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Ever since I first read Vista’s UAC security prompt was designed to annoy you at Ars Technica, I’ve had a chip on my shoulder about it.

User Account Control is easily one of the most hated features of Windows Vista, according to readers. The seemingly endless stream of UAC pop-ups, asking you to confirm this action or that action, just get in the way (and aren’t particularly zippy, given the screen redraw)…

At the RSA 2008 confab in San Francisco, Microsoft admitted that UAC was designed, in fact, to annoy. Microsoft’s David Cross came out and said so: “The reason we put UAC into the platform was to annoy users. I’m serious,” said Cross.

Microsoft’s idea here is that they can transfer the burden of not annoying users to developers. This seems almost reasonable when you say it like that, but the reality is this: In order for users to not be constantly frustrated by these pop-ups, developers are forced to jump through hoops to design their software in such a way that privilege elevations aren’t needed in the first place. (UAC is basically a lumbering, graphical sudo.)

This means that Microsoft’s best attempt to solve the problem of viruses and malware infection for Vista ensures that a) no extant software is cleanly compatible with installation, b) every software company designing for Windows now has to refactor their installers, and c) also, everyone else has to be creative enough to figure out how to do everything they need to do without requiring elevated permissions (good luck, Norton!).

So, the burden of solving the problem of malware and viruses on Windows now lies entirely with outside developers. Not only does this not seem exactly fair, it’s not even expected to work! More from the above article:

One could argue that this approach is incredibly flawed, since the people best in position to make the changes needed are developers, not the end users who are stuck with a cavalcade of UAC prompts.

My grandma, humiliated by the TSA.

I would argue that not only is this approach incredibly flawed, it is downright irresponsible, totally uncreative, and borderline sadistic. It reminds me of the way I am constantly humiliated at the airport ("You can only have 2.5 ounces of shampoo!", "Take off your shoes and belt!", and other experiences that people used to have to pay for in New York S&M Clubs).

Now I am going to offer you platitudes by famous self-improvement guru Dale Carnegie’s most famous and popular book.

The three fundamental tenets of How to Win Friends and Influence People are:

1. Make the other person feel important.
2. Frame requests in terms of what others find motivating.
3. Positive Reinforcement works better.

Microsoft UAC: Zero for three.

Here, the United States government subtly reinforces the fact that if they want to X-ray your shoes, they will.

Here, Microsoft subtly reminds you that whatever goes wrong with Windows is your fault for approving this message.