UAC security prompts have becoming a mainstay of Windows since Vista, but especially with the introduction of Windows 7, and they remain so with Windows 8.
We’ve written about how to go around these on Windows startup by using the task scheduler to bypass the prompts (see here), or bypassing them by downgrading the UAC protection altogether (see here).
‘ElevatedShortcut’ is a free Windows program that can create a shortcut for any executable to enable it to run elevated without any on-screen prompts. It is extremely EASY to use, and does not downgrade the UAC protection.
How to use ‘ElevatedShortcut’
This is a portable app. Download, then extract into an appropriate place on your hard drive. Browse to the appropriate version (there are Windows 7 and Windows 8 versions in the same archive) and run. You will see the dialog above. In the ‘target path’ prompt, browse to the program you would like to create a shortcut for. Add any line arguments below, and tell it where you want your shortcut. That’s it.
Context menu integration: in the settings, you can choose whether you want to add ‘ElevatedShortcut’ to Windows’ right click context menu, such that you could simply right click on any executable to create an elevated shortcut for it on the spot (see screenshot below).
The verdict:
This program is so straightforward and easy to use. We were curious to know whether the absence of the UAC prompt meant that the UAC protection was turned off or downgraded; it turns out that it is not: ‘ElevatedShortcut’ does what it does via Windows task scheduler, such that your shortcuts are not dependent on the existence of the ‘ElevatedShortcut’ application on your computer. Further, ‘ElevatedShortcut’ will start applications as ‘normal’ priority rather than ‘below normal’, which is task scheduler’s default, for better performance.
The UAC is here to stay, and is part of the latest Windows 8. However, if you want a quick and easy way to manage it,check out this great piece of software.
More info on ‘ElevatedShortcut’ here, download it here (Windows 7, Windows 8).
