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Chapter 3: Fine-Tuning Windows Vista’s Appearance and Performance

Understanding User Account Control and Its Impact on

Performance

User Account Control (UAC) is a collection of features designed to improve your

computer’s security and better protect it from malicious programs. UAC fundamen-

tally changes the way Windows Vista works.

User Accounts and Permissions

Windows Vista has two general types of user accounts:

• Standard user accounts

• Administrator user accounts

As we’ll discuss in Chapter 18, standard users can perform any general computing

tasks, such as starting programs, opening documents, and creating folders, as well as

any support tasks that do not affect other users or the security of the computer.

Administrators, on the other hand, have complete access to the computer and can

make changes that affect other users and the security of the computer.

Unlike earlier releases of Windows, Windows Vista makes it easy to determine

which tasks standard users can perform and which tasks administrators can per-

form. You may have noticed the multicolored shield icon, shown in Figure 3-3, next

to certain options in Windows Vista’s windows, wizards, and dialog boxes. This is

the Permissions icon. It indicates that the related option requires administrator per-

missions to run.

Permission and Consent Prompting

In Windows Vista, regardless of whether you are logged on as a standard user or as

an administrator, you see a UAC prompt whenever you attempt to perform a task

that requires administrator permissions. The way the prompt works depends on

whether you are logged on with a standard user account or with an Administrator

account.

If you are logged on with a standard user account, you are prompted to provide

administrator credentials, as explained here and shown in Figure 3-4:

Figure 3-3. The Permissions icon, which indicates that the related option requires administrator

permissions to run

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• At home, the prompt lists each local computer Administrator account by name.

To proceed, you must click an account, type the account’s password, and then

click OK.

• At the office, the prompt shows the logon domain and provides username and

password boxes. To proceed, you must enter the name of an Administrator

account, type the account’s password, and then click OK.

Figure 3-4. Providing the required credentials