I am another victim of secpol deficiency. On my wife's desktop (p2p network, Vista HP) a program pops a request for privilege augmentation every time she starts her machine. She gets very irritated by having to click the 'Allow' dialogue every time. I was not able to convince her to accept this as a normal tribute to Microsoft (;-}). Could somebody explain to me, what registry keys to change to simply, automatically start the programwith admin privileges, without user confirmation? No, I am not afraid of the registry, but overwhelmed by the complexity of the hives.

Hi, Thank you for posting. I am sorry for what you experienced. May I know which program prompts the permission of the administrator? Based on my research, I would like to suggest the following: 1. Is the program which prompts the permission needed to start when the computer starts? If not, you can go to MSCONFIG and disable the related Startup item. 2. You can just disable UAC: Please Note: For the system security, it is not recommended to do this. Use Msconfig to Disable and Enable UAC http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd296719.aspx Meanwhile, I would like to share the following document with you: Understanding and Configuring User Account Control in Windows Vista http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709628.aspx Hope this helps. Thanks.Nicholas Li - MSFT

Thank you for your reply.The program in question is a legacy (pre Vista) AdobeUpdateManager.exe1. Since my wife uses a legacy Adobe Acrobat Pro in XP compatibility mode, it should be able to accept updates.2. Disabling this updater would require me to regularly sign in as admin and check for updates, since they won't be recognized automatically without the updater.3. Turning UAC off would expose my wife's computer to too much of a risk.It seems that the current version of UAC is an "overimprovement".

Hi, Thank you for writing back. Please check if the Adobe Acrobat Pro is a Windows Vista compatible version and also see if the AdobeUpdateManager.exe is up-to-date. You may also notice the UAC prompt will appear and sometimes not, when opening some program. As I know, whether the UAC prompt appears is related to how the program is designed as well. Therefore, please contact Adobe for technical support regarding the issue. Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. You can also try to run the AdobeUpdateManager with the Administrator Privilegeif you trust the program. To do this, please follow the steps: 1. Right-click on the file AdobeUpdateManager.exe. 2. Go to the Compatibility tab. 3. Check the item Run this program as an administrator. Thanks.Nicholas Li - MSFT

There is the rub. The program is not Vista compatible. I had bought it for about 200 $ one year before changin g computers and operating system. It runs ok in XP compatibility mode, and yes, I have set it to run as administrator. That's why it asks for permission to run with augmented privileges, and that's what irritates my wife every time she starts her computer.We shouldn't have to buy new versions of user software, everytime we upgrade an operating system. Will that happen again with Windows 7?

Hi, Thank you for updating. I know the software you purchased is not compatible with Windows Vista. I also noticed that the new version - Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro is Windows Vista compatible (see the Datasheet), please see if you can upgrade to this version. Regarding this, please contact Adobe and see if they have any solutions. Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. As a workaround, you can disable the start item for AdobeUpdateManager and run it manually when you need update the Adobe software. Based on my opinion, the updater is not needed to run from time to time since updates are not released all the time. Hope this helps. Thanks.Nicholas Li - MSFT

Unfortunately, Adobe has you buy a new version, which I did for my own computer andgave the pre-Vista version to my wife.I realize, you can't do anything for me.But I did hope that there was a more acceptable work-around. I also hope that MS will keep legacy software in mind, when they come out with new operating systems. May be some sandbox solutions?Thanks anyhow.