After 10+ years using UAC without it ever saving me from malware (literally not even once did I have to click "No" for a prompt), I decided to disable it. I play lots of games and half of them ask for elevation on startup, which is annoying when I use a controller.Convince me on why this is a bad idea, or reassure me that it was a good idea.
>Convince me on why this is a bad idea, or reassure me that it was a good idea.
Using Windows in 2026 overall is becoming a pretty bad idea.
Just don't download from freegames.xi.ru
>>107773867>half of them ask for elevation on startupLegit non-pirate games never ask for elevation. Guess why.
>>107774147Yes they do. What motivated me to do this is launching Star Wars Outlaws on Steam and Ubisoft's shitty launcher wanted elevation. It's not like it was updating itself, I had already launched that game twice today, it always asks for that.But I do also pirate games. So fucking what if I want to run them without going through UAC?
>>107773892fpbp /threadSure UAC is retarded but so is OP.
>>107773867UAC is shit for protecting you from malware anyway. If you run an .exe with your normal user token, all your data is already at the mercy of the developer. Who really cares that UAC lets them create privileged services, install (signed) drivers or write to privileged locations. The damage is already done when you click a malicious .exe, giving it admin privileges doesn't make it much worse unless you really are in a multi user system.
>>107773867I've been running without it and other security things disabled for at least a decade for performance/convenience. Used to do a semi-annual virus scan by booting into a live environment, but nothing ever came up and I stopped using my gaming machine for anything moderately risky, so I don't even bother with that anymore.IMHO if you aren't running shady executables there's not much point. User data is the most concerning target, and UAC doesn't do anything to protect against that. On the other hand, if you had to make this thread instead of figuring it out for yourself, perhaps you would be best to leave it on.
>>107773867UAC is the textbook example of a solution looking for a problem. Microsoft literally introduced it after they caved in to that retarded Apple commercial.As much as I hate Microsoft, one of the primary reasons Windows was so bad with malware is that it ran everything with administrator privileges by default.
>>107773867Your image disproves your entire premise.
>>107775724>IMHO if you aren't running shady executables there's not much pointEven if you are, if you intend to run it, aren't you going to give it elevated access and click "Yes" if it asks anyway? I don't see a scenario where I'd be so opinionated on what the software I use at home does so as to go "huh this software shouldn't need elevated access to do what it does, I won't give it that privilege and I will complain to the dev", I only see point in this if you are a system admin in a corporate environment.Because people click "Yes" on any UAC prompt the devs don't feel the need to optimize that. Like OP said many popular steam games ask for elevation. This is also common with anticheat software.The only situation I see UAC working for the conventional Windows user is if malware is somehow loaded into your machine without your knowledge and then it tries to run with a very suspicious signature like "virus.exe". Though surely such an intricate malware with a day 0 exploit could at least be clever enough to disguise itself as something like "intel updater".
>>107775956>>107775763UAC became a joke from windows 7 onwards, you can spoof it by hooking processes capable of silent elevation, which there are several, everyone and their mother will create a service to be always running and have admin privileges, this is how software like Steam manages to work without annoying peopleVista was the only truly good UAC but Microsoft killed it because it was annoying people by asking for permission all the time
>>107773867ever since i first installed windows vista the first thing i do is disable uac>>107776195it was always a fucking joke and malware itself
>>107775956>Even if you are, if you intend to run it, aren't you going to give it elevated access and click "Yes" if it asks anyway?In most cases, probably, sure. There's probably some population though that is just smart enough though to take pause and reconsider when their youtube downloader asks for admin privileges, however.Largely though, yeah, you try to run something, you get a pop up, you click yes, same as literally every other security measure these geniuses come up with.>Website you want to go to has untrusted certificate!click okay>Push notification for logging in!click okay>etc.
>>107776501UAC is the worst offender because everyone and their mother asks for elevation all the time. At least untrusted certificates seldom show up, so when that happens people have more patience to stop and analyze the situation.Mac and Linux benefit from a culture of software that traditionally won't require elevation outside of when it plausibly needs to. Windows does not have that and UAC is pointless without it
>>107773867100% of problems are caused by the user.
>>107773867UAC doesn't work unless you make an user account. The default is some sort of a fake admin acount.
>>107775763i would assume uac was for retard mode with file extensions turned off
>>107773951What happens there?
>>107773867>I play lots of games and half of them ask for elevation on startupStop installing games into Program Files.
>>107780522Where should I be installing them
Things like UAC and Sudo are security theater. They prevent you from getting admin permissions but think about it. What's the fucking point? All your data, all your browser cookies, browser passwords, all your bitcoin wallets are stored as normal files in your user profile folder. You can keylog and screen record without admin permissions.The security model on PCs is just: don't download viruses. If you follow this rule then you will be safe. If you don't follow the rule, then no amount of UAC, sudo, etc. is gonna save you.
>>107781103Make a directory called Games and install them there instead.
>UAC disabled>Defender deactivated (and not using any other antivirus, antivirus only slows your computer constantly scanning for shit)>Updates disabled for past year>crypto wallets everywherenever had any problem, nor any crypto stolen, no account ever stolen, nothing ever hacked
>>107773867I enable full UAC in case some bugman game wants to enable kernel anti cheat or steam asks to install a driver
