Easily Enable or Disable the Registry Editor Using RegistryED

We've managed to create another tool which can be useful in certain scenarios. RegistryED can help you enable or disable your Registry Editor in Windows 7 as well as Windows Vista & Windows XP. This can come in handy when you don't want others to edit your registry or, when a virus infects your computer and disables your Registry Editor. The scenarios are not that common but when you need this kind of tool, it's certainly useful. Therefore, in this article you will find out how this tool works and also receive the download link.
First, download RegistryED using the download link at the bottom of this article. When you run it, don't forget to right click on the file and select 'Run as administrator'. When launched, the tool looks like in the screenshot below. To enable the Registry Editor, click on Enable. If you want to disable it, click on Disable.

We provide this tool as-is, with no warranties. If you encounter other issues with it, let us know via the comments below. We will do our best to fix them.
UPDATES: version 1b includes some small improvements/bug fixes + performance optimizations.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?7qbxoojh1n4i7jg

Read more »

Windows 7 vs. Windows Vista: the UAC Benchmark

One of the most hated features of Windows Vista is the User Account Control, or UAC in short. Many people found it annoying and chose to disable it right away, even if this meant exposing their system to additional security threats. In Windows 7, Microsoft has seriously changed this feature. Now users have a lot more control over it and how it works and it should provide a better user experience. To see how much improvement this means in numbers, I have run a comparison between the default Windows Vista and Windows 7 UAC levels. Let's see which one wins and why.

Benchmark Description: What I Tested

First, I searched for the list of all tasks which require administrative privileges which can trigger an UAC prompt. I started with this list of items which trigger User Account Control prompts from Ed Bott and customized it a bit to be as relevant as possible for both Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
The list of tests I ran is the following:

• Running an application as an Administrator - I ran random applications as an administrator, by right-clicking on their shortcuts and choosing 'Run as administrator'. This is done when you need to use older applications, compatible only with Windows XP, and which need access to system files and settings.
• Changes to files and folders in the Windows and Program Files folders - I tried to edit random system files found in both Windows and Program Files folders. I also tried to create new folders and then delete them.
• Installing applications -I installed several applications, from CD burners to browser plugins and antivirus software.
• Uninstalling applications - I uninstalled the same list of applications used in the installation exercise.
• Installing & uninstalling device drivers - in order to test this, I installed drivers for all the components in my PC and then I uninstalled them.
• Installing ActiveX controls - for this test I used the ActiveX from Nvidia's driver download page.
• Changing settings for Windows Firewall - with Windows Firewall enabled, I customized some of its settings and rules.
• Changing UAC settings - for this test I turned on and off the User Account Control feature.
• Configuring Windows Update Settings - I changed the Windows Update settings.
• Adding or removing user accounts - I created and deleted multiple user accounts, both as standard users and administrators.
• Changing a user’s account type - this test involved changing the type for one of the test accounts from standard to administrator and vice-versa.
• Configuring Parental Controls - for this test I set different Parental Controls rules for different user accounts.
• Running Task Scheduler - this test is pretty weird. In Windows Vista, if you run the Task Scheduler from Start Menu -> Accessories -> System Tools, no UAC prompts are shown. However, if you run it from Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools, you do get an UAC prompt. Therefore I ran the shortcut from the Control Panel in both Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Backup & Restore Files and Settings Using Backup & Restore or Windows Easy Transfer - I used both tools to backup and restore user data and settings.
• Viewing or changing another user’s folders and files - this meant browsing through another user's folder, adding and removing files and folders.
• Running Disk Defragmenter - I ran this tool to defragment several drives
• Changes to system-wide settings - I changed different settings in the Control Panel applets, including security policies.

All these tests were run with the default UAC levels. In Windows Vista this means having UAC turned on while in Windows 7, it means having it turned on and set to 'Notify only when programs try to make changes to my computer'.

Test Results

The test results are summarized in the table below.

