How in the Tech

Prevent UAC from dimming the screen

By Adam Myers ⋅ February 1, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Annoyances, Security

User Access Control, or UAC, is a security feature introduced by Microsoft in Windows Vista and exists today in Windows 7. By now you’ve probably heard all about it, but if you haven’t, you can think of it as your watchful mother looking over your every move – only this time on the computer. Simply, any time you perform an action that could potential harm your computer, i.e. installing a new application, or any administrative-like function, Windows prompts you with a Do you want to …. dialog. Just like mother who is always looking out in your best interest, Microsoft is doing the same. Usually it’s brushed off as being overbearing and protective, but yet it can be a true lifesaver, or computer-saver, once or twice in your lifetime.

The problem for the user who wants to keep the helpful UAC advice, and I strongly suggest you do, that, just like mother, it can be highly annoying when your barraged with prompts when you already know what you are doing. You see, UAC isn’t a normal dialog window you can ignore, rather it dims the entire desktop and forces you to deal with the window immediately. On one hand it can be looked as part of the entire security premise – but advanced computer users typically don’t need this extra layer. If you find this equally frustrating I urge you not to disable UAC completely but rather dial back the level of notification, which is easily accomplish under the UAC Settings.

1. Under Windows 7 Start Search find the User Account Control Settings by typing uac.



2. By default, the slider is set to the 2/3 mark point.



3. To disable the dim, adjust the slider down one notch to 1/3. You should see the window now read Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim desktop).



4. Click OK and acknowledge your last dimmed UAC dialog.