Which User Account Control setting should you enable for security?

Enabling the setting to only elevate executables that are signed and validated is a strong security measure. This setting helps ensure that only trusted and verified software can execute with elevated privileges, which significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized software or malicious applications running with high-level access to the system. By verifying the digital signature of executables, this setting acts as a safeguard against potentially harmful programs, as it requires that any software attempting to run at a higher privilege level has been validated for authenticity by a trusted source.

In contrast, while the option to always notify before allowing changes can enhance user's awareness of actions requiring administrative privileges, it may lead to excessive prompts that could cause users to become desensitized to security warnings. The option that instructs the system to never notify users provides the least protection and essentially removes UAC prompts entirely, which opens the door for malware to exploit the system without any barriers. The prompt for credentials on task initiation offers additional security by requiring administrative credentials for certain tasks, but it may not consistently aid in filtering out non-validated executables like the selected option does. Thus, prioritizing the elevation of signed and validated executables provides a robust mechanism for protecting the system from unauthorized or harmful changes.