W7 Ultimate 64 - Allow program to make changes?

[Muse]

Every time I go to open certain programs on this computer I get this popup before the program opens:

Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer?

Each time I have to say it's OK to run the program. These are programs I run every day. Isn't there a way to tell Windows that those programs are OK to run and don't bug me anymore? Poking around I haven't seen anything!

 

[ViRGE]

That's the warning for a program asking for Admin privileges. So what you're really asking is if there's a way to selectively disable UAC. I don't have a good answer for this, but trying a search based on those terms may help you find something.

 

[Vic Vega]

Try running as administrator and/or checking the box which states not to ask you again.

 

[Muse]

Try running as administrator and/or checking the box which states not to ask you again.

Yeah, I believe I am Administrator. That box had me thinking that checking that box would mean I'd never be asked again for any program, not just that program, which I figured wasn't wise. Am I mistaken here and it's program specific?

 

[corkyg]

FAIK, it is program specific.

 

[Muse]

FAIK, it is program specific.

The dialog has me thinking it's not talking about just this program:

http://fox302.com/index.pl?s=vf&user=Muse&category=Muse_JPGs&file=UACdialog.jpg

 

[mechBgon]

The dialog has me thinking it's not talking about just this program:

http://fox302.com/index.pl?s=vf&user=Muse&category=Muse_JPGs&file=UACdialog.jpg

You're right, that would be system-wide if you change that slider (and it really would be best to max it out, BTW). If you lower that setting, you'll lose more than the prompts, it affects security and functionality stuff under the hood.

Microsoft talked about this type of problem when Vista came out. They said they'd be sticking to their guns, software simply shouldn't be made to always run as Admin "just because" and so they're yanking the crutch away and forcing software makers to get with the program.

 

[Muse]

You're right, that would be system-wide if you change that slider (and it really would be best to max it out, BTW). If you lower that setting, you'll lose more than the prompts, it affects security and functionality stuff under the hood.

Microsoft talked about this type of problem when Vista came out. They said they'd be sticking to their guns, software simply shouldn't be made to always run as Admin "just because" and so they're yanking the crutch away and forcing software makers to get with the program.

I'm not sure I understand this, in fact I'm sure I don't. Anyway, yeah, I'm not going to lower that slider and maybe I'll boost it that last notch. It's not a huge inconvenience to click once to get the program to open. Seems weird, I don't have to do that on my XP machines. I have a program I've been using since Windows 95 came out and with the more recent versions of Windows it's gotten harder and harder to use. In Windows 7 it seems to be virtually useless. I haven't messed with it a lot in W7. I hate to give it up, though. It's kind of an automation/short-cut/macro program, long unsupported and I seem to be the only guy in the world still using it!

 

[mechBgon]

I'm not sure I understand this, in fact I'm sure I don't. Anyway, yeah, I'm not going to lower that slider and maybe I'll boost it that last notch. It's not a huge inconvenience to click once to get the program to open. Seems weird, I don't have to do that on my XP machines.

WinXP doesn't have this security feature. The real goal of this security option is to make it practical to be a non-Administrator, while still having quick access to Admin powers for tasks that actually require Admin powers, like changing important system settings. In this way, if one of your programs gets subverted, it doesn't have "the keys to the kingdom," it just has non-Admin rights and can't do as much damage. Ideally, you'd create a separate Admin account and switch your established user account to a Standard User (a non-Admin).

The closest analog on WinXP would be to make yourself a Limited User, which is certainly a huge security improvement, but not so simple to live with.

As a practical alternative, consider just putting your computer in Hibernate or Sleep mode instead of a full shutdown, so you don't have to start your software so often.

 

[Muse]

As a practical alternative, consider just putting your computer in Hibernate or Sleep mode instead of a full shutdown, so you don't have to start your software so often.

That is what I do 95+% of the time these days. Problem is this particular program the great majority of the time says "Reconnecting..." interminably when waking the machine. I've called them and asked if there's a workaround, but no help so far. So, when waking my machines I have to close the program and reopen it. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to log back in with a username and password and endure the very very slow startup time. Actually, that security permission dialog is pretty insignificant in comparison.