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Miscellaneous Notes: PC Version Specific

PC version only This section applies to the PC version of FreeOTFE only

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Specific

User Access Control (UAC)
Windows Vista incorporates a new security system called "User Access Control" (UAC), which is there to help prevent malicious software from doing things which could be harmful to your computer.

As part of this new security system, you will find a number of FreeOTFE's menuitems are marked with a "shield" icon - specifically, those which relate to installing or changing FreeOTFE's drivers, starting/stopping portable mode, and formatting.

Whenever you attempt to use functionality which is marked with one of these icons, Windows will display a dialog (the "consent/credential" dialog), asking for your permission to allow FreeOTFE to continue. This is for your protection, and is perfectly normal. You will be shown this dialog even if you are logged on as an Administrator

Although the FreeOTFE binaries are digitally signed using the Microsoft standard, Windows refuses to identify FreeOTFE, and as such this dialog will state that "An unidentified program wants access to your computer". Again, this is perfectly normal; if you would like to check that your copy of FreeOTFE is an unmodified, original copy, you may do so by checking the hashes/signatures available from the FreeOTFE WWW site.

If you are logged on as a "standard" (i.e. non-Administrator) user, the prompt you are shown will also ask for an Administrator's password. It should be emphasised that it is Windows Vista itself which is generating these prompts, and not FreeOTFE, which will have no access to the password you type in. The same type of warning dialogs will appear when you attempt to (for example) change the system time or dete by going to Window's Control Panel, selecting "Date and Time", and then changing the computer's time/date.

If you are happy for FreeOTFE to carry out the operation you requested of it, you should select the relevant option from the consent/credential dialog to allow FreeOTFE to proceed.

You can find out more about UAC from the Microsoft WWW site.