I turned off UAC in WIN 7 Pro 64. Will that cause problems?

[uberman]

I have this really cool software, a hotkey, macro program that I used to automate tasks, "QuicKeys." Its made for WIN XP. I couldn't make it work in Win7, so I heard about disabling UAC in the control panel. It works great now.

I did this:
"User Account Control (UAC). Turn it it completely OFF (Control Panel> User Accounts> Change User Account Control Settings> Slider to Never Notify. Then reboot, welcome back QuicKeys."

The description of Never Notify is "Choose this if you need to use programs that are not certified for Windows 7 because they do not support User Account Control (UAC)." Well, I guess QuicKeys must fit that description.

Is disabling UAC going to cause problems?

 

[RampantAndroid]

Why didn't you go into compatibility mode for that program? Or just always elevate it?

 

[Lorne]

Virus will install freely and disable you AV before it gets a chance to tell you there is a problem.

 

[TheRyuu]

You should basically never disable UAC because you want to know when a program requires administrative rights. I would say it's dangerous to disable UAC. I find it hard to believe that there are not other methods in order to get your program to work correctly. What about running it as admin? You can also try running the application as a restricted user[1] which I would try first since it doesn't require running it as an actual admin.

I will always recommend using a separate non-admin account for daily usage as technically UAC is not a security barrier.

[1] https://dandini.wordpress.com/2010/...as-restricted-user-in-windows-7-runasinvoker/

 

[sbpromania]

Sincer Win 7 appeared I've disabled UAC and haven't encountered any major problems.

However more details you can find here: http://www.digitalcitizen.life/uac-why-you-should-never-turn-it-off

 

[Mike64]

Fwiw, I never bothered to disable it since it hasn't really annoyed me since about a week after I first started dealing with it, but on the other hand, in all the many years it's been there, I've also never once had any program I didn't intentionally run trigger it either. (And while I don't download/install totally random stuff from the web, I have installed a fair number of quite a few reasonably verified non-commercial programs and lived to tell the tale...) My takeaway from that is that unless you're downloading and installing really wonky shit (or someone else with access to your computer does or might), you're almost certain to be fine even without it...

PS: And while I can easily deal with UAC, I absolutely cannot deal with using a non-admin account on a regular basis. I know that's a "standard" precaution, but I seriously think it's entirely unnecessary unless you, or someone else using your machine, really just aren't prone to being at all careful (whether due to ignorance or laziness) about what you're doing in general...

 

[sbpromania]

Anyways, it depends on your environment, at work I won't recommend it.

If it's your home computer, you can disable it, why not, increasing your chances to get infected is not such a big deal

 

[therealnickdanger]

I've disabled UAC on every computer I've owned/built and never had malware issues. I also often disable driver signing to use older hardware and adapters that would otherwise not function, even though it leaves Windows in a perpetual b!tch-state.

PEBKAC

 

[balloonshark]

Computer security is all about having multiple layers of security. Running as a standard user and setting UAC to Always Notify adds two more layers that can help keep you safe. Both were the main reasons I looked forward to moving away from Windows XP.