In Windows Vista, an UAC prompt is triggered in all 17 scenarios. In Windows 7, in only 5.5 of them. The half of point was assigned due to the fact that, when uninstalling some applications, Windows 7 can show an UAC prompt. This happens only when you uninstall applications which modify important system settings. In the tests I ran, only the uninstall of the Microsoft Silverlight plugin triggered an UAC prompt, while all other applications did not. Depending on what type of applications you are working with, you might never encounter an UAC prompt when uninstalling an application.
As you can see in the graph below, in Windows 7 you will not encounter UAC prompts in at least 11 of the scenarios where Windows Vista triggered one.

This means a reduction of approximately 67%, depending on how you use your PC and which are the most common tasks you perform.

Conclusion

When it comes to the UAC Benchmark, Windows 7 wins easily and with a huge difference in its favor. It seems that Microsoft has paid attention to user feedback and has seriously tweaked this feature. UAC is now a lot less annoying than it was in Windows Vista and users will have a better computing experience. The only question that remains: is the new UAC implementation as secure as the previous one? Time will tell if that's the case or not.

Read more »

What is UAC & Why You Should Never Turn it Off

When Windows Vista was launched, User Account Control (UAC) has been the most criticized and misunderstood feature. Even though it is very important for security, many people have chosen to disable it and expose their systems to possible security problems. Also, lots of sites have published different 'tweaks' for this feature which render it useless and expose users to problems. Windows 7 brings further changes to this feature which has caused additional controversy. This is why I will try to bring more clarity about this feature. I will explain what UAC really is, how it works, what options you have and why you should never disable it. If you are thinking to turn it off, please read this article so that you better understand this feature and how it helps you.

What Is User Account Control (UAC) ?

UAC is a security feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7 which helps prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. These changes can be initiated by applications, viruses or other users. UAC makes sure these changes are made only with approval from the administrator of the computer. If these changes are not approved by the administrator, they will never be executed and the system will remain unchanged.

How Does User Account Control (UAC) Work ?

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, applications run by default without any administrative permissions. They have the same permission levels as a normal user would. They cannot make any changes to the system.
When an application wants to make system changes such as: modifications which affect other users, modifications of system files and folders, installation of new software, UAC prompts the user to ask for permission. An UAC prompt in Windows 7 looks similar to the one below.

If the user clicks on No, the change won't be performed. If the user clicks on Yes, the application receives administrative permissions and is able to make system changes. These permissions will be given until the application stops running or it is closed by the user.
For an easier understanding, the UAC algorithm is explained in the diagram below.

What Changes Require Administrative Privileges ?

There are many changes which require administrative privileges and, depending on how UAC is configured, they can cause an UAC prompt to pop-up and ask for permissions. These are the following:

• Running an application as an administrator
• Changes to system-wide settings or to files in the 'Windows & Program Files' folders
• Installing and uninstalling drivers & applications
• Installing ActiveX controls
• Changing settings to the Windows Firewall
• Changing UAC settings
• Configuring Windows Update
• Adding or removing user accounts
• Changing a user’s account type
• Configuring Parental Controls
• Running Task Scheduler
• Restoring backed-up system files
• Viewing or changing another user’s folders and files
• Changing the system date and time

What's The Difference Between UAC Levels ?

Unlike Windows Vista, where you had only two options: UAC turned On or Off, in Windows 7 there are four levels to choose from. The differences between them are the following:

• Always notify - at this level you will be notified before applications make changes to your computer or your Windows 7 settings that required administrative permissions. When an UAC prompt shows up, your desktop will be dimmed like in the screenshot below, and you must choose Yes or No before you can do anything else on your computer. Security Impact: this is the most secure setting but also the most annoying. If you do not like the UAC implementation from Windows Vista, you won't like this level.

• Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer - this is the default level and it notifies you only before programs make changes to your computer that require administrative permissions. If you manually make changes to Windows 7, then you will not be notified by UAC. This level is less annoying as it doesn't stop the user when making changes to the system; it only shows prompts if an application wants to make changes. When an UAC prompt is shown, the desktop is dimmed and you must choose Yes or No before you can do anything else on your computer. Security Impact: this is less secure due to the fact that there can be malicious programs created which simulate the keystrokes or mouse moves of a user and change Windows 7 settings. However, if you are using a good security solution, these scenarios should never occur.
• Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop) - this level is identical to the one above except the fact that, when a UAC prompt shows up, the desktop is not dimmed and other programs might be able to interfere with the UAC dialog window. Security Impact: this level is even less secure as it is easier for malicious programs to simulate keystrokes or mouse moves which interfere with the UAC prompt.
• Never notify - at this level, UAC is turned off and it doesn't offer any protection against unauthorized system changes. Security Impact: if you don't have a good security solution you are very likely to have security problems with your PC. With UAC turned off it will be easier for malicious programs to infect your computer and take control of it and/or its settings.

Should I Disable UAC When I Install My Applications & Turn It On Afterward ?

The biggest annoyance level for users is when you install Windows 7 and all your daily applications. At this time you can receive lots of UAC prompts and you might be tempted to disable it temporarily, while you install all your applications and enable it back when done. In some scenarios this can be a bad idea. Certain applications, which make lots of system changes can fail to work once you turn on UAC after their installation and they will work if you install them with UAC turned on. The failures happen because, when UAC is turned off, the virtualization techniques used by UAC for all applications are inactive. This causes certain user settings and files to be installed to a different place and no longer work when UAC is turned back on. To avoid these problems, it is better to have UAC turned on at all times.

Where To Find UAC & How To Change Its Level ?

We have covered this topic in one of our previous articles, called How To Change User Account Control (UAC) Levels. There you will find a complete guide with all the information you need.

Conclusion

Microsoft has listened to the feedback they received from Windows Vista users and have seriously tweaked UAC. We now have many options to choose from. These new settings provide a pretty good balance between security and usability. For those of you who are still not satisfied with the usability level of UAC, we will continue to look for additional tips and tricks which can tweak it further without compromising your security. If you already have some tips, don't hesitate to share them with us using the comments form below.

Read more »

How to Change User Account Control (UAC) Levels

In this article I will talk very briefly about the User Account Control (UAC) levels and I will show you how to change them so that you will get the user experience you desire. As you will see, Windows 7 provides more options which should decrease the annoyance level Windows Vista users had.

Where To Find User Account Control (UAC)

You can find User Account Control by typing UAC in the Start Menu search box. Alternatively, you can find it in 'Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center -> Change User Account Control settings'.

How To Configure User Account Control (UAC)

When you open the UAC window, you will notice a slider which you can use to adjust its settings. By default, UAC is set to notify you only when programs try to make changes to your computer.
Aside from the default mode, there are three more UAC levels: 'Always notify', 'Notify only when programs try to make changes to my computer' and 'Never notify'.

If you move the slider bar all the way up, you will set UAC to 'Always notify'. This setting is the most secure and it shows notifications each time you make changes to Windows 7 settings or when a program tries to install software or make changes to the computer. In comparison, this option is the equivalent of the UAC implementation from Windows Vista.

If you move the slider two levels down from the top, UAC will 'notify you only when programs try to make changes to the computer' without dimming your desktop. From a security point of view, this setting is slightly less secure than the default setting.

The last option for UAC is 'Never notify' which is equivalent to turning off UAC. When using this setting, if you are logged on as an administrator, programs can make changes to your computer without you receiving any warnings. This is the least secure option and we sincerely recommend you not to use it.

Conclusion

As you can see from this tutorial, changing User Account Control levels is very easy. The main improvement is the fact that it allows multiple levels of customization, not only the On or Off options which Windows Vista had.
We are very curious to know which UAC level you are using and why, so don't hesitate to share this with us by leaving a comment. Do you prefer a bit of 'annoyance' for better security or the other way around?

