jerrypettit
I notice when running as an Administrator I couldn't drag audio files from the desktop (or a folder thereon) into Sonar.  Not a big deal, maybe, but I went back to running as a Commoner again...
 

 

garrigus
Yes, I run with an Administrator account and UAC off and I never have any of the problems mentioned in this thread.

Scott, I just turned off UAC to check the issue Jerry mentioned, and I too can see Sonar, when run as administrator, failing to import audio files from a folder by drag and drop. Are you sure you don't have this issue?

Jlien X
Scott, I just turned off UAC to check the issue Jerry mentioned, and I too can see Sonar, when run as administrator, failing to import audio files from a folder by drag and drop. Are you sure you don't have this issue?

It could be a Windows thing. I'm not in the studio right now so can't check Win 7 or Win 8, but on my laptop with Win Vista 32-bit, it works fine.
 
Scott

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What it means to me, is that Microsoft trying to make a computer more secure, included that the OS is the Administrator, and you are just a User. The OS has more priority than you, because the OS knows more than you know (or the average bug who uses a computer). That way, people can not come back and stick Microsoft with the problem, because the User does not know what they are doing (and a lot of people do not.)
 
Before the OS like XP had you make an account and automatically if you made the account as the Administrator, you could mess up your computer. (and yes, people mess up their computer, forget to do things, then they are a security risk to his/her/alien self).
 
Now if the OS is the Administrator (and just look at the Accounts on your computer, there are Accounts you never have access to, one is Microsoft can put on software on your computer downloaded, if you do not activate the software (you have not bought it) it stays protected and you have no access to it.
 
This means that the OS is the protector (because people do not know what they are doing with a lot of people) so you will not be able to hack your own computer and obtain software you have not bought but still may be on your computer when you buy it. I have that with Microsoft Startup of Office or something like that. If I never activate it (pay for it) I never get to use it (although right now, I am thinking of deleting it anyway if I can).
 
In other words, you are not the top dog on your computer, you are just another User, and the OS is got built-in security to protect its self (but still I have about 232 critical updates with Windows 7 because of security issues with IE, OS or whatever on this computer).
 
So you get to enjoy headaches figuring this all out, like the User Acccount Control and Microsoft gets to advertise that their OS is more secure for you, while that is probably debatbable since you have around 232 critical updates since Windows 7 has launched and you also have Service Pack 1 to fix the OS after it came out, while still denying from Microsoft that there still are other problems that are not as important that Windows 7 will do because it is not fixed all the way, so Microsoft can still say - you don't know how to run your computer and the OS is ours anyway, so you can not screw me in my business so I will make the OS the Administrator and you just another user, and for a lot of people that is fine, it gives them comfort, while to some, it wants to make them pull out their hair or be done with this OS anyway.
 

 
And just remember that it is not "YOUR" computer, it is the manufacturer's computer and Microsoft's computer. You just get to use it while you paid a price for it.
 

Probably worth pointing out that every modern operating system: Windows, OSX, Linux uses some variation of the 'elevate your privileges before doing dangerous stuff' meme.
 
Turning UAC off or habitually running things as an administrator on any computer system is a really bad idea.  Any program that repeatedly needs to write to the system directory or Program Files is broken.

AndyDavis
Probably worth pointing out that every modern operating system: Windows, OSX, Linux uses some variation of the 'elevate your privileges before doing dangerous stuff' meme.
 
Turning UAC off or habitually running things as an administrator on any computer system is a really bad idea.  Any program that repeatedly needs to write to the system directory or Program Files is broken.

That is not what run as administrator does. With Windows its for accessing dlls and simple writing to disk and such. In Windows 8 and I think Win 7 as well a program is not allowed to write to the kernel. As far as system files that has very little meaning. Lots of libraries are "system" files and are written to all the time, updated and replaced.  
 
The problem is that MS has tried to make Windows as secure as it can without making it impossible to use. Hackers target Windows because its the most common OS on the planet. Also business uses it. 
 
No OS is so secure that it can't be hacked. 

By system files, I meant files under C:\windows (typically)  More to the point, certain parts of the registry and several areas of the file system require elevated privileges to modify (and sometimes even access at all).
 
Although the implementation varies, this is pretty much what OSX and the various *nix flavors are doing.  Microsoft isn't doing anything particularly out of the ordinary.  All those systems have their 'UAC' dialogs, although the non windows systems allow you to run a single command on the command line with elevated privileges (it's a little clunkier on windows).
 
And, of course, no OS is so secure it can't be hacked.  But this is where the principle of least privilege comes in.  If someone manages to compromise my Sonar and I am running it as a normal person, there's not a lot they can do from there.  If I am running as an admin, then they have my system.  It's the same reason why web server processes are not run with high privs; if someone manages to break it, it can't be used as a launching point for further attacks.