Safety in Pop-ups

As a Vista user, you are familiar with pop-up notification, requiring you to approve something your computer would like to do. It might be a nuisance, but you want to stay safe, right?

A product unit manager at Microsoft in charge of designing User Account Control (UAC), the little buggers that keep asking for your permission, said that the purpose of UAC is to “annoy users.” Why, oh why, would Microsoft do such a thing?

David Cross, the manager, claims that the purpose is an attempt to “force” independent software vendors to make their products more secure for a smoother Vista ride. If the coding in their designs is safe, then most likely it won’t set off a trigger. Ultimately, the improvement of security measures on all sides will make for a safer Vista system.

You can turn off your UAC notifications, but Cross indicates that most individuals aren’t doing this—88% of users said they still use the alerts, according to a Microsoft opt-in survey. Do you still use—and actually read—the messages from the UAC without just clicking “yes” or “no”? [ZDNet]