Read more »

All You Need to Know About Parental Controls in Windows 7

After showing you how to create or delete user accounts, and also how to edit a user account in Windows 7, we focused our attention towards those of you who also have the tough job of being a parent. With this article we are going to make a short summary of our parental controls series, which covered to tools you need to use in order to have control over the computing activities of your children.
We started our Parental Controls series with an article on setting up the Parental Controls feature in Windows 7. This tool allows you to manage the hours between which your children are granted use of the computer. These time limits can be set up for each day of the week, with a different hour-schedule for each day. Based on a Game Rating System of your choosing and by the type of content, you can select which games you consider appropriate for your children to play. You can also block specific games and decide whether your son or daughter are allowed to play games that are not rated. Apart from games, you can also block specific programs installed on your computer so that they use only the applications you consider to be child-friendly.

Another application from Windows 7 that offers parental controls is Windows Media Center. In one of our tutorials we showed how to setup parental controls in Windows Media Center, so that your children view only approved video content. In order to set it up, you are first asked to define a four-digits access code for both accessing the content that you have blocked and entering the Windows Media Centre parental controls menu. When watching TV using Windows Media Centre, your children can stumble upon inappropriate TV shows. TV ratings give the viewers the idea of the suitability of a specific program for different ages. You can set up the desired maximum rating allowed but also you can set specific ratings for different types of content, like violence, offensive language and others. Apart from TV ratings you can also set the maximum allowed movie/DVD ratings.

One of the great things about Windows 7, is the fact that it allows you to integrate parental controls functions from other software companies. One of these tools is Microsoft's Windows Live Family Safety, which you can download and install from the Windows Live website. In our article on enhancing parental controls with Windows Live Family Safety we showed how to enable this tool, how to connect your Windows Live ID to the Family Safety Filters, choose the user accounts that will be monitored and also how to manage your family members on the family safety website. We also showed you how simple it is to add another parent or to remove a family member from the list of accounts monitored.

The following articles were an in-depth presentation of the features that Windows Live Family Safety has to offer. We began with web filtering with Windows Live Family Safety and described how you can set up the kind of web pages that you allow your children to visit. You can choose one of three levels of filtering: Strong, Basic or Custom, but you can also add specific websites to be blocked or allowed. If your child tries to access a website that is restricted, he will get a message saying that the page is blocked and he is offered the option to send a request to the parent requesting access.

The next feature of Windows Live Family Safety that we approached is how to get activity reports for your children . Windows Live Family Safety records and reports all the activity that your children had both online and offline: you can see how many times they have logged on and how many hours in total they have spent on the computer, what websites they have visited, what they have downloaded and what programs they have accessed.

In the last article from our series we covered two topics: managing your child's contacts list and approval requests. Managing your child's contacts it's one of the very useful features of Windows Live Family Safety, if your child uses Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces. With this tool, you can see the entire list of contacts he/she gets in touch with and add or remove the people you don't want to be in contact with your child. Also, your child can make requests for adding a new contact or being allowed to access one of the restricted websites. Windows Live Family Safety lets you manage those requests, making the choice that you think is best for your child's safety online.

Conclusion

With this article I made an overview of everything that we have covered in our Parental Controls series: from managing the time schedule when your child is allowed to use the computer, to TV programs and movies that he/she can watch or handling the websites that your child visits and contacts that he/she talks to. We hope that through this series we have managed to make your job as a parent a bit easier. If you have any comments or question on this topic, don't hesitate to leave a comment, we will do our best to answer them. Also, if there is anything else you would like us to cover on this subject, let us know.

Read more »

Manage Your Child's Contact List With Windows Live Family Safety

If your child uses Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces, with Windows Live Family Safety you can manage the list of people he/she gets in contact with via these services. For example, you can see the entire list of contacts and add or remove people from it. Your child can also make requests for adding new contacts or accessing websites which are currently blocked. You will receive these requests and you will be able to allow or deny them. While this sounds a bit controlling, these features can help you to make sure that your child is not in contact with unwanted strangers over the Internet. If you want to know more about this subject, click on read more.

