When it asks constantly, yes. Thus rendering it pointless and disabled.

What are you doing for it do be constantly asking you? :/

:D

I'm curious about that myself, my computer doesn't ask me for authorization very often. Most of the time it's a program that I've previously run but haven't bothered to permanently turn the UAC off for that particular program.

But, it's definitely not something that happens frequently enough for me to turn off UAC.

Dammed if I know. This was ages ago. I just generally have a very low tolerance threshold for messages that essentially are asking "do you want to do what you just fucking said you wanted to do?". Same goes for games that pop up Yes / No messages every damn time you try and do anything. If I can turn such things off I will.

That's because a program is exactly supposed to ask you for permissions, not rage throughout your system like back in the XP days.

With UAC off, you're basically saying, 'here, do whatever you want.'.

EDIT: But those requests only happen when you install / uninstall software, I've yet to see a program that wants to run with admin rights...

... unless it is some shitty developer that has 0 knowledge of system-wide folders in Vista / 7 (which freaking pisses me off with indie developers).

I caught one, but I have a GoBack style utility that takes snapshots of my drive state, etc, everytime I shutdown my PC. I simply choose a safe boot and problem gone.

I agree with the OP though. These things really are the most retardedly annoying things ever conceived of.

This seems to be a common ransomware program, I take it off of several computers every month. You probably have it removed by now but I will leave this link to Bleeping Computers fix page anyway. Maybe check your registry entries for the entries listed on this page . . . just to be sure . . . =)

Thank you, Stuff - I do indeed, but that's the page I used. I am so glad you linked that, nice to know I didn't screw stuff up by using their advice. I used their guide last time I had to deal with a virus, I think I love that site now (they seem to idiot-proof their guides, and Lord knows I need that).

About half the fixes I use come from that site.

AdBlock, NoScript, and Flashblock is pretty helpful in avoiding drive by viruses. PDF files should also be avoided unless you really need them, no, using a 3rd party reader may not protect you as much as you think (some have the same exploits in them that Adobe Reader has).

Glad you nailed it, I do recommend the site, having used it for several years. They have not steered me wrong.

The IT departments where my wife works (international corporation) deemed a managers laptop "dead" as none of their facilities could remove a virus . . . (locked down, continuous popups, black desktop, no icons, system restore disabled, exe's could not be run). Lots of irreplaceable data so the manager asked if I would take a look at it. Using a Bleeping Computer fix I had it up and running without any data loss so . . . I feel safe using and recommending their instructions . . . =)

Huh. You never told me that you were Chuck Norris.

lol, Chuck Norris ?? . . . NOT.

I do volunteer work for elderly folks, low income families, friends, friends of friends, all my wife's friends and their friends, workplace problems and all the folks there who need assistance. I try to give back when I can and those that can't afford help or just don't know where to get help seem to be the best place to focus.

PDF files are fine as long as they come from a legitimate source (ex: some online bookstore that sell pdf versions of hard copy books).

In the end, it all boils down to some common sense advise: Don't accept things from web sites you don't trust.

If you really need what the unknown web site offers, do some research on the website and if the research is inconclusive, go get it from another web site you do trust even if it costs money (the integrity of your system has a price tag of its own especially if you do development on it).