You do make a good point. But I am not asking UAC to classify actions by threat level. Just classify different actions.
The gist of my suggestion is that the problem with UAC is not exactly "too many of them", but "occur at unexpected points". If I am installing a program, I totally expect a UAC. When a malware is covertly being installed, I am not. User CAN be trained for recognizing this difference. UAC fails not because you are installing too many softwares, but because too many things need priviledge elevation while the user thinks they shouldn't.
But, yes, I see a big problem now. UAC knows one and only one thing: elevating priviledges. So, it cannot classify.
I suggest a bigger overhaul. Elevating priviledges shouldn't be necessary. Common actions (editing registry/creating new directory in install folder/... - they ARE very common) should have APIs to do so. Using such an API will automatically prompt for your password. *Then* you can have different boxes for different APIs. In this way, a user will be trained to mark "yes" to only a small subset of actions, without affecting other actions.
PS: I am not a windows developer so I don't know if it is already the case.
That really is a problem with iTunes! You do run setup.exe with admin priviledges already! If iTunes cannot install with admin privildeges, it should inform the user how to run as admin.
Not to mention that iTunes should rather add a shortcut to Startup folder than adding a RUN key in the registry.
Really! Right now my Startup folder is empty while GoogleTalk, Skype, Freecall, GoogleUpdate - they all are in registry! This is not a problem with Windows, it is a problem with software developers using "rehash the old code" mantra.
Problem: Frequent UACs make clicking "Yes" a habit.
Solution: UACs occur during a number of actions. Thus the solution is to have different UACs have differnt visual cues. From the top of my head, background color and size of the window are two important things.
Result: Suppose you are in habit of clicking yellow UAC every time you visit a website, and now you are in habit of saying yes to them. Next time you visit an infected website resulting in download of a malware and then its execution - which requires admin priviledges. That requires a red UAC, which you have been trained to press no to. (It is easier than it sounds - a very odd box filled with solid color is easy to recognize.)
I remember when I was still learning bicycle. My brother taught me to always look on both sides for incoming four-wheelers before a crossing.
Several days later I was cycling with one of his friends when, near a crossing, he comments, "You are still learning this thing, aren't you?"
On a serious note, traffic in Delhi, for most parts, is much better. I remember a guy who came to Varanasi some 15 years ago to visit his sister, and insisted to drive Maruti 800 by himself. Poor guy ended up killing every one by drowning in Durga Kund. His wife and his baby daughter survived because they were buying something in temple, and hence, were not in the car.
There is only one rule of traffic - there are no rules.
Well not anymore:) Had to use this. Edit wars did the rest:)
I guess the problem, and corresponding success of Wikipedia is that it is, actually, just mirror of life. With so many people, it has turned into something mediocre and on average, reliable.
To me, it means it is not fun anymore:)
PS: Did you find all those cabals which include admins and bureaucrats etc.?
I don't know if you have actually given 18 hours a day to Wikipedia. I have (expert enough:p), and I can tell you right now that Wikipedia already has karmasystem.
Now it is well established in Wikipedia "groupthink" that quality counts more than either. But the crux lies in the question: Who decides the quality?
Come on! No need to troll the guy just because he didn't RTFA:)
"They had already shot that street. Pittsburgh was already done," Kinsley tells us by phone from Iceland, where he now works. "In the end, they were willing to reshoot the area just for us. There wasn't any guarantee that what they shot would go live." But it did: Just Google "Sampsonia Way Pittsburgh," and there they are (though you'll have to scroll around to find all of the scenes).
Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is the fastest browser yet - that is what makes it so annoying when Mozilla team just discontinues or changes some feature in the name of...
Or the fact that Firefox would rather open Nautilus than opening something *I* want -or- just showing me the information of where a file was downloaded.
Firefox is about having a minimalistic UI, and that means cutting things that most of our users don't use.
Because Firefox is minimalistic, it would rather open Nautilus.
Nobody - NOBODY - uses Firefox for minimalism anymore. Even Opera is more minimalistic is than Firefox.
And IE7 is pile of crap how exactly? The reason it is so hated has got nothing to do with its usability, but with the fact that has shitty support for standards and that it is tied with the OS.
I have "optimized" (by running profilers on it) a very VERY good program for molecular simulation. It can do molecular dynamics, monte carlo, gradual insertion and what not...
It is designed to run on super-computers, and the next best contestant (Towhee), which is open source, is no where near it. For a simulation that takes 10 days on Towhee, we take only 3 days.
And it all is proprietary. It was written and maintained by a group of PhD students over many years, and they used to distribute binaries to those who needed them. No source code!
I got the source code in the name of profiling, but actually because they offered a PhD position to me, and I was supposed to work on it.