Where to Find the Settings Section

First, you need to have Windows Life Family Safety installed and configured. To learn how to do this, check our previous guide on Enhancing Parental Controls with Windows Live Family Safety. When you are done, login to familysafety.live.com. Here you will see the list of all your family members. Click on the Edit Settings link found under the account name on which you want to configure.

From the Edit Settings window you can setup web filtering, get activity reports and also manage the contacts of your children, plus approve or deny requests made by them.

Managing the List of People your Child Gets in Touch With

Based on your child's Windows Live ID, you can manage his/her contacts on all these platforms: Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces. In the Edit Settings window, click on the contact management link.

NOTE: If you are trying to edit settings for an account setup as parent, Contact Management settings cannot be modified. You can modify such settings only for accounts which are not setup as parent.
Next, click on the 'Add your child Windows Live ID' link.

You have to sign in with your child's ID or, if your child doesn't have one, you can create a Windows Live account for him/her.

After you have added your child's ID, from Contact Management panel you can choose whether your child can use or not 'Windows Live Messenger', 'Windows Live Hotmail' and 'Spaces on Windows Live'. To let your child use any of these services, just check the box near their name.

In the Contact Management window, you can see your child's contacts list. You can add contacts to your children contacts list by writing their first name, last name and e-mail address and you can remove persons, by selecting the box from the Remove column of the contact that you want to delete.

If you trust that your child will not add inappropriate contacts, you can choose to allow your child to directly manage his/her contacts. Check the appropriate box and click on Save. This means that he/she will also be able to add or remove contacts without requesting for your approval first.

If you decide to allow your child to manage his/her own contacts, click on 'Get latest contact list updates' to see who your child has added or removed. You can still manage your child's contacts even if you allow him/her to do that also.

How to Manage Requests from your Children

If you have blocked certain web sites or contacts, your child can make a request for you to allow them. To review them, go to the Edit Settings window of the contact for which you want to manage the requests. On the left-hand side panel, click on the Requests link.

In the Manage requests window, you can see a table that has on the first tab your child's website requests and you can choose whether to approve or deny them.

In the second tab, you have the list of contacts that your child wants to add. Choose whether you allow or deny the adding of each of these contacts.

Conclusion

This tutorial completes our series on Parental Controls and how to enhance them using Windows Live Family Safety. In this article I've shown the last of the features added by Windows Live Family Safety: managing the people your child gets in touch with over the internet and how to approve or deny requests. I hope you've found this series to be interesting and useful. If you have any questions on this topic or on parental controls in general don't hesitate to leave a comment. And, don't forget to read the other articles in the series, which are listed below.

Read more »

Get Activity Reports for Your Children With Windows Live Family Safety

Windows Live Family Safety can record & report the activity that your child has on his/her computer both online and offline. In this tutorial I will show how you can see the websites he/she has visited and block them if you think they are inappropriate. Then, I'll show how to view statistics like: how many times you child has logged in and amount of hours spent at the computer, the list of programs ran, the files downloaded and the games played.

How to View Activity Reports

After you have downloaded, installed and enabled Windows Live Family Safety on your child's computer as shown in our previous article on Parental Controls With Windows Live Family Safety, login to familysafety.live.com. Here you will see a list of all your family members. You have two ways of finding activity reports. The first one is to click on the 'View Activity Report' link located to the right of the account name you are interested in.

The second option is to click on Edit Settings under the account name for which you want to see activity reports.

Then, click Activity Reporting in the left side pane.

By default, activity reporting is turned on for children and turned off for accounts set as parents. Select 'Turn off activity reporting' if you don't want to log the activity anymore and then press the Save button.

If it is turned on and you want to see a report, select the time interval you desire and press Show activity.

