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Stop UAC From Dimming The Desktop [Windows 7]

Martin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:35:58 +0000

If you are a Windows XP user who recently switched to Windows 7 you must have been getting annoyed by the blacking out of the screen every time the User Account Control kicks in. Microsoft calls this dimming the screen. What actually is happening is that the Windows dims the screen to bring the user’s attention to the UAC prompt that has been opened. This happens for instance during software installations and there is no option to continue working with the operating system until action has been taken in the UAC prompt.

Most advanced users might not need the extra eye-opener when a program tries to change data on the computer system, especially not during software installations that have been initiated by the user.

Windows 7, and Windows Vista as well, provide an option to disable that UAC dims the desktop during prompts. This will still display a notification in the form of a normal window so that it is possible to interact with other elements on the desktop.

To change that setting type in UAC into the start menu run box. This will open the User Account Control Settings. All that needs to be done is to move the slider down one step from the default position .

This new setting is helpful for users who regularly install new software or make other changes to the operating system that display an UAC prompt.

Elevator.exe In Winamp Folder

Martin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:41:53 +0000

After dabbling around with several music players in Windows 7 I finally decided to stick with AIMP2. The uninstallation of Winamp turned out to be interesting. The uninstaller noted that not all files in the Winamp folder could be deleted during installation. A quick check revealed that the folder contained the files elevator.exe, elevatorps.dll and nscrt.dll. A simple try to delete those files in the same Windows session turned out to be unsuccessful which led to the initial thought that this could be some kind of successful malware attack on my system which turned out not to be the case.

Having only worked with Winamp under Windows XP I was unaware that Winamp was installing the files elevator.exe and elveatorps.dll for elevation in Windows Vista and apparently Windows 7 as well as this thread at the Winamp forum suggests.

The easiest way to get rid of the files in the same session is by using the following Windows commands in the command line after switching to the directory Winamp was installed in:

elevator.exe /unregserver regsrv32 /U elevatorps.dll regsrv32 /U nscrt.dll

It is likely that these files can also be deleted in Windows Explorer after a restart of the computer system. Users who have UAC disabled in Windows can also get rid of these files according to the forum post quoted above.

Smart User Account Control A Rogue?

Martin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:36:28 +0000

Would you trust a company that has published software programs in the past that were listed in adware and spyware databases like Site Advisor, Host Files, Emsisoft, Symantec or Malwarebytes? Would you install a new security product released by that company that replaces Windows Vista’s User Account Control, one of the main security components in Windows Vista?

Smart UAC has been released recently and it did receive some praises from bloggers and is listed on several respected software portals like Softpedia which perform various checks on files before they are added to the portal itself.

Many users have shown skepticism about the program itself based on the previous programs developed by Security Stronghold.

The website itself for Smart UAC Replacement looks professional at first glance but sooner or later users will notice that the English on the product’s pages has not been written by a professional. It is far from perfect which would be understandable for a freeware or Open-Source project from a non-native speaker but the company apparently does not care that much about the language on their website.

A previous application of Security Stronghold with the name True Sword was classified by Symantec as “a Security Risk that may give exaggerated reports of threats on the computer. The program then prompts the user to purchase a registered version of the software in order to remove the reported threats.”

It might be a coincidence that one of Smart UAC Replacement’s main features is a scan of running programs with a large database.

Smart UAC Replacement is a free product on the other hand and there are not any reports of users (yet) who were told to buy another product to get rid of a threat that Smart UAC Replacement found on the user’s computer.

The question remains, would you install Smart UAC Replacement?

Vista: Disable UAC for selected applications

Martin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:06:36 +0000

Microsoft has released a Knowledgebase article that explains how users can disable UAC, that is the User Account Control, for selected applications in Windows Vista. This solution requires an administrator account and the Application Compatibility Toolkit which can be downloaded from Microsoft directly.

The advantage of this solution is that you can disable the User Account Control for selected applications. This is for instance useful if you use an application day in day out getting that irritating UAC popup whenever you start it. The following process has to be done only once but it takes some time, here are the steps:

1)Download and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit

2) In the Start menu, locate the new folder. Find the shortcut icon for Compatibility Administrator. Right click it and clik Run as administrator.

3) In the left hand pane, right-click on the database under Custom Databases and select Create New, and select Application Fix.

4) Enter the name and other details of the application you want to alter behavior on and then browse to it to select it. Click Next.

5) Click Next until you are in the Compatibility Fixes screen.

6) On the Compatibility Fixes screen, find the item RunAsInvoker, and check it.

7) Click Next and then Finish.

8) Select File and Save As. Save the file as a filename.SDB type file in a directory you will easily find it.

9) Copy the .sdb file to the Vista computer you want to alter the elevation prompt behavior on.

10) Click Start>All Programs>Accessories. Right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.

11) Run the command below:

sdbinst \.sdb

For example, if you saved the .SDB file as abc.sdb in the c:\Windows folder, the command should be like this:

sdbinst c:\windows\abc.sdb

It should prompt: Installation of complete.

Tweak Vista to suppress UAC popups

Martin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:29:20 +0000

UAC is the Windows Vista User Account Control. UAC is basically another way to protect the computer from the user, or the user from himself. Much like those ‘Do you really want to delete this file ?’ questions UAC asks the user to give an application additional privileges even if he is currently logged on as the administrator. So, it is basically asking the user the question ‘Do you really want to execute the following application ?’.

Most Windows Vista users get really annoyed after a short while because those UAC popups open many times during a normal session. The only way so far to get rid of UAC was to disable it completely. While this got rid of the UAC popups it did also turn the security feature of completely. Not a big problem for users who know what they can and what they can’t do with their system but surely a problem for inexperienced users.

Tweak UAC is a small software that offers a third possibility. With it you can enable the Quiet Mode for UAC which leaves UAC on for all users but suppresses the UAC popups that pop up rather frequently.

This means that the benefits of UAC such as running programs like Internet Explorer in protected mode will still be available while the annoying UAC popups are removed.

Tweak UAC does not need to be installed on your PC. Just run it and select ‘Leave UAC operating in the Quiet Mode’ when the option appears.

Read More:

Tweak UAC Homepage
via ThinkTechno