In short, competitive computer models remain closed source. The theory might be well published, the implementation remains within those who want to publish some-thing before someone else does.
"He also suggests that contributors should be financially rewarded and that the lack of financial reward is the reason why 98.3% of registered Wikipedia users are inactive."
Oh! The writer couldn't be farther from truth. 98.3% of users are inactive because rest of the 1.7% users have formed a self-serving "community", and most people who are contributing in their spare time don't have the energy and will to fight their way inside this community.
On a side note, I heard that most content is generated by anonymous users. So why so stress on registered users?
I would not be surprised if such a suggestion is accepted. Community needs care!:)
I don't know what is more puerile, your reply or that fact that I got aggravated over what some guy said over the internet. On one hand your reply was so naive it didn't deserve a reply, on the other hand, I replied!
But you replied so I will reply back...
Can you quote me where did I advocate anything?
Also, if I kick your butt, and then you become the first person to have next-gen hip transplant, that doesn't change the fact that I kicked your butt.
Tell me, how come UK "own" a land in Palestine?
Nevermind... I am trying to get out of my basement:)
Your comment modded up to +5 is the proof how even selfproclaimed logical geeks are just hypocrites specializing in maths.
I hate this argument, and people who give this argument. I hate when people say to me that India was in medieval age before British came, made most of the rails and taught English, which is why they do have some jobs. I hate those who say Monks were ruling Tibet with iron fist before Chinese came and modernised it.
And hey! Jews didn't move "back". They moved. There was study proving this through genetics, but I am too tired to find a link for it.
You are still not correct. Running 64-bit OS requires 64-bit hardware with internal processor support. That means people, like me, with AMD Mobile Sempron (64 bit) are out of luck because processor doesn't support "AMD-v". On Intel machines, it is called "VT-x".
Well the pun was on your last line. As I said, I have never seriously used OS X, so I won't know particular problems on it, but otherwise, here on Windows and Linux, Opera is much much better when compared to Firefox or IE.
If only some one would port top 10 Firefox extensions to Opera...
Slashdot Mirror
You do make a good point. But I am not asking UAC to classify actions by threat level. Just classify different actions.
The gist of my suggestion is that the problem with UAC is not exactly "too many of them", but "occur at unexpected points". If I am installing a program, I totally expect a UAC. When a malware is covertly being installed, I am not. User CAN be trained for recognizing this difference. UAC fails not because you are installing too many softwares, but because too many things need priviledge elevation while the user thinks they shouldn't.
But, yes, I see a big problem now. UAC knows one and only one thing: elevating priviledges. So, it cannot classify.
I suggest a bigger overhaul. Elevating priviledges shouldn't be necessary. Common actions (editing registry/creating new directory in install folder/... - they ARE very common) should have APIs to do so. Using such an API will automatically prompt for your password. *Then* you can have different boxes for different APIs. In this way, a user will be trained to mark "yes" to only a small subset of actions, without affecting other actions.
PS: I am not a windows developer so I don't know if it is already the case.
It was just an example!
You don't go to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en ?
That really is a problem with iTunes!
You do run setup.exe with admin priviledges already! If iTunes cannot install with admin privildeges, it should inform the user how to run as admin.
Not to mention that iTunes should rather add a shortcut to Startup folder than adding a RUN key in the registry.
Really! Right now my Startup folder is empty while GoogleTalk, Skype, Freecall, GoogleUpdate - they all are in registry! This is not a problem with Windows, it is a problem with software developers using "rehash the old code" mantra.
Ok, I will take a bite.
Problem: Frequent UACs make clicking "Yes" a habit.
Solution: UACs occur during a number of actions. Thus the solution is to have different UACs have differnt visual cues. From the top of my head, background color and size of the window are two important things.
Result: Suppose you are in habit of clicking yellow UAC every time you visit a website, and now you are in habit of saying yes to them. Next time you visit an infected website resulting in download of a malware and then its execution - which requires admin priviledges. That requires a red UAC, which you have been trained to press no to. (It is easier than it sounds - a very odd box filled with solid color is easy to recognize.)
Any comments?
I remember when I was still learning bicycle. My brother taught me to always look on both sides for incoming four-wheelers before a crossing.
Several days later I was cycling with one of his friends when, near a crossing, he comments, "You are still learning this thing, aren't you?"
On a serious note, traffic in Delhi, for most parts, is much better. I remember a guy who came to Varanasi some 15 years ago to visit his sister, and insisted to drive Maruti 800 by himself. Poor guy ended up killing every one by drowning in Durga Kund. His wife and his baby daughter survived because they were buying something in temple, and hence, were not in the car.
There is only one rule of traffic - there are no rules.
No! He isn't :)
I have been using it since 2004, and I love it... it has survived so many drops that I now I just throw it around.
