help uninstalling programs

[Leigh Ann]

Hello, and thank you for any help you can give me.

I am the only user of my computer, and thus am the administrator. I'm using
VHP. When I try to add or remove programs, I'm told that I don't have
permission to do so, and to contact my administrator. When I try to log-off
and then log-on as administrator...well, again...I'm the only profile on
this computer and it says I'm the administrator.

I turned off Windows Defender and User Account Control, and then I was able
to uninstall a program. Am I going to have to do that every time I want to
uninstall something?

Thank you for your help.

Leigh Ann

 

[Jdr]

Hello, and thank you for any help you can give me.

I am the only user of my computer, and thus am the administrator. I'm
using VHP. When I try to add or remove programs, I'm told that I don't
have permission to do so, and to contact my administrator. When I try to
log-off and then log-on as administrator...well, again...I'm the only
profile on this computer and it says I'm the administrator.

I turned off Windows Defender and User Account Control, and then I was
able to uninstall a program. Am I going to have to do that every time I
want to uninstall something?

Thank you for your help.

Leigh Ann

When you tried to install any application you'd be prompted
to give "yourself" / administrator a permission to continue ...
and that's all. Then, you just continue with the installation.
You have to do it every time when you install any program.

 

[Leigh Ann]

Right. The major problem came when I was trying to uninstall. It wouldn't
let me until I turned off UAC. Should I have to do that if I'm the
administrator?

Thank you for your help.


When you tried to install any application you'd be prompted
to give "yourself" / administrator a permission to continue ...
and that's all. Then, you just continue with the installation.
You have to do it every time when you install any program.

 

[Adam Albright]

Right. The major problem came when I was trying to uninstall. It wouldn't
let me until I turned off UAC. Should I have to do that if I'm the
administrator?

That's the new paradigm. Applications now are suppose to be written to
run as "standard user" and not have 90% of users running as
administrator. In theory it makes sense, but in practice it can be a
pain in the butt. The reason for most of this is due to Microsoft
itself. They've set up Windows where whoever installs Windows on the
box automatically becomes a user that has full administrative rights,
and few people human nature being what it is will set up a second
standard user account for themselves, thinking somehow they are
demoting themselves if they do.

Worse, Microsoft admits even its own in-house software engineers have
wrote applications to run at least some functions at administrator
level for decades when that practice was totally unnecessary.
Everybody else followed suit, and now you see the attempt to undo the
mess that's been in place for many years.

The fact is while UAC is good in concept, it was implemented poorly.
Even the two principle creators at Microsoft that wrote the code for
it sheepishly admit as much in a 64 minute interview where they were
refreshingly frank about UAC's shortcomings.

 

[Leigh Ann]

So does that mean that whenever I uninstall something, I need to turn UAC
off?


That's the new paradigm. Applications now are suppose to be written to
run as "standard user" and not have 90% of users running as
administrator. In theory it makes sense, but in practice it can be a
pain in the butt. The reason for most of this is due to Microsoft
itself. They've set up Windows where whoever installs Windows on the
box automatically becomes a user that has full administrative rights,
and few people human nature being what it is will set up a second
standard user account for themselves, thinking somehow they are
demoting themselves if they do.

Worse, Microsoft admits even its own in-house software engineers have
wrote applications to run at least some functions at administrator
level for decades when that practice was totally unnecessary.
Everybody else followed suit, and now you see the attempt to undo the
mess that's been in place for many years.

The fact is while UAC is good in concept, it was implemented poorly.
Even the two principle creators at Microsoft that wrote the code for
it sheepishly admit as much in a 64 minute interview where they were
refreshingly frank about UAC's shortcomings.

 

[Adam Albright]

So does that mean that whenever I uninstall something, I need to turn UAC
off?

Don't know, since I haven't uninstalled anything under Vista yet.

 

[Don]

So does that mean that whenever I uninstall something, I need to turn
UAC off?


