Windows 8 more restrictive/annoying than 7 or less?

UAC is the Windows equivilant to sudo . It is there to help those users that may not know what software should run and make them aware as much as it can of potentially harmful software.

Imagine if this weren't in place and you were able to install any software you want willy nilly and then screw over your business because a random user had access to your machine.

I assume from your post you have never used Linux else I don't think you would have made a claim as such. I believe, with my limited use of the OS, this is one of the reasons why it is implemented as firewall and security software OS rather than Windows or Mac Server (LOL). UAC essentially is a security measure to help users that don't know what they're doing hesitate from breaking system settings that need to be modified very particularily.

95% of the added software issues I fix on a daily basis is because the Admin and standard user accounts are never used correctly on a Windows system and most people disable UAC because it warns them when a system change is being made... it's a good thing. It's the same thing as a Danger High Voltage sign. Just cause you know how electricity works, should you grab those lines and ignore the sign?

Speaking strictly from a power users perspective, I would agree. UAC does get in the way. Problem is, Microsoft does not build operating systems strictly for power users. They build them for everyone. Unfortunately, the vast majority of users are complete idiots when it comes to computers and technology. I can't count how many people (non-technically savvy people) I've spoken to about the dangers lurking online and how easy it can be to infect your computer with something who have no idea how to identify what is real and what isn't.

UAC is an absolutely wonderful idea that Microsoft should have implemented WAY before the days of Vista. That said, I think they did make it a bit too aggressive. There are some things that really don't need prompts from UAC that we currently get them for. If Microsoft dials this back a bit, everyone (even power users) could run with UAC on all the time and get the security benefit from it that Microsoft intended.

Now whether it is more or less annoying in 8 versus 7 isn't something I can really speak to. I turned it off in Vista and left it off when I moved to 7, and then eventually to 8 last August. Anecdotally, I can say that the people who seem most frustrated by it, are the people who know what they are doing on their machines to begin with. The casual user who has to call me for tech support isn't generally bothered by it. I don't seem to get any more complaints about UAC in 8 than I did in 7 though.

Personally, I love Windows 8. It took me about an hour to get the hang of the Start Screen during the beta stages and now I can find stuff faster than on a Windows 7 machine. The Start Screen works the same way as the Start Menu did, it just looks different.

Aside from UAC though, I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at when you say restrictions/permissions. They seem to be almost identical to Windows 7 at first glance speaking in really general terms. Perhaps if you point me to something more specific I can provide you the kind of feedback you want?

There are programs out there which re-skin the Windows 8 UI to look more like Windows 7 (specifically adding a Start button, and hiding the Start Screen in favor of the old Start Menu). I tried a couple and didn't like them, so I went back to running 8 with no alterations. Reverting back to Windows 7 if you set up Windows 8 is impossible without having to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch (unless you continue reading and set your installs up as described below, then it gets much easier)

I would suggest when setting up the dual boot environment, install each version on separate hard drives, and disconnect all hard drives present in the system except the one you are installing that copy of Windows to. Once you are ready to do the second one, disconnect the first drive with the copy of Windows you just set up.

If anything happens to the boot loader (or the hard drive itself that the boot loader is running from), it can be a major headache to get access to the other Windows version.

To clarify, say you have 3 drives (I'll call them A, B, and C). A and B are the Windows install drives and C is a data drive. Lets say you want to start with Windows 8. Physically disconnect drives B and C from the system. Boot the Windows 8 install disk and set up the OS. Once complete, shut down and physically disconnect drive A. Now reconnect drive B (drive C should stay disconnected until the installs are done) and set up Windows 7.

Now when you boot up, you should have a key (most systems generally use F8, or F12) that gives you a boot menu where you can pick which specific hard drive you want to boot from. Be sure to set the boot order in the BIOS so that you boot to the drive (and thus OS) you will use most often. When you need to get back into the other OS, restart, hit the key that brings up the menu and select the other drive to boot from.

If you've done any research online about setting this up, you may also come across warnings about the order in which you install versions of Windows (start with the oldest version and move forward) In this context, the install order does not matter. This only comes into play when you are setting up Windows copies on the same drive with multiple partitions and using one boot loader, or setting up Windows copies on separate drives with only one boot loader. In my suggested example above, you have separate drives, but each OS uses it's own boot loader instead of melding them into one.