Under the date selector, you can see a table with your children's activity. The first tab contains Web activity. You can see the websites that your child has visited, when and how many times.

You can change the settings for a specific website, making it blocked for one person or for everyone, by selecting the appropriate option from the drop-down list, in the Change Setting column.

Click the second tab to see 'Other internet activity', like different programs that automatically access the internet for updates. Here, you can see the program name, a short description, a link to the web address that the program accessed, when was the last time the website was visited and the number of visits.

Click the third tab to see Computer activity.

In the Computer activity section you can see different information on the account you are monitoring, like how many times the user has logged on and for how many hours in total, what are the programs that he/she has used, how many times, the files that the user has downloaded and the games which were played.

Conclusion

Windows Live Family Safety allows you to easily monitor the websites your child has visited, the programs he opened as well as other computer activities. For more information on Parental Controls and Windows Live Family Safety, look through the articles recommended below. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Read more »

Web Filtering With Windows Live Family Safety

We continue our previous article on Enhancing Parental Controls with Windows Live Family Safety with a tutorial on how to setup web filtering. Web filtering means setting up what kind of pages you allow your children to visit. With Windows Live Family Safety you are able to select between pre-defined sets of settings but you may also add your custom exceptions. In this tutorial I will show everything you can do on the web filtering side.

Where to Find Edit Parental Controls Settings Section

After you have downloaded, installed and enabled Windows Live Family Safety, go to familysafety.live.com. After you log-in, you will see the list of family members. From here you can edit settings and view activity reports for each of them. Click on Edit settings to make changes for yourself or your children's accounts.

This is the window from which all the settings can be done: web filtering, activity reporting, contact management and request management. In this article I will cover the web filtering section. In future tutorials I will also cover the other settings.

How to Setup Web Filtering

Web filtering allows you to setup a list of websites that are blocked/allowed for your child and select a specific level of blocking that you consider appropriate. For parents, web filtering is disabled by default. Web filtering can only be applied to users who are not defined as parents. To set it up, select Web Filtering from the left hand side pane.

By default, web filtering is on. If you want to deactivate it, select 'Turn off web filtering'.

If you choose to turn off web filtering, save your changes.

If you want to keep web filtering on, there are 3 levels of blocking:

• Strong - allows only child-friendly sites, rated according to Windows Live Family Safety Kids websites list, and those that you have selected as allowed.

• Basic - blocks adult-sites only, allowing all others.

• Custom - this level allows you to select the categories of sites to which your children have access.

To add a custom site to the allowed or blocked list, you can write its address and select whether to allow or to block access to it. For example, if you choose to block facebook.com, it will block all the pages from the specific website.

You can allow/block websites for the specific user account that you are currently setting or for all users by selecting the option you want from the drop-down list, next to the Allow and Block buttons.

Windows Live Family Safety also allows you to use a list from another account, instead of creating a new list of web-sites to block & allow. To do this, click on the 'Use list from another account' link.

Then, select the account from which to import the list of blocked/allowed sites and the list for the current user will be automatically updated.

You can also use the list that you have previously created, for other accounts. Select 'Use this list for other accounts' and choose the accounts you want.

When your child tries to enter a restricted website he will get a message saying that the page is blocked, allowing him to either send a request to the parent by e-mail or to ask the parent in person for request to enter the website.

If your child chooses to e-mail you a request, you will see it in the Requests section from the child's account Settings page. If he/she decides to ask you in person for permission, you will have to enter your Windows Live ID password and click Accept or Deny, depends on whether you allow your child to access the website or not.

You can also set if children are allowed to download files or not. When you make this choice, keep in mind that viruses and other harmful objects can be downloaded along with trusted files, so if you allow them to do this, they should have a prior security solution installed. Click the Save button when you have finished.

Conclusion

As you can see, filtering the websites visited by your children is very easy. For more info on how to setup other aspects of Windows Live Family Safety, look on the articles recommended below. Also, if you have any questions or problems, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Read more »