UAC Confusion! Why one and not the other?

[marco772]

Hi,

I'm a little confused as to why the UAC box appears on some programs EVERY TIME I use them, but not others.

To use a specific example...my LIVE Messenger (MSN) asks everytime I click the taskbar icon if I want to allow it to run and yet, when I launch Skype from the taskbar it just opens without any prompts.

At some point in the recent past I think I used the compatibility mode for XP on MSN and/or ticked the Run As Administrator box too. After that the icon has the little blue and yellow shield (is there a proper name for this?). Prior to this MSN opened, like Skype, without prompting.

I have unchecked both the compatibility mode and Administration in the MSN properties but the shield remains and the UAC prompt still appears every time which is a little tedious!

Is there a way to make it go back to just opening without disabling UAC across the board? Or at least to get rid of that shield?

I'm playing Far Cry at the moment which also has the shield on the shortcut icon, it'd be nice if this didn't prompt me every time I play too!

Any advice would be welcome as it seems silly to me to have to do this for programs I use every day!

Thanks for reading

Mark

 

[Barman58]

Hi Mark, welcome to sevenforums

there are a couple of things that you can try - first, if the shortcut is pinned to the taskbar, remove it, go to the actual exeecutable file nnnnn.exe and make sure that the run as administrator option is off create a new shortcut using the right click pin to taskbar option and check that the Shield overlay does not appear.

if this is not a pinned item make sure that the run as administrator is not set on both the shortcut and exe.

of course if the program has been programmed badly by assuming the user is an administrator then you will have to live with the prompt until the developer corrects this

 

[Bill2]

Tasks that require admin privileges bring up the UAC prompt. The only solution i can think of is to modify the local security policy to elevate without prompting. Remember there may be security ramifications in this, so be careful and try at your own risk.

1)Click on Start button, then type secpol.msc and hit enter.
2)Expand the Local Polices Folder.
3)Drill down to Security Options folder.
4)Scroll down to the group of settings beginning with 'User Account Control'.
5)Locate User Account Control Behaviour elevation prompt for administrator. Double click and set to: Elevate without prompting.
6)Restart computer.

see if this solves your problem.

 

[marco772]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions. The first idea didn't work, the shield remains and the prompt still appears. I understand that the Shield signifies that you've chosen to run a program "as Administrator" so it's odd that unchecking "Run as Ad" doesn't get rid of it!

The second option may work but I'd rather not compromise the security at this stage being rather an amatuer at the behind-the-scenes stuff in Windows! I wouldn't want to remove the function completely, just from selected programs that I know are safe. And, more pertinently, ones that didn't use to ask at all!
If it REALLY starts bugging me then I may give it a go but I was hoping there would be a simpler option really...

Thanks again to both,

Mark

 

[Thorsen]

i would not recommend turning off UAC. This is a problem that has been seen in this forum and there is a tutorial that might help. It allows you to create new shortcuts from the existing program, but the shortcut does not prompt because it is set up as admin. If you need help, post in the following thread:

Edit/Correction: Known Problem replaced with This is a problem that has been seen on this forum (just because I have seen it doesn't mean its widely known)

More edits: oops posted wrong Tutorial. have not had coffee yet.... i will Post correct Tutorial once I find it

 

[Thorsen]

Here is the Tutorial I was suggesting:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11949-elevated-program-shortcut-without-uac-prompt-create.html

 

[Bill2]

Mark,
Theres a small tool called TweakUAC. Download it (it doesnt need any installation as far as i know) and select the setting called Quiet mode. Of course, theoretically you dont need this tool because you can do it directly in the UAC settings in win7, but this one has a nice UI. You can switch off and switch on whenever you desire.

 

[marco772]

Thanks, I may have a look at TweakUAC, but it says not to bother if you have Windows 7 and I don't want to install unnecessary software if it can be avoided! But I'll certainly bear it in mind!

The Tutorial looks handy if rather laborious! Still, if there's no simpler way then that might be the path I wll follow! It just seems ridiculous that you can't simply tell the UAC to ignore certain programs when it's on a personal computer!

Ah well, better safe than sorry I guess!

Thanks once more!

 

[Bill2]

OK, one last shot. Look at this.

Ignore UAC for specific programs - Martin Zugec blog

 

[Barman58]

The reason that UAC does not have a remember me or ignore this program feature is that for such a function the information would need to be stored - and malware might be able to find this information and impersonate a listed program and access your PC.

On topic - the suggested setting for MS Messenger is to run in Vista SP1 or 2 mode - I have set this on several systems and the UAC is never triggered. The reason for this is to enable the program to minimize to the system tray.

Also due to several bad programming traits of XP applications it is quite often the case that running in XP mode will trigger UAC, this is not an issue with UAC but rather one with the coding of the original program/game

 

[marco772]

The program Bill2 directed me to looks interesting but, from reading the comments, maybe a little too likely to go wrong for a novice like me!
I just unpinned Live Messenger from the taskbar, set it to Vista 2 and opened it but the prompt still appears!
I was considering uninstalling Live Messenger and reinstalling from scratch as it, initially, didn't trigger the UAC. I couldn't seem to find it in the control Panel Uninstall list though...

Nevermind, I will follow the tutorial if it bugs me too much and, in the meanwhile, just put up with what's, essentially I guess, a minor annoyance!

Thanks for all the tips!

Mark

 

[Thorsen]

It is a minor annoyance as all you have to do is click yes. But..... it shouldn't be that way and that irritates me as well. Hope the Tutorial helps. that is the only solution I have found on this forum.