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What is User Account Control or UAC?
User Account Control or just UAC is a component of the Windows OS security system. It can be found on all of the latest and previous iterations of the Windows operating system including Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.
What Does User Account Control or UAC Do?
UAC is a vital part of the Windows OS security system that stops software/apps from making unauthorized changes on your laptop or desktop. If you install any software and the software attempts to implement some modifications to the Registry or the file system, Windows 10 promptly display a UAC confirmation dialog. The dialog or confirmation window asks the user to confirm he or she wants to make those changes. Therefore, UAC allows users a security environment for their user accounts with limited access rights and only provides full access rights when necessary for a particular process.
How to Turn Off/Disable UAC on Windows 10 – Step by Step
- In Windows 10, 8 or 7, click the “Start” button and type, “uac” into the search box. Click the “Change User Account Control settings” on the results page. On Windows 8, you need to go to “Start screen” as there is no “Start menu”. There you will need to change your search to “settings” and the rest is the same.
- In the “User Account Control Settings” window, you will see the sliders.
- To shut down UAC, pull down the slider down to the “Never notify” option and click OK.
How to Turn on UAC on Windows 10?
- Step 1: To turn on UAC, bring the slider up to the security level you want or up to “Always notify”
- Step 2: Click OK. And that’s it.
What Do the Various UAC Options Mean?
In case you want to know more about the settings that are presented with the slider, here they are:
- Always notify: In this option, Windows asks you to verify via UAC whenever a software or an app is trying to install or makes modifications to your computer. The “Always notify” also asks for verification if you want to make any changes to Windows settings.
- Notify only about apps: This option is displayed when you drag the slider in the middle and asks you only when the software or app is trying to make changes. However, it doesn’t appear when making changes to Windows settings. So what’s the difference between the two settings? The difference is the first one dims your screen when the notification is displayed whilst the second one doesn’t show anything.
- Never notify: This setting disables UAC. By turning off UAC, Windows will not notify you about changes you make by installing apps/software or any changes made by the apps.
Why You Should Keep UAC Enabled on Your PC?
We recommend users to always keep UAC enabled on their Windows 10 devices and not to turn off/disable it. Not having UAC-enabled makes your computer susceptible to dangerous apps, malware, and viruses that can silently infect or compromise the security of your PC if it is disabled. Keeping UAC enabled will also prevent anybody from doing anything malicious on your PC. So, don’t disable UAC on your PC or otherwise you’ll end up with a less secure PC.