Auslogics Blog

User Account Control is one of the most hated features in Windows Vista because of its constant annoying messages.  In Windows 7 UAC is a lot better and you can still tweak it to your liking. Here are a couple of tips.

Modify UAC Settings

You can make Windows 7 UAC less intrusive, or more vigilant, or turn it off completely. To change the default settings:

1. Go to the Control Panel – User Accounts and Family Settings
2. Click User Accounts and then Change User Account Control settings
3. A new window will open
4. 
5. Now use the slider to set the protection level that suits you
6. Click OK.
7. You may need to restart. Depends on what you selected.

Use Gadgets Without UAC

If you turn UAC off, you won’t be able to run gadgets that run on your desktop. Windows regards them as a security threat, you see. However, that threat is only potential and most likely nothing bad will happen. If you are comfortable with that, here’s how to use gadgets with UAC turned off:

1. Create a Restore point or backup the Registry, because you’ll need to edit the Registry
2. Type regedit in the Search bar and press Enter to launch Registry Editor
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings
4. Create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess. To do that select Edit - New DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it AllowElevatedProcess
5. Set its value to 1
6. Close Registry Editor. Right-click the desktop and select Gadgets. Now you will be able to add and use gadgets as you would normally.