Anything that is security measures for operating systems is always well received. Nowadays it is very easy to get infected while using the computer and jeopardize all our security. Therefore, in addition to a good antivirus, we also have to take care of everything we run on the computer. Especially everything that runs with Administrator permissions. And therefore, to help us keep a watch on our PC and to be able to use it safely, Windows has long offered us a security function called ” User Account Control “, or UAC.
There are many users who tend to have user account control disabled for convenience, so that notices do not bother them. However, this is one of the worst decisions we can make. The UAC helps us avoid running programs that, given their activity, make dangerous changes to the PC. And therefore we should try to make it always on.
What is User Account Control
Windows UAC is a security measure that was released in Windows Vista, and that started to really annoy users since the arrival of Windows 7. What this security measure does is to control the programs that run on the PC to prevent them from making unauthorized changes to the system.
This user account control can detect a large number of activities that can be dangerous for our PC and, therefore, will jump the confirmation screen. Some of the main ones are:
- Programs that are trying to run as administrator.
- Attempts to make changes to the Windows registry.
- Installers or programs trying to make changes to the Windows directory or Program Files.
- Changes in user or folder permissions.
- Changes in Windows security functions (Firewall, Antivirus, UAC, etc).
- Create or delete users.
- Schedule tasks.
- Restore or modify system files.
- Install drivers or other drivers.
The only thing UAC does is block the execution of these programs by default, showing the user a window like the following. In it we can see the name of the program we are trying to run, the editor that has formed it and the origin of the program.
If everything is correct, simply by clicking on “Yes” we can continue using the program, without further impediments. In case something does not fit, we can click on “No” to block the execution of said file. If we are administrators we will not have to do anything else. But if we are users with a limited level of privileges we will have to enter the credentials of an Administrator account to inherit the permissions and be able to continue.
Security levels
Within the UAC configuration we will be able to find various levels of security. These levels will allow us to configure the degree of protection we want for our PC and at the same time find a balance with the warnings it shows us.
From least secure to most secure, these levels of protection are:
- Never notify me : UAC disabled. It will not warn us when programs try to install in the operating system or make changes in Windows. This option is not recommended.
- Notify me only when an application tries to make changes to the computer (do not dim the desktop) : it is the same as the following option, with the difference that the desktop is not dimmed, so the warning may go unnoticed.
- Notify me only when an application tries to make changes on the computer : It notifies us when programs try to make changes on the computer, but not when they try to change the configuration. This is the recommended method for normal PC use.
- Always notify me : The user control window will appear whenever we try to install something or any program tries to make changes to the configuration of the equipment. It is the highest level of UAC security and is recommended when installing new software and visiting unknown websites. It is the one that is activated by default.
Completely disable or reduce warnings
If we are going to be careful with everything we run on our computer, we may not need to have UAC activated . To deactivate the control of user accounts in Windows 10, what we must do is search for “UAC” in the Windows 10 search box and, from there, we can open the corresponding configuration panel to adjust this parameter.
We open the user account control settings and we will see a very simple window like the following.
All we have to do is adjust the slider to any of the 4 levels of protection that the program offers us according to the notifications we want to see. If we choose the “Never notify me” option, we will be disabling user account control. And if we choose any of the other levels we will be reducing the notices.
Once we have chosen the level of protection we want, the next thing to do is click on the “Accept” button.
Secret UAC levels
Windows 10 allows us to control this security measure easily as we have just seen. However, the operating system has 10 hidden settings that allow us to have much more control over this security measure and the notifications that come.
These new settings are hidden in Windows, and are found within the local group policy editor . Therefore, they can only be modified by Windows 10 Pro users.
To do this, the first thing we will do is type in the Windows 10 search bar “gpedit.msc” to open the editor, and once inside we move to the following directory:
Configuración del Equipo > Configuración de Windows > Configuración de seguridad > Directivas locales > Opciones de seguridad
Here we will find these new user account control policies.
We can see the name of each of the directives and, to the right, the current state of each one of them. And if we double-click, we can open a window from which we can activate or deactivate its operation, as well as see a detailed description of what each directive does.
As always, Group Policy contains very advanced settings for expert users. If we do not know what we are doing, it is better not to change anything.
Deactivate for a specific program
If what we want is that this window does not appear every time we run a program, but only deactivate it for a specific program, we can also do it. And, for this, the only thing that we are going to need is the Windows task scheduler .
To open the task scheduler, press the keyboard shortcut Windows + R to open the run window, and write in it the command “control schedtasks”.
Next, what we should do is create a new task. To do this, in the right panel, we will click on the “Create task” option that appears.
Now we will see a new window from which we are going to configure the new task that we are going to create. To do this, we will follow the following steps:
- In the “General” tab we must choose the name of the task and check the box “Run with higher privileges”.
- In the “Actions” tab we will create a new one. This new action will be of the type “Start a program”, and we will have to choose in the box that appears the path to the executable that we want to execute. We accept the changes and voila.
We already have the new task created. Now, if we right click on it and choose the “Run” option , it will run the program that we have specified, and it will do so without displaying any UAC windows and with administrator permissions.
We can create a shortcut to open this program more easily without UAC. To do this, we will right-click on the desktop and choose “New> Shortcut”. And the command that we must enter for this shortcut will be:
SCHTASKS/Run /TN "nombre de la tarea"
Ready. Now we can double click on this new shortcut to open the program avoiding the account control window, but without having to deactivate UAC.