# Vista: how can I speed up the Secure Desktop **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vista-how-can-i-speed-up-the-secure-desktop/463169 "2008-09-11T22:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vista-how-can-i-speed-up-the-secure-desktop/463169/1 "2008-09-11T22:08:36Z")
In Vista 64, when UAC activates, the Secure Desktop kicks in. This currently takes more than enough time to be more than annoying. I could turn it off, but it provides excellent protection against rootkits and virtualisers, so I’d rather keep it. So how can I make it faster? This workstation is a 3.4 GHz Pentium D with 2 GB and a Geforce 8600 GTS with two monitors. I can’t add more memory. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vista-how-can-i-speed-up-the-secure-desktop/463169/2 "2008-09-11T22:28:19Z")
You can turn off the secure desktop while leaving UAC on. It leaves you open to programmatic UAC approval but I doubt malware writers would expect enough people to do it to make it worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vista-how-can-i-speed-up-the-secure-desktop/463169/3 "2008-09-11T22:57:48Z")
You could also then require a password for UAC approval. Then you could type the password and hit enter instead of mouse clicking and you wouldn’t be opening the UAC window to malware.