I used to run Windows Xp with limited privileges, so UAC is awesome for me, but I definitely understand how frustrating it is to people considering it hasn't been explained well at all. All dynamically created program files and individual user files should go into the user directory or the home directory, no matter what operating system you're using. This way user accounts are kept separate and security can be maintained. Hopefully most Windows software developers have caught on by now. (Btw, this security model has been in Linux since the begnning.)

It takes me less than a second to click the thing and the only time I really see it is when I play any Total War game anyways. To Tunamaker, if you put Rome Total War in your user directory then you shouldn't have any problems with privileges or anything. It should work fine. I've played EB under Vista, giving it no privileges, and it seems to work just fine like that too. I just run it under administrator out of a sense of caution and because it's really no big deal to do so.