14 DAY TRIAL // A recently-leaked build of Windows 8.1 Update 1 brings several important changes, including some improvements for the built-in User Account Control feature that prevents standard user account from accessing system tools and installing applications.
In Windows 8.1 Update 1, Microsoft is adding password-protection to User Account Control, so every time you wish to install a new program or launch a system utility you need to provide the administrator password.
At this point, it turns out that the password is being required no matter if you own a standard or an admin account and, what’s more, you need to provide it every time you’re trying to perform a task which requires administrator privileges.
While this could be a pretty good addition to Windows’s security arsenal especially if you leave your computer unattended and you’re afraid that someone could make changes to the system configuration, there are a few shortcomings right now which could hopefully be fixed before Update 1 hits the shelves.
For example, you are asked for the admin password every time you’re trying to make system modifications, although it would make more sense to write it down just once for the active session.
At the same time, there are no options in Control Panel right now to disable password-protection and the classic pre-defined user access levels do not allow users to remove the password.
What’s more, basically all users need to input the password, no matter their account type, so both standard users and administrators need to comply with the same requirements, even though it make much more sense to give the latter more control of their settings.
Hopefully, Microsoft will improve this feature before Windows 8.1 Update 1 is released to users, but it’s pretty clear that this is going to be a very helpful change for enhanced security.