Malware turns off Windows' UAC, warns Microsoft

Microsoft this week urged users to keep an oft-criticized Windows security feature turned on, even as it said that more malware is disabling the tool.

User Account Control (UAC) is the feature that debuted in Vista and revised in Windows 7 that prompts users to approve certain actions, including software installation.

UAC was "universally hated" in Vista, and was a major complaint about the unsuccessful operating system, a Gartner security analyst said more than two years ago.

"From a usability standpoint, no one was happy. And from a security standpoint, no one was happy either, because we knew that people get 'click fatigue,'" said John Pescatore of Gartner in the months before Windows 7's launch.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218916/

This is actually just a way for Microsoft to encourage people to turn it on or keep it turned on. I have tested over 25000 different malware / viruses / spyware and none of them have yet done this. I have asked about this directly to a friend of mine who is a security consultant in IT and he agrees with me.