Permission needed to start a specific program in the Start Menu

[Guest]

My Vista came with a number of programs pre-installed, and I've installed
several more.

I can access them all from the Start Menu, of course.

However, one program in particular is strange. Each time I choose it from
the Start Menu, Vista asks for permission: "A program needs your permission
to continue."

Why does Vista do this for that one program? It doesn't do it for any other
program. More importantly, how do I get it to stop doing it?

Thank you.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

It's trying to run with elevated privileges, so it requires that the user
acknowledge this. Most programs don't need this as they run within Vista's
file virtualization (ie: within the user profile's appdata), but if it
*must* write to either the system or program folder during operation, then
the elevation cannot be avoided. Check with the program vendor as to whether
or not this is truly required (and it may very well be if it is an older
application that is not Vista compatible).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

It's trying to run with elevated privileges...

I've checked and, yes, it does need extra privileges. So that explains it.

Is there a way to tell Vista that this program is "approved"?

Thank you

 

[Richard Urban]

When you run a program with elevated privileges that program has access to
much of the operating system. This is NOT necessary in a properly coded
program. You tell the computer the program is approved by elevating the
privileges each time you start the program.

Why do you do this? Because elevated privileges can be dangerous. If some
malware were to spoof the program you are starting, and be allowed to run
with elevated privileges, it could do most any type of harm to your computer
and the data on it.

If YOU start the program - grant elevated privileges. If it starts "out of
the blue, with no interaction from you" it could be that malware has been
substituted for the program trying to start without your intervention. In
this case, you had better say **NO**.

So, until the program has been updated to work correctly with Vista - you
are better off living with the situation as it now stands. I have an ad
blocking program that needs elevated privileges to update. I grant them each
and every time. Hopefully, one of the updates will solve for this with a
"program" update in the near future. If the problem isn't solved for I will
change to a different program that is 100% compatible with Vista.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

As Richard has stated, this is a fault on the part of the application
programmers and they need to correct it. Nothing in Vista can run natively
elevated, as it is exactly that security exploit that is being prevented.
Were there a method of achieving it, then malware would be sure to exploit
it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

Rick and Richard,

Thank you both for your time and explanations.

I shall heed your advice and press "Continue" each time I start the program.