W7 has taken a disliking to a program

I have a program that I've been using ever since I got W7 without any problems.

Suddenly, W7 seems to have taken a dislike to the it and asks me if I want to allow it to make changes (which it doesn't) every time I try and run it (which is frequently).

Somehow it's got the idea that this program is up to no good and it seems to be based on a stored setting (as opposed to its behaviour) as if I rename the program it runs without problems.

If anyone has any ideas where W7 might keep some list of programs that it thinks need special permission to run I'd be very interested to know.

 

Look at what?

I've checked the likely suspects but there is nothing that contains a list of programs that have been marked for special attention.

As I said in the OP, it's nothing to do with the behaviour of the program because:

a) It's been running happily since I got W7 some weeks back
b) It runs without problems if I simply add an 'x' to the end of its name (start.exe > startx.exe).

Therefore, W7 must have the executable name stored somewhere and is being a pain on that basis.

 

Nothing of any help there.

There's a picture of the dialogue box that keeps popping up when I run the program, details of the slider you can use to change overall settings and various bits of general information about user accounts but nowhere is there anything that points to a list of programs that have some sort of tag to cause them to invoke the permission dialog.

I need to find the list and remove this program's name from it (or mark it 'trusted').

 

No, that would be pretty stupid, wouldn't it?

It would be mean moving the slider into the 'not recommended zone' and severely diminishing the protection available just so that one single program that was working perfectly happily until this morning could run.

What I need to know is how to effect a change on a per program basis.

If anyone has that information I'd be most grateful if they would share it.

 

I have already googled but the info that I found (as with the instances you linked to) related to programs that inherently and genuinely needed elevation to work.

This one doesn't.

I had hoped that there would be someone here with the expertise to know what had happened because it is odd, to say the least. The UAC should not be invoked just on the basis of the executable name.

Still, it's only been a few hours - someone might yet know.

 

I would have a look at the compatibility settings for the program. Sometimes when it's set to XP you get that nag screen.

 

I don't know quite why I'm having so much trouble getting this across to you. Perhaps it's more subtle than I realised.

Let me try again.

W7 has decided that, based purely on the name and location of an file, said file is trying to alter the system.

It is not.

How can I be so sure of this?

Because when I delete the file in question ( "start.exe ") and substitute a text file renamed to "start.exe ", W7 STILL says that it's trying to alter they system and wants permission to run it before it even realises that it's not an executable.

Now, I could do a cosmetic cover up and give the specific file permanent permission to run but that would not get to the bottom of the problem which is why W7 is behaving in such an irrational manner.

The suggestion that the UAC protection of the whole machine be lowered (by the slider) in these circumstances is irresponsible - in fact, it's downright crazy.

May I suggest that perhaps those who don't know what the actual problem is wait for a couple of days and see if anyone else does.

I'm not going to circumvent the UAC protection system when there is no need for the executable in question to require such action.

 

The program in question is used dozens of times a day and has been since W7 was installed about three weeks back. It has never needed nor had a compatibility mode set.

I've had a root around to see if by some chance it's had a compatibility mode set spuriously but W7 does not seem to have a way of determining that information.

 

Right-click both the shortcut and .exe file and choose "Properties" and click on the Compatibility tab.

 

Headslap!

But, as I suspected, nothing set there.

 

Moglex, I clearly understand the issues you have raised. It's an interesting case to say the least.

It might be helpfull (?) if you posted the full name and version number of your program which win7 has taken a "dislike" to?

 

Sorry no other ideas at present.

 

It's called 'start.exe' and is a program I wrote myself so the version number is not going to mean anything.

All it does is display a list of programs and start any one you click on. I've been using it for over a decade without any incident. With it renamed to 'startx.exe' it's been working perfectly happily since W7 started playing up this morning.

But, as I've said, what the program does is irrelevant as W7 gets antsy about a text file renamed to 'start.exe' in that location before it even checks if it's an executable.

What is interesting is that it means that W7 has a list of programs for which it will ask for permission to allow them to change settings even before they try and make any changes and some glitch has caused it to erroneously place the program I was having trouble with on that list.

 

Are you positive that it is UAC giving the warning? There is known malware, SpyCrush, that contains start.exe as a file.

Have you tried to right click your program and choose Run As...?

When you checked the Compatibility tab did you check under Privilege Level to see if Run this program as an administrator was checked?

UAC doesn't work off a list of non-Microsoft programs. It can recognize some signed Microsoft applications. An experienced user could just disable UAC if their system is just used by them. It has already been proven that Windows 7 UAC can be compromised.

Opinion: Windows 7's UAC is a broken mess; mend it or end it

 

As I said earlier, the file in question is an executable of my own so I know with 100% confidence that it's not malware. Also it was recompiled several times as I checked to see if there was any legitimate reason why W7 should object to it. (Eventually it was just a stub that did nothing at all and it still triggered the warning).

Then I triggered the same warning by replacing it with a renamed .txt file so there is no possibility of it being malware.

Yes, same result.

Same effect both ways.

That's what I thought (although I don't suspect it's picking on the program because it's non MS.).

However, the fact that it will tell me that a non executable is trying to make changes to the system shows that the warning is being triggered by something other than the 'program's' behaviour.

But if one were to disable UAC (as someone suggested earlier) and then some real malware got onto the system it would be able to go about its nefarious deeds unchecked.