes UAC to operate in the quiet mode. In the quiet mode, UAC does not display the elevation prompts for the administrators. That is, when you attempt to do an administrative task, you will be allowed to proceed automatically, without prompting you to confirm the operation. All other features of UAC would still be enabled: the programs will run with the standard user permissions by default, and the standard users will still see the elevation prompts (the quiet mode applies to the administrator accounts only).
» Leave UAC on

If you have previously turned UAC off or switched it to operate in the quiet mode, you can use this option to restore the original behavior of UAC.

Note that if you turn UAC off or switch it to operate in the “quiet” mode, Vista starts displaying a warning message in its taskbar. You can turn that message off, though: double-click on the shield icon in the taskbar to open Windows Security Center. Then click on the “Change the way Security Center alerts me” link, in the left panel. Finally, choose one of the “Don’t notify me” options.

Note also that if you have used the Local Security Policy tool of Windows Vista to change the advanced configuration options of UAC, they will not be affected by TweakUAC; you would have to use the Local Security Policy tool to modify them.

Is the “quiet” mode of UAC less secure?

If you’ve used TweakUAC, you’ve seen the “quiet” option it offers that lets you suppress the elevation prompts of UAC without turning the UAC off completely. In such a mode, you keep all the positive effects of UAC, such as Internet Explorer operating in the protected mode, applications starting without the administrative privileges by default, etc. The only thing that gets changed is that you will no longer see the infamous “Windows needs your permission to continue” messages whenever you attempt to make a change to your Vista configuration, or when you run a program that needs administrative rights.

However, reading what other people wrote about TweakUAC in their articles and blogs, I often see comments suggesting that using TweakUAC to operate UAC in the “quiet” mode makes your system less secure. Such comments show that there is a lot of confusion about how UAC works and what it is protecting the system from. Let me try to clarify it a bit here.

I can see how the confusion may occur: whenever someone is presented with the “Windows needs your permission to continue” message, it creates the impression that UAC is looking after the user, and protects the vital system settings from being destroyed or corrupted. The user is probably thinking, “If a virus or spyware gets into my system and attempts to do something dangerous, UAC will alert me, right?” Wrong.

There is only one single “moment of truth” when it comes to malware getting unlimited access to your system, and it occurs when you attempt to run a program you have downloaded from an unknown web site:

Vista warns you about it no matter whether UAC is in the quiet mode or not, it warns you even if the UAC is turned off, and even if you don’t run Vista at all: a similar message is shown by Windows XP with the latest service pack installed on it. What many users don’t realize is that if they allow the program to run just once with the full administrative privileges, it becomes the “point of no return”: from that moment on the software is free to do whatever it wants to the computer and no UAC messages will be displayed anymore about that particular software or any changes it makes to your system, even if UAC is fully enabled. The software can quietly install a keyboard hook to intercept your passwords, it can get full access to your files and documents (even if you keep them encrypted with the EFS system or Bit Locker), it can install itself to autostart automatically with full administrative rights every time you log on to Vista, and again, Vista UAC will NOT tell you anything about any of the bad things such software can do.

So what is the point of the “Windows needs your permission to continue” messages then, if they don’t protect you from the malware, you might ask? They are there to protect you from yourself. They are there to alert you that you are about to make some change that may have more or less significant effect on the system. They are like those “Are you sure you really want to delete this file” messages, to keep you from inadvertently deleting a file by hitting the Del key accidentally (although even such messages are not necessary if you have the Recycle Bin set up to keep the deleted files without actually deleting them from the hard disk).

Is it dangerous to use the “quiet” mode of UAC then? It’s only dangerous if you consider yourself as one of the potential damaging factors and want to get an extra warning when you are about to do something potentially dangerous. (Yes, ignorance is always dangerous, not just when it comes to computers). However, if you are an experienced user and have some understanding of how to manage your Windows settings properly, you can safely use the quiet mode of UAC.

Download

TweakUAC does NOT require installation, the file is immediately available for use right after you download it.

To download TweakUAC, click this link: Download TweakUAC

(The file is very small, it should take no more than a few seconds to download it, even if you are on a dial-up connection).

Windows should ask you whether you want to run the file or save it to the disk:

You can click on Run to run TweakUAC directly, without saving it to your hard drive. In this case, if you need to run TweakUAC again, you would need to come back to this web page and download and run it again.

If you do not want to open this web page every time you want to run TweakUAC, choose Save to save a copy of the downloaded file to your hard disk. Then, whenever you want to run TweakUAC, run the saved file directly from your hard disk.

In either case, you should see the following message displayed by Windows:

This message indicates that TweakUAC file contains a proper digital signature and has not been modified since we have created it. However, if you see a message that states that Publisher could not be verified, then DO NOT RUN this file and contact us immediately! Such a message would indicate that the file was either modified without our authorization, or corrupted during the download. In either case, running the file is not safe!

After you’ve verified that the proper message (A programs needs your permission to continue) is displayed, click on Continue to run TweakUAC.

When you run TweakUAC for the first time, it asks you to confirm that you have read, understood, and accepted all terms of its End User License Agreement:

Read the license and, if you accept its terms, check the box on this window. At this point TweakUAC is ready to use!

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