UAC Blink

[Guest]

I've read a lot about this and have some burning questions. When UAC is
turned on, it asks me before doing things like installing applications if I'm
in fact the one trying to do so. Now, I'm using the 64 bit version and have
a Radeon 9800 pro with the latest drivers. My screen actually blinks on and
off, which is bizarre.

Asking around to people that I know, their screens simply dim. Is there a
reason why mine is blinking instead of simply dimming? I ended up just
turning off UAC, but was wondering if there is a workaround.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dustin Harper]

I think it depends on the monitor. At first, I thought it was only CRT's
that did the "degauss" type switch, but it only happens on my home
monitor and not my work monitor. Same drivers, different monitor. I'm
thinking it may be from the monitor being able to handle the different
refresh rate or something that UAC throws at it.

Dustin Harper
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.vistarip.com

 

[Dale]

Probably a driver issue. As I understand it, when the screen dims, you're
actually changing to an administrative desktop for responding to the UAC
prompt. It is just translucent so you can see your desktop behind it.
Apparently with your x64 drivers, that switch is causing the screen to blink
on and off.

I certainly wouldn't turn off UAC as a response to that. After all, how
often, once your Vista PC is set up, will you be installing applications?

Dale

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Probably a driver issue. As I understand it, when the screen dims, you're
actually changing to an administrative desktop for responding to the UAC
prompt. It is just translucent so you can see your desktop behind it.
Apparently with your x64 drivers, that switch is causing the screen to
blink on and off.

I certainly wouldn't turn off UAC as a response to that. After all, how
often, once your Vista PC is set up, will you be installing applications?

Dale

I don't believe that for a second, Dale. Why? Because I am ALWAYS in an
Administrative mode, yet mine also blinks when UAC demands my response.

Why couldn't Microsoft have made elevating privileges as simple as OS X
does? All it does is open a console and ask for an Administrative password.

Microsoft really went overboard with their. From one end of the Pendulum
to the other. I guess Microsoft hasn't heard of "somewhere in the middle".

 

[Daniel E Jameson]

Oh, yeah. Typing a password is much easier than just clicking "OK"!

Windowing user interfaces have the tendency to occasionally pop open windows
in such a way that one gets hidden behind another. If the screen fades
black, I know why my system is hung.

--
Daniel Jameson
·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·
If the man tells you to hate another,
It's not so you can benefit at the expense of the other...
It's so he can benefit at the expense of you!

 

[Gene]

My monitor sometimes blinks when the UAC window comes up. I just got used to
it. It did it in RC1, RC2, and RTM, on my computer, with 2 different
monitors, and 4 different video cards..

I barely even notice it anymore..

 

[MICHAEL]

I don't believe that for a second, Dale. Why? Because I am ALWAYS in an Administrative
mode, yet mine also blinks when UAC demands my response.

Why couldn't Microsoft have made elevating privileges as simple as OS X does? All it does is
open a console and ask for an Administrative password.

Microsoft really went overboard with their. From one end of the Pendulum to the other. I
guess Microsoft hasn't heard of "somewhere in the middle".

Donald,

You can set UAC to prompt only and not do the funky chicken with your
screen (switching to "secure desktop"). It is less secure, but still more
secure than turning UAC completely off.

Type secpol.msc into Start Menu's search bar,
you'll find the setting under Local Policies>Security Options

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6139428-2.html
Switch To The Secure Desktop When Prompting For Elevation: This policy is enabled by default
but will probably be disabled by many administrators who dislike having the desktop go dark
when they're asked for permission to continue an operation. When it's enabled, the desktop can
receive messages only from Windows processes. No other software can interact with it. If you
disable it, the UAC prompt will still be displayed (assuming you haven't disabled it with
previously discussed policies), but it will be displayed on the user's interactive desktop.


http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/05/03/589561.aspx
- User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation
If this policy is set to be “disabledâ€, the elevation prompt goes back to the User Desktop as
it was in the February CTP. Everyone should note, however, that you will be at risk of exposure
from the various attacks I’ve just described should you choose to do this.


More info on User Account Control Windows Vista Policies
http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/01/22/516066.aspx

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Donald,

You can set UAC to prompt only and not do the funky chicken with your
screen (switching to "secure desktop"). It is less secure, but still more
secure than turning UAC completely off.

Type secpol.msc into Start Menu's search bar,
you'll find the setting under Local Policies>Security Options

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6139428-2.html
Switch To The Secure Desktop When Prompting For Elevation: This policy is
enabled by default but will probably be disabled by many administrators who
dislike having the desktop go dark when they're asked for permission to
continue an operation. When it's enabled, the desktop can receive messages
only from Windows processes. No other software can interact with it. If you
disable it, the UAC prompt will still be displayed (assuming you haven't
disabled it with previously discussed policies), but it will be displayed on
the user's interactive desktop.


http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/05/03/589561.aspx
- User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for
elevation
If this policy is set to be “disabledâ€, the elevation prompt goes back to
the User Desktop as it was in the February CTP. Everyone should note,
however, that you will be at risk of exposure from the various attacks I’ve
just described should you choose to do this.


More info on User Account Control Windows Vista Policies
http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/01/22/516066.aspx

Sorry, Mike, this is not available in Vista Home Premium. I searched for it
using Advanced search settings. It's nowhere on the HD.

Donald McDaniel

 

[MICHAEL]

Sorry, Mike, this is not available in Vista Home Premium. I searched for it using Advanced
search settings. It's nowhere on the HD.

Donald McDaniel

Sorry, Donald. You are correct, that's only in Business and Ultimate.

Try this... borrowed from another poster in this group;

..... if you don't have Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can achieve
the same by changing the value of

PromptOnSecureDesktop

at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

from 1 to 0


-Michael