Seeking a safe workaround for "An unknown program wants access to your computer"

Is UAC (user Access Control) enabled on your Vista machine?

  • Yes - It is helpful

    Votes: 3 100.0%
  • Yes - But it drives me nuts!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No - I'd use it if it was more flexible/configurable though

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No - It is not helpful

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3

Willscrlt

New Member
First, please do not give me the Microsoft rhetoric about how wonderful UAC is and why it is important for my own safety. I'm an MCSE with 19 years of professional computer admin experience. I understand security and why it is important. That's why I am looking for a safe alternative to disabling User Access Control in Vista when all I want to do is have an application automatically launch at Windows startup.

While I do have a specific application that is giving me this problem, my research into a solution tells me that this would be better addressed in a general way, since there are several variations on a theme for this question.

The program I am trying to auto-start when Windows boots is configured to run as a service at startup. When the application attempts to run its administrative panel in the notification area and run some other services, it brings up the UAC nag screen informing me that "An unknown program wants access to your computer". Additionally, the application has an "unknown publisher".

The whole "unknown" part is apparently the problem. Since Microsoft requires publishers to have a certificate or something to become "trusted" (which is akin to demanding extortion money from publishers in my opinion). This is a free, open-source port of a Linux utility that is very useful. I understand why the publisher has no interest in becoming "trusted" so it's not really an option to pester the developer to do so.

The application does not appear to require administrative rights (and "Run as administrator" is unchecked in the Compatibility tab of the application properties), but since UAC is being triggered, it must do something that UAC doesn't like.

Since this application launches several vital services on a remote machine, it's a gigantic pain to have to login just to approve the service every time the computer reboots.

I could disable UAC (and since this is basically acting as a stand-in for a real server, that might be best), but I want to prove that it's possible to keep UAC enabled and still have a fully functional and safe Vista machine (I want to prove that the Redmond Kool-Aid can work). I also could shut off Automatic Updates so that the computer doesn't restart itself automatically after every update, but that lessens the security of the machine.

In short, it seems that the very act of attempting to keep my computer safe via UAC is going to force me to have to defeat one or more security features just to allow me to run the software automatically.

Is there (and if not, why not?) a way to add a whitelist of UAC-exempt applications to a computer? Possibly a registry setting, a group or local security policy, an .INI file, or something else? Every antivirus application I can think of allows manual whitelisting of files that would otherwise be flagged--why can't Vista?

I think there is a mindset at Microsoft that users either have to be coddled (i.e., UAC) or be allowed to hose their own system (disable UAC and damn the consequences). A far better third-option should be available: allow people to carve out exceptions within the overall security rather than disable it entirely.

If someone has a solution, I'd love to know it.

If not, does anyone know who to contact at Microsoft to plead with them to come up with a way to do that so we don't have to disable security just to run known safe programs from untrusted publishers?

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Other Info
    Windows Vista 32 Ultimate and Business, Windows Server 2003 and 2003 R2, Windows XP Pro, and Kubuntu Linux; also Windows 2008 and SBS 2008, Windows SBS 2003, and other distributions of Linux; still work with Windows Server 2000 and occasionally with Windows ME and 98.
Hello Willscrlt,

You might try this free beta Norton UAC program. It works great, and will allow you to add that program to a UAC exception list.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Thanks. I will give that a try. I hope it works!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Other Info
    Windows Vista 32 Ultimate and Business, Windows Server 2003 and 2003 R2, Windows XP Pro, and Kubuntu Linux; also Windows 2008 and SBS 2008, Windows SBS 2003, and other distributions of Linux; still work with Windows Server 2000 and occasionally with Windows ME and 98.
You're welcome Willscrlt. Let us know how it went for you.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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