joe zapert

One of the big problems with UAC and the new security model are the amount
of confirmation dialogs generated. This isn't just about user annoyance,
it's about the psychology of asking users for permission. Once you've done
so a very large number of times, for tasks them seem mundane to users, users
will begin to take the dialogs less and less seriously!

This problem is exacerbated by the way UAC is initiated in Explorer, for
example. When a user tries to delete a file, he might have to confirm it
three times in a row! (Yes to Explorer's are-you-sure, Yes to confirm an
elevation request... this will have that little button with the windows
security logo on it, and then Yes on the UAC dialog.) A similar situation
happens in Internet Explorer because of the warning about opening files from
the internet. Also, there are going to be lots and lots of applications that
need elevation to run, so the user will be very used to clicking yes to
this.

Eventually, Joe user who doesn't know how to turn off UAC is going to be
sooo conditioned to click Okay, okay, yes, yes, okay, yes... he's going to
stop reading dialogs!

It would help if Windows would consolodate some of this
multiple-confirms-in-a-row, but I realize they don't because they want to
let the user know something he does is going to bring up the secure desktop.
Personally, I think that is a less important goal than consolodating
confirmations.

jimmy brush

True; however, I believe UAC strikes a good balance. Users will only see UAC
prompts while doing system maintenance. As long as they realize system
maintenance = prompts, not-system-maintenance = no prompts, they are good to
go.

The only apps that need elevation to run are admin utilities or poorly


sort of administrative tasks. Users should eventually realize and then be
accustomed to prompting whenever they are performing administrative tasks,
and then be wary of click "Continue" when not doing anything administrative.

The number of prompts can indeed be daunting, but it becomes painfully
obvious after use that the prompts ONLY occur when a program is doing
something that could damange the system - this is the important part, and
once users understand that this is what is happening they will be able to
utilize the cancel button when necessary.


Again, I think most users will realize that prompting only occurs when
performing administrative actions, and become accustomed to such prompting.
It would be different if the prompting was random or occured for every
application - but since it only occurs for applications needing
administrative access, it should be easy for the consumer to grasp.


Consolodating confirmations is not possible in the current security model,
as it would open a hole that malware could exploit. I do see alternative
solutions possible, and it will be interesting to see how MS deals with this
in the future.


--
- JB

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/