That's the new paradigm. Applications now are suppose to be written to
run as "standard user" and not have 90% of users running as
administrator. In theory it makes sense, but in practice it can be a
pain in the butt. The reason for most of this is due to Microsoft
itself. They've set up Windows where whoever installs Windows on the
box automatically becomes a user that has full administrative rights,
and few people human nature being what it is will set up a second
standard user account for themselves, thinking somehow they are
demoting themselves if they do.

Worse, Microsoft admits even its own in-house software engineers have
wrote applications to run at least some functions at administrator
level for decades when that practice was totally unnecessary.
Everybody else followed suit, and now you see the attempt to undo the
mess that's been in place for many years.

The fact is while UAC is good in concept, it was implemented poorly.
Even the two principle creators at Microsoft that wrote the code for
it sheepishly admit as much in a 64 minute interview where they were
refreshingly frank about UAC's shortcomings.

I couldn't have explained it better myself ) I'm hanging out here
to try to keep people from blaming those two devels for finally taking
the bull by the horns and doing the right thing at last.

Undoing the decades-long culture of disregard for basic security
practices will not happen quickly -- as they stated. They are stuck
trying to craft workarounds for hundred or thousands of poorly-written
applications which were allowed by previous versions of Windows to
slide by with no complaints.

I raise my glass to those poor slobs who are taking blame instead of
credit for solving really nasty problems!

 

[Don]

So does that mean that whenever I uninstall something, I need to turn
UAC off?

Like Adam, I've not yet tried to uninstall anything in Vista, but
I have a very good feel for the way UAC *should* behave: When you
try to uninstall a program, UAC *should* ask you for the Admin
password (yes, even if you are logged in as Admin!) and then proceed
to do the uninstall.

If that's not what actually happens, then you've discovered a bug
in UAC (which, as Adam said, is not yet perfect). The two devels
in charge of UAC want to know about such bugs because they intend
to fix them.

Now -- how to report a UAC bug......hmm....

 

[Jane C]

FWIW, I have uninstalled a few programs in Vista via the 'Uninstall a
program' in Control Panel without issue.

It would be useful to know how the OP (Leigh Ann) has been trying to
uninstall. From Control Panel, or from a shortcut in Start Menu, or direct
from the program directory?

 

[Adam Albright]

I couldn't have explained it better myself ) I'm hanging out here
to try to keep people from blaming those two devels for finally taking
the bull by the horns and doing the right thing at last.

Undoing the decades-long culture of disregard for basic security
practices will not happen quickly -- as they stated. They are stuck
trying to craft workarounds for hundred or thousands of poorly-written
applications which were allowed by previous versions of Windows to
slide by with no complaints.

I raise my glass to those poor slobs who are taking blame instead of
credit for solving really nasty problems!

You got to feel for those two guys. Maybe they both drew short straws.

 

[Leigh Ann]

No, it didn't ask me for a password. It just denied me the ability to
uninstall a program. It's hard to believe they wouldn't have tested
something that simple.

So does that mean that whenever I uninstall something, I need to turn
UAC off?

Like Adam, I've not yet tried to uninstall anything in Vista, but
I have a very good feel for the way UAC *should* behave: When you
try to uninstall a program, UAC *should* ask you for the Admin
password (yes, even if you are logged in as Admin!) and then proceed
to do the uninstall.

If that's not what actually happens, then you've discovered a bug
in UAC (which, as Adam said, is not yet perfect). The two devels
in charge of UAC want to know about such bugs because they intend
to fix them.

Now -- how to report a UAC bug......hmm....

 

[Leigh Ann]

From the Control Panel under "Programs and Features". Once I turned off
UAC, I was able to uninstall.


FWIW, I have uninstalled a few programs in Vista via the 'Uninstall a
program' in Control Panel without issue.

It would be useful to know how the OP (Leigh Ann) has been trying to
uninstall. From Control Panel, or from a shortcut in Start Menu, or direct
from the program directory?

 

[Don]

From the Control Panel under "Programs and Features". Once I turned off
UAC, I was able to uninstall.

To me that sounds like a genuine bug in UAC -- the kind of problem the
developers of UAC want to know about. I wish I had their office phone
numbers )