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VISTA anti-spy ?

E

Eric62

Senior member
For 6 years while using Win XP Pro I always had a program called XP-AntiSpy v3 installed. It kept certain Windows annoyances under control.

I just installed Vista for the first time, and would love to find a similar freeware program to control Vista.
Are there any such programs out there?
 
Thanks, but I'm looking for something that keeps Vista itself from mischief, i.e. disabling the constant user prompts. So far that's the biggest annoyance, but as a one day user (so far) I'm sure there's more.
Anybody that has ever used XP anti-spy will know what I'm talking about.
 
I never really used anything like that for Windows. In XP I used to manually disable balloon tips, and the notification of new program installation, but that's about it. In Vista I've disabled UAC, and the security center, and I'm harassment free..
 
Originally posted by: Eric62
Thanks, but I'm looking for something that keeps Vista itself from mischief, i.e. disabling the constant user prompts. So far that's the biggest annoyance, but as a one day user (so far) I'm sure there's more.
Anybody that has ever used XP anti-spy will know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...


Be aware that disabling UAC not only reduces security, but eliminates some functionality enhancements that help older software cope on Vista. I don't recommend disabling UAC. Give it a few days. I never see a UAC prompt unless it's something that should be getting questioned (e.g. changing my DNS servers' IP addresses).

If you're running into constant UAC challenges when messing with extra hard drives that are children of your WinXP installation, you need to address the root of the problem, probably by giving ownership of the files/folders to your Users group in your Vista installation.
 
what about certain programs? For example, every time I start BF2, COD4, vent, or some other programs, I get the UAC prompt. Is there any way around that?
 
Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
what about certain programs? For example, every time I start BF2, COD4, vent, or some other programs, I get the UAC prompt. Is there any way around that?
Click to expand...

If the software require admin privileges to run properly, then the answer is no. I know for a fact that Ventrilo requires admin privileges to run properly.
 
Originally posted by: soonerproud
Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
what about certain programs? For example, every time I start BF2, COD4, vent, or some other programs, I get the UAC prompt. Is there any way around that?
Click to expand...

If the software require admin privileges to run properly, then the answer is no. I know for a fact that Ventrilo requires admin privileges to run properly.
Click to expand...

I've been running Ventrilo on Vista Ultimate 64-bit without admin privileges 🙂
 
Hmm. Re-reading this thread. . . I've never had a UAC prompt for any game on Vista 64. UAC prompts to load CoD4? Can't say I've seen that happen. Are you installing the programs in some kind of weird way?
 
When I want to move a file I have to click one admin permission pop up, and another windows permission pop up - for every file.
I have 3 hard drives. XP was installed on one while it was the only one connect. Vista was installed on another hard drive while it was the only one connected, then I added a third.
I shouldn't need any confirmation pop ups to move a simple file.

I'll try disabling UAC, and see what happens. Thanks all...
 
That's a permissions issue due to the files not belonging to the Vista install. Do you have differing usernames/passwords on the different installs? That can be messy with multiple boot systems.
 
Originally posted by: Eric62
When I want to move a file I have to click one admin permission pop up, and another windows permission pop up - for every file.
I have 3 hard drives. XP was installed on one while it was the only one connect. Vista was installed on another hard drive while it was the only one connected, then I added a third.
I shouldn't need any confirmation pop ups to move a simple file.

I'll try disabling UAC, and see what happens. Thanks all...
Click to expand...

Wow, you'd disable UAC rather than actually fixing the underlying problem (NTFS permissions/ownership). Well, whatever dude :beer:

 
[/quote]

Wow, you'd disable UAC rather than actually fixing the underlying problem (NTFS permissions/ownership). Well, whatever dude :beer:

[/quote]
As a second day user of Vista I'm happy to be able to access all my files on all 3 hard drives with both of my OS's.
Disabling the UAC has eliminated my #1 Vista annoyance. Thanks to those who suggested it.
Hopefully someday I'll be savvy enough to understand how constantly clicking user prompts to perform simple tasks increases security on a single user PC ???
BTW: PC World (MAY'08 page 109) suggests disabling the UAC to increase productivity.
Cheers all 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Eric62


As a second day user of Vista I'm happy to be able to access all my files on all 3 hard drives with both of my OS's.
Disabling the UAC has eliminated my #1 Vista annoyance. Thanks to those who suggested it.
Hopefully someday I'll be savvy enough to understand how constantly clicking user prompts to perform simple tasks increases security on a single user PC ???
BTW: PC World (MAY'08 page 109) suggests disabling the UAC to increase productivity.
Cheers all 🙂
Click to expand...

Speaking for myself, when I had the same situation happen on my dual-boot system, I simply gave the necessary NTFS permissions and got it over with. If you're interested in trying that, just right-click what you want to change permissions on and choose Properties > Security > Edit button. Not very difficult, in my opinion 🙂

You asked how the "problem" behavior enhances security, but you're sort of asking the wrong question. If you were running WinXP, Win2000 or WinNT as a non-Admin, and you tried to play with files that your user account doesn't have privileges on, you wouldn't even get the UAC prompt, you'd just get ACCESS IS DENIED. It's an NTFS "problem" you're up against, namely that Win2000/XP/Vista/NT won't just hand over the keys to a user account that doesn't have permissions to something. Vista is merely the first Windows that doesn't make your Explorer session an Admin-level process by default, thus bringing to light the fact that your Users group needs to be given permissions on that stuff.

Sorry if that's not the simplest thing in the world to comprehend, but the bottom line is that processes running at lower-than-Admin privilege level should not be able to just go around doing whatever they want. That would be a security disaster if they could. Since you have Admin rights, just give your Users group a Full Control permission to whatever you want, and be done with it.

If you prefer to run with UAC disabled, then it would be an especially good idea to be on top of your security game. tips for you and if you aren't ready to run a non-Admin account (which evidently you aren't), still have a look at the hardware Data Execution Prevention, the Secunia Personal Software Inspector, and the AutoPlay control.
 
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