Windows Vista, UAC, & Keystroke Recording

[deleyd]

Windows Vista, UAC, & Keystroke Recording

Windows Vista introduced a new security mechanism called User Account Control (UAC). This is the new mechanism that prevents just about everything from running without first asking for your permission (aptly parodied in this Mac commercial.)

UAC also breaks a lot of stuff that it's not entirely obvious will be broken. Multi-Edit keystroke recording is one of them.


Solution #1: Turn off UAC
Many people hate Vista--until they turn off UAC. This solves a whole LOT of problems, and makes Vista a useable operating system again. Programs start working again like they're supposed to, and that annoying message, "Windows needs your permission to continue," no longer shows up. (and I no longer have the urge to heave my Vista laptop out the window as far as I can in disgust, and that huge desire to downgrade my Vista computer to Windows XP is no more.)

To turn off UAC:

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Open User Accounts
3. select "Turn User Account Control on or off"
4. Remove the checkmark from the "turn user account control on/off" section
5. UAC is now disabled.

Don't want to completely disable UAC? See this article at PCWorld.com: Annoyance Buster: Make Vista's User Account Control Work for You: Maintain your PC's protection without the incessant UAC interruptions.


Solution 2:
You can use a free program called DoOver which is a keystroke and mouse recorder. Download it at:

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/#DoOver. There's DoOver.exe & DoOver.ahk . You only need to download the DoOver.exe . This is not an install file; this is the actual program.

Run DoOver.exe

an icon appears in the system tray.

Then:
Left CTRL+F12 - Start & stop recording
Left CTRL+F5 - playback recorded

DoOver is written using the free AutoHotKey Scripting language. AutoHotKey is not required to run DoOver. But you can look at AutoHotKey as a free program with a scripting language. AutoHotKey Macros are plain text files with .AHK file extension.

http://www.autohotkey.com/
http://www.autohotkey.net/

AutoHotKey comes with an AutoScriptWriter (recorder), but there's apparently no documentation on how to use it.

There's also a new Beta replacement for AutoScriptWriter at
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23671


Solution 3:
We're working on rewriting the code so it will work on Vista.


More with Vista:
How to set the start menu back to Windows XP style:
CONTROL PANEL -> TASKBAR AND START MENU -> START MENU(tab) -> Classic Start menu

Associating File Extensions with Programs in Windows Vista
If you have Windows Vista, you're SOL. No, seriously, Vista does not come with a utility to modify file associations the way you can in Windows XP. The only way to do this is to edit the registry directly, or purchase a 3rd party program, such as Creative Element Power Tools (see File Type Doctor, $18), or some similar 3rd party Windows Explorer replacement program such as Directory Opus 9 ($75).

Or you can try the limited functionality Vista does offer:

• Edit File Types in Windows Vista
• OpenWithAdd 1.2 - Supports Windows Vista

Don't like the new look or color of Vista's Aero?
Try Stardock WindowBlinds.


Some fun links:
Mac vs. PC security parody:
http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-security_480x376.mov

Mac vs. PC South Park parody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_kGL3M5Cg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YSfXdPm0kE

[deleyd]

Here is some preliminary information on
Windows Vista File Virtualization
"What this feature does is this: It detects any write access to a file by a user that doesn’t have rights to write to this file. It then makes a copy of the file in the user’s virtual store and happily allows the user to write to the file in the virtualized directory where the user has full rights.

"If the user turns off User Access Control (UAC) or virtualization, the application not only breaks because it still can't write to the protected folders, it also doesn't see the virtualized files any more so data entered by the user appears to be gone." Edit 05/25/2008: I don't think this 2nd ¶ is correct. With UAC off I can write to files under Program Files\..., at least with my Administrator account. Haven't tried it with a Standard User account, and I'm not going to waste time trying it just to see what happens. I've already wasted way too much time trying to get Vista to work. Not going to waste anymore time on that.

--http://doughennig.blogspot.com/2007/05/has-file-been-virtualized.html

Code: Select all

Virtual Store folder location:
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\

File and Registry Virtualization Explained

As described in this chapter's "Control User Account Control" section, Vista's UAC feature is designed to prevent changes to operating system folders like Program Files, as well as protected areas of the Registry. It a program wasn't designed with UAC in mind, it won't request elevation to administrator-level access, and its attempt to, say, write to its own application folder in Program Files will fail.

Microsoft had to come up with a compromise that would allow some of these older programs to work.

That compromise is virtualization, a system that redirects older (legacy, as Microsoft puts it) applications to special, protected areas of your hard disk and Registry. So, if a program with an auto-update feature tries to write tiles to C:\Program Files\Acme Update\newversion.dll, Windows will instead send it to C:\Users\(your_username)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Acme Update\newversion.dll.

Likewise, if a program tries to make a change to the Registry, in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Acme key, the change will be made instead to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\Software\Acme key.

By default, your Program Files and Windows folders, and most of their sub folders, are protected, as well as almost all of the HKEY_ LOCAL_ MACHINE\ Software branch in the Registry. UAC does not protect a user's own folder C:\Users\lyour_username)\, nor does it lock our changes to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software branch of the Registry.

To turn virtualization off, set the User Account Control: Virtualizes file and registry write failures to per-user locations option in the Local Security Policy editor to Disabled. But keep in mind that turning off virtualization won't, in itself, permit older applications to write in these protected areas; instead, it will cause more of your older programs to stop functioning, since Windows will no longer give them a safe place to play.

To see which of your running programs are subject to virtualization, right-click an empty area of your taskbar and select Task Manager. Choose the Processes tab, and then go to View -> Select Columns. Turn on the Virtualization column, and then click OK. Now, in the Processes list, you'll see that some programs-particularly the older ones-have virtualization set to Enabled, as do explorer.exe and iexplore.exe (because of the danger of addons). UAC-aware programs will have virtualization set to Disabled, and programs already running as the administrator will have it set to Not Allowed.

--Windows Vista Annoyances, by David A. Karp. pg. 486

EDIT: Apparently Vista Home Premium doesn't have a Local Security Policy Editor and does not allow you to install the LocalSecurityPolicy snapin in the MMC.

Here’s the registry location where you can change such features in Home Premium:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System