And if you find it frustration, you can throw it at your boss ;)
Well not anymore :) Had to use this. Edit wars did the rest :)
I guess the problem, and corresponding success of Wikipedia is that it is, actually, just mirror of life. With so many people, it has turned into something mediocre and on average, reliable.
To me, it means it is not fun anymore :)
PS: Did you find all those cabals which include admins and bureaucrats etc.?
I don't know if you have actually given 18 hours a day to Wikipedia. I have (expert enough :p), and I can tell you right now that Wikipedia already has karma system.
Now it is well established in Wikipedia "groupthink" that quality counts more than either. But the crux lies in the question: Who decides the quality?
Ferrous - Sherrous! People unable to think above Star Trek - it makes me sick!
What we need is Mega Maid!
Removing a feature for minimality of UI is wrong.
It is not like Firefox 2 was a bloat of UI.
Removing a feature for minimality of UI is wrong.
It is not like the only FF 2 was a bloat of UI.
Come on! No need to troll the guy just because he didn't RTFA :)
Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is the fastest browser yet - that is what makes it so annoying when Mozilla team just discontinues or changes some feature in the name of...
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=456405 ... usability?
Or the fact that Firefox would rather open Nautilus than opening something *I* want -or- just showing me the information of where a file was downloaded.
Any why?
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=431521
Because Firefox is minimalistic, it would rather open Nautilus.
Nobody - NOBODY - uses Firefox for minimalism anymore. Even Opera is more minimalistic is than Firefox.
And IE7 is pile of crap how exactly? The reason it is so hated has got nothing to do with its usability, but with the fact that has shitty support for standards and that it is tied with the OS.
When it comes to job, no one does anything out of good will.
Why do you think communism failed while capitalism succeeded?
I have "optimized" (by running profilers on it) a very VERY good program for molecular simulation. It can do molecular dynamics, monte carlo, gradual insertion and what not...
It is designed to run on super-computers, and the next best contestant (Towhee), which is open source, is no where near it. For a simulation that takes 10 days on Towhee, we take only 3 days.
And it all is proprietary. It was written and maintained by a group of PhD students over many years, and they used to distribute binaries to those who needed them. No source code!
I got the source code in the name of profiling, but actually because they offered a PhD position to me, and I was supposed to work on it.
In short, competitive computer models remain closed source. The theory might be well published, the implementation remains within those who want to publish some-thing before someone else does.
I know this. My ex drew me crazy with this.
Damn bitch!
I wish I had the mod points!
"He also suggests that contributors should be financially rewarded and that the lack of financial reward is the reason why 98.3% of registered Wikipedia users are inactive."
Oh! The writer couldn't be farther from truth. 98.3% of users are inactive because rest of the 1.7% users have formed a self-serving "community", and most people who are contributing in their spare time don't have the energy and will to fight their way inside this community.
On a side note, I heard that most content is generated by anonymous users. So why so stress on registered users?
I would not be surprised if such a suggestion is accepted. Community needs care! :)
I don't know what is more puerile, your reply or that fact that I got aggravated over what some guy said over the internet. On one hand your reply was so naive it didn't deserve a reply, on the other hand, I replied!
But you replied so I will reply back...
Can you quote me where did I advocate anything?
Also, if I kick your butt, and then you become the first person to have next-gen hip transplant, that doesn't change the fact that I kicked your butt.
Tell me, how come UK "own" a land in Palestine?
Nevermind... I am trying to get out of my basement :)
Your comment modded up to +5 is the proof how even selfproclaimed logical geeks are just hypocrites specializing in maths.
I hate this argument, and people who give this argument. I hate when people say to me that India was in medieval age before British came, made most of the rails and taught English, which is why they do have some jobs. I hate those who say Monks were ruling Tibet with iron fist before Chinese came and modernised it.
And hey! Jews didn't move "back". They moved. There was study proving this through genetics, but I am too tired to find a link for it.
Anyway... carry on the beacon of false morality.
You mean, like "Seamless mode" in Virtualbox?
You are still not correct. Running 64-bit OS requires 64-bit hardware with internal processor support. That means people, like me, with AMD Mobile Sempron (64 bit) are out of luck because processor doesn't support "AMD-v". On Intel machines, it is called "VT-x".
You might need to enable it via BIOS first.
Well the pun was on your last line. As I said, I have never seriously used OS X, so I won't know particular problems on it, but otherwise, here on Windows and Linux, Opera is much much better when compared to Firefox or IE.
If only some one would port top 10 Firefox extensions to Opera...
One could, if it were me, would say the same for OS X.
Pun aside, you are using an ALPHA software - it's not even a beta! Believe me it will be better.
- From someone who switched from Firefox 3.1alpha1 today, and who has never seriously used a Mac.