Selective Notifications from Security Center

[Alton Davis]

I have a laptop with Vista Home Premium which I use primarily for a writing
class, Powerpoint presentations, and writing minutes at meetings -- most of
the time it's not connected to the internet. I've disabled UAC to eliminate
some of the endless clicking and Automatic updates since I only want to do
those every couple of weeks on my own schedule. I've also turned off
Security Center. I would like to turn it back on only without UAC and
Automatic updates. Is it possible to do this?
Thanks,
Al

 

[Charlie42]

I have a laptop with Vista Home Premium which I use primarily for a
writing class, Powerpoint presentations, and writing minutes at meetings
-- most of the time it's not connected to the internet. I've disabled
UAC to eliminate some of the endless clicking and Automatic updates
since I only want to do those every couple of weeks on my own schedule.
I've also turned off Security Center. I would like to turn it back on
only without UAC and Automatic updates. Is it possible to do this?

It all is, here's how:

Turn Security Center service on/off:
In Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Administrative Tools >
Services, start/stop the Security Center service (may require you to run
as administrator, and may require a restart).

Turn Security Center notifications on/off:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/505b90c8-a120-403c-a
4bb-47e5d2c64af61033.mspx

Turn automatic updates on/off:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/61fb9ef2-03c9-4a03-9
b78-95bed6e508331033.mspx

Turn UAC on/off:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/58b3b879-924d-4e08-9
358-c316055d3eae1033.mspx

Keep in mind that turning UAC off for convenience sake really isn't
recommended, you should read some of the other posts in this newsgroup
about it. Neither is turning off automatic updates (or virus updates for
that matter), but if you just work offline it's not that big a deal.
Another option for you, would be to set automatic updates to "Look for
updates, but ask about downloading them". You should run updates
immediately after you go back online.

Charlie42

 

[Alton Davis]

Thanks for your reply. What I wanted to do was leave the security center
running but not get notifications about UAC or automatic updates. In XP you
could turn off notification for firewall, automatic updates, and antivirus
independently of each other. It wasn't an all or none thing.
Al

 

[Charlie42]

Thanks for your reply. What I wanted to do was leave the security
center running but not get notifications about UAC or automatic
updates. In XP you could turn off notification for firewall,
automatic updates, and antivirus independently of each other. It
wasn't an all or none thing.

I'm not quite sure if I get you right, but it isn't "all or nothing" in
Vista either. Once you get Security Center up and running, you will be
able to tweak both firewall, updates and UAC settings independently the
way you want. Just follow the Microsoft Help links I posted.

I made a remark towards the end of my previous post about leaving the
features on - but that doesn't mean it's impossible to turn some of them
off. I just don't think it's a good idea. Still it is for you to decide.

Charlie42

 

[Alton Davis]

Perhaps it's different in different versions of Vista, but the only options
I have in Security Center are:
Yes, notify me and display the icon
Don't notify me but display the icon
Don't notify me and don't display the icon

I see no way to notify and display the icon for everything except UAC and
automatic updates
Am I missing something?
Al

 

[Charlie42]

Perhaps it's different in different versions of Vista, but the only
options I have in Security Center are:
Yes, notify me and display the icon
Don't notify me but display the icon
Don't notify me and don't display the icon

I see no way to notify and display the icon for everything except UAC and
automatic updates

Thank you for clarifying, now we're (hopefully) on the same page. I
understand you're not out to enable/disable Security Center on your
computer, just the way it alerts you.

You're right, you can't select individual notification settings for
updates, firewall etc. I suggest you select the "Don't notify me, but
display the icon" option instead. It's less intrusive than the pop up
balloons, and as long as you know why it's there in the system tray, you
can ignore for most of the time. Just remember to check the status of
Windows and virus updates when you've been online for a while.

Charlie42