Removing the UAC Overlay from Desktop Icons

AlanDyson · 31 Mar 2011

If, like me, you're the kind of person who can't pass a picture hanging wonkily without wanting to straighten it, you may find the Win7 icon overlays unappealing. I dealt with the ugly shortcut arrow easily with Option Two of Brink's typically expert tutorial at Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore.

The UAC shield was more problematic. The solutions I found were either too technical for me - sledgehammers to crack nuts - or didn't work or turned up other issues. So I gave up. Then, out of the blue, I thought of creating a shortcut to the program's folder location and replacing the resulting folder icon with something more appropriate from imageres.dll or SHELL32.dll, or the original from the program's .exe file. The result requires two clicks instead of one, but it's only a mallet to crack the aforesaid nut.

I don't claim this as an expert suggestion, but it may be useful to someone who thinks a prettier desktop is worth a little extra effort.

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

Hello Alan.

Have a look at this tutorial at the link below.

How to Create a Elevated Program Shortcut without a UAC Prompt

This is a single click shortcut I created using this tutorial with no UAC prompt at all.

Removing the UAC Overlay from Desktop Icons-nouac.jpg

richyrichuk · 31 Mar 2011

sorry, i dont understand the question fully.

UAC and not diming the background can both be done from the UAC menu in windows

(did just check not to dim an i cant find the settings, but its deffo avail) i would assume it would be easier to find through godmode

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

Note

Please don't bring that godmode ~~stuff~~ crap up again, it has caused serious issues in the past and it's best left alone.

I don't believe the OP was asking a question as much as he was posting a method he has used to accomplish this.

AlanDyson · 31 Mar 2011

Sorry, guys, maybe I didn't make myself clear. It's purely a cosmetic thing. I'm not bothered by the screen dimming. I was simply looking to get shot of the pesky shield laying on the icon. Perhaps I should have posted under Customization.

Thanks to Bare Foot Kid for the tutorial link. I'll look at it again in more detail later. My first read did teach me that icons can be extracted from the program's .exe file (very much an amateur, me) and I've edited the post to cover this.

For what it's worth, some of my installed programs have the shield and some not; don't know why. The screen dimming does not seem to go hand in hand the shield, as dimming may occur even if it missing. But, as I said, the dimming is not an issue for me - in fact I appreciate the warning.

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

I too leave UAC at default, the main issue some don't understand about UAC is the fact that it is not asking you if you know what you are doing, it is asking if you know what the PC is doing and asking if you want the PC to do what it's trying to do.

Here's another that may interest you.

Desktop Icon Text - Hide or Show

AlanDyson · 31 Mar 2011

I agree. More thanks for the new link. I think I'll keep the icon names; I'm rapidly approaching the age where I'll need to label my socks L and R.

Imperfect1 · 31 Mar 2011

richyrichuk said:

sorry, i dont understand the question fully.

UAC and not diming the background can both be done from the UAC menu in windows

(did just check not to dim an i cant find the settings, but its deffo avail) i would assume it would be easier to find through godmode

Just for your edification, richyrichuk, here's some info on the settings for UAC/background dimming:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ntrol-settings (from Microsoft)
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/0...p-with-the-uac (from Neowin.net)

AlanDyson · 31 Mar 2011

Imperfect1 said:

Just for your edification, richyrichuk, here's some info on the settings for UAC/background dimming:

Just for information again, when I turned off UAC temporarily as part of a recommended procedure for removing the icon overlays, all the entries in my desktop diary were wiped. Twice. I had to wonder what other, less visible consequences there may have been. Fortunately, System Restore was successful and I won't be adjusting UAC again.

richyrichuk · 31 Mar 2011

i have UAC 'never notify me' on all my machines and never had an issue, i really dont see a massive point of it, just have decent security and its all grand.