In Windows Vista RC1, Microsoft made significant progress in responding to tester complaints regarding its User Account Control (UAC). The security feature, which stops a user from continuing with a task until either a dialog box is answered (in Administrator mode) or permission is obtained from an administrator (user mode), received much attention in popular media outlets. As a security editor, I didn't find it all that intrusive, much like running a personal firewall on your system. In fact, the more you use Vista, the fewer the instances of UAC would appear. Nonetheless, Microsoft has decided to scale back the features requiring UAC in the latest release. In RC1, the following instances are where UAC will not interrupt you: an administrator can delete a shortcut from a desktop without a prompt; a user can copy files to newly formatted hard drives; nonadministrators can manually install high-priority security updates from Microsoft without a prompt; users can view firewall settings and connect to a network. It also is absent when Windows Defenders requires a signature file update, when you open Scanner and Camera control panels, and when executing a Media Center "express" setup.

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