Guild Wars 2

Today the game downloaded a patch then activated my Windows 8 UAC for permission to system files.

I authorized it, then my system froze and the hard drive went to 100% utilization. After a few minutes of my system being locked up I tried to kill the GW2.exe process. It showed that it had locked many of my system files.

I had to power down the system to get it unfrozen, but as soon as I started the game the cycle repeated. After maybe 5-10 minutes it unlocked and logged into the game fine.

I’m OK if this is a new security feature, but I’d appreciate knowing that the client is going to access my system files and freeze the system for 10 minutes.

It’s windows 8 doing the garbage that earned it a low rating.

Switch all that junk off, or at the very least lower the tolerances for it.

It’s updating the .exe that’s why windows asking for your permission. It’s the same for Vista,Win 7 & Win 8. If you want you can turn off or throttle down UAC (User Access Control) in the Control Panel. Press Windows Button(Win Logo )+ X for shortcut.

Actually, on 7 and Vista, all that is needed is permission to write the Guild Wars 2 files. The ANet-proscribed solution is unnecessary and potentially harmful. I’m guessing 8 is the same.

But, ANet won’t tell you that. It’s easier for them to say “Run as Administrator” and “requires admin rights”. A ton less secure, but who cares about security. Most gamers are dumb enough to run as admin, so it works.

Go to the support page and look up administrator for their solution on Windows 7. It should work the same way on 8 (although, I don’t know for sure).