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Compatibility mode and run on startup
Hi there.
I just registered myself in this forum because I need help :) I hope I don't do anything wrong with my post and I hope it is in the right category :) Today I encountered a problem. I found a workaround but I would like to ask whether there is a more elegant solution.
Here's the story:
I need to start a little program in compatibility mode so that it works and I want it to start automatically when Windows starts. Both methods of starting a program automatically (i.e. startup folder and manual entry in registry) work normally when I do NOT switch compatibility mode on. However, when I right click the file and go to properties, compatibility to set the mode so that it works on Win 7, the file does NOT get started automatically when Windows starts, even though it is in the startup folder, or even if I put it manually the correct way into the registry! If I start it manually, everything is all right. But automatically it just won't start, even if I make a shortcut to it and put it manually into the run folder in the Windows registry.
I noticed that whenever I want to start a program in compatibility mode, the UAC (User Account Control) asks permission to continue before it starts (just as the UAC asks permission when I want to change system settings). My guess was that programs that need UAC permission cannot be started automatically when Windows starts, regardless of whether the file is in the startup folder or whether the file is added to the Run folder in the registry. So I tried to switch the UAC notifications completely off! And surprise surprise, it started working completely normally! So when I annulled and canceled out the UAC, the program starts without any problems also in compatibility mode!
So this was my workaround solution. Now I fear that canceling out the UAC might be a security threat for my computer. After all, it is a security feature, right? Thus, I would like to ask whether there is some kind of a different solution to start programs automatically when Windows starts in compatibility mode. Does anybody know a better solution than switching the UAC off? Or do you think that I should just live with the fact that I don't have the UAC switched on on my computer?
Looking forward to your answers! Thank you very much in advance for your help :)
Greetings,
Tilman
P.S. If you need to know what I need to run in compatibility mode, here are the details: I am using a program called Autohotkey. Normally it works completely ok in normal mode. But today, I wanted to add a new script to my AHK script from this source: Volume OSD [with mute in red]
If you read that thread, you see that at the end one user says that the script works in Win 7 only in compatibility mode. Well, I can confirm that it indeed works only if I switch the compatibility mode on :) Does running a program in compatibility mode have any other disadvantages? I guess it is a bit sad that I need to run the whole program in compatibility mode just because of one script that does not work otherwise :-S