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I've found an interesting utility called OpenHardwareMonitor which gives live updates for CPU temperatures and some other metrics. Impressive.

Question is, when I launch the application, Windows User Account Control (UAC) launches a dialog with the warning:

"Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer?"

Is there any way to tell Windows that this application is ok so that you don't get the popup warning? The properties page for the application looks kosher (and I do trust the provider and application itself):

OpenHardwareMonitor

Finally, the properties on the EXE itself do not offer any security options to "Unblock" it.

EXE properties

AlainD
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  • Have edited the question to show that I do not get the "Unblock" option. Is that a Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 Pro feature? I'm running 8.1 Home edition. – AlainD Jan 31 '16 at 11:26
  • It's actually since Windows 7, when you get a file from a different source. Just noticed a possible duplicate: http://superuser.com/questions/850473/giving-permission-to-program-to-run-with-out-confirmation-in-start-command-windo – Jonno Jan 31 '16 at 11:31
  • @Jonno: Yes, there does seem to be a fair amount of overlap with that question. Thanks for the redirection. – AlainD Jan 31 '16 at 12:15

2 Answers2

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Because the program has to run elevated to access all sensors, you have to confirm with UAC every time you start it.

The message you’re getting comes up with programs that are not code signed. It looks slightly less intimidating when the program is signed, but it will still appear.

There is a (somewhat hacky) way to achieve what you want:

Another way

... is described in How to Create a Elevated Program Shortcut without a UAC Prompt

This solution requires you to create a 'scheduled' task for the application and running the app means triggering the task. (For a detailed description with screenshots see the link):

  • Run the Task Scheduler via taskschd.msc and Create Task...

    1. Tab General: Give the name [Name] to the new task, check Run with highest privileges and choose "Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2" from the dropdown list Configure for
    2. Tab Actions: Add New... Action Start a program with Program/script = %windir%\System32\cmd.exe and Add arguments = /c start "[Name]" "C:\Program Files\Sample\Program.exe". Substitute [Name] with the name of the task (step 1) and the fill in the path to the program which should run elevated.
    3. Tab Conditions: Uncheck Stop if the computer switches to battery power first, and then uncheck Start the task only if the computer is on AC power

  • Create a new shortcut oh the desktop or wherever with the following target location

    schtasks /run /tn "[Name]"

    Once again, [Name] is the name of the task (step 1)! Run as Minimized if you don't want the command window to flash up.

  • This shortcut and task can only be created and work while logged in as an administrator account. It'll not work in a standard user account.

Community
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Daniel B
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  • Even with the shortcut set to "Minimised", you get a slightly ugly flicker as the scheduled task window pops up and only then minimised (probably a minor Windows bug), but otherwise works nicely. Thanks! – AlainD Jan 31 '16 at 12:27
  • Why configure for Windows 7 and not Windows 10? – Kyle Delaney May 21 '18 at 15:29
  • I'm surprised this whole thing works and it doesn't prompt for elevation at any point in the process of creating the task. – Kyle Delaney May 21 '18 at 15:46
  • @KyleDelaney Great to hear it's working! Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with Task Scheduler's inner workings, so I cannot tell you what difference selecting Windows 7 makes. I can only guess it results in lower security restrictions somehow. – Daniel B May 21 '18 at 19:29
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I don't know a way to trust that one specific program, but if you wanted to disable the prompt for all .exe files, you can do the following:

  1. Go to Group Policy (Either search it, or press Win + R and run gpedit.msc)
  2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Attachment Manager
  3. Find the item in the list on the right named Inclusion list for low file types, double click it
  4. Set it to Enabled and add .exe; to the box that appears below:

enter image description here

This should suppress this dialog, however as stated it should suppress it for all programs that would otherwise do this, so may not be the answer you particularly wanted.

Jonno
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  • Thanks Jonno, good answer but to a different question I guess. For security reasons, a blanket suppression for all EXE types is probably a bit incautious! :o) – AlainD Jan 31 '16 at 11:12
  • @AlainD Indeed, I recognise this isn't exactly what you wanted. :) Will see if there's a way to exclude a *single* application, but I'm not so sure. – Jonno Jan 31 '16 at 11:13