Workaround for Windows 7 UAC Exclusion List

With a fresh installation of Zend Community Server and Zend Studio on Windows 7, I was wondering why files saved inmy htdocs folder (in Zend Studio) are not appearing in Explorer. No prompt/error messages were given, and I later found out that I have to run the application as administrator in order for it to work properly. As with Windows 7’s UAC, running an application as an administrator will result in a prompt, which starts to get annoying especially on frequently used programs.

And so I found this link on the Internet, which provides a workaround by using a Scheduled Task shortcut to launch an application and bypass the UAC prompt.

http://creating-windows7-shortcut.articles.r-tt.com/

Credits to the author for his post. I have copied the steps below in case the website gets taken down.

Step 1

Click the Windows Start Orb and type “Task Scheduler” into the search bar. Choose Task Scheduler when it appears.

Step 2

Click the Action menu and choose Create Task…

Step 3

Name your shortcut by typing something memorable and descriptive in the “Name” field. For example, if you were creating a shortcut for a program that clears the history from your system, name it “clearhistory.”

Step 4

Under the “Security Options” header, make sure that the option that reads “Run with highest privileges” is checked. This will run the program as an Administrator.

Step 5

Click the Actions tab.

Step 6

Click the New button in the bottom-right. In the Action drop-down menu, choose “Start a program.”

Step 7

Browse for the application or shortcut that you want to run without using UAC controls.

Step 8

Click OK.

Step 9

Click the Conditions tab. Make sure “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” is unchecked.

Step 10

Click OK to save the task.

Step 11

Return to your Windows 7 desktop and right-click any blank space. Choose New > Shortcut…

Step 12

In the text box that reads “Type the location of the item,” type in:

Schtasks /run /tn “clearhistory”

Or, substitute out “clearhistory” with whatever you named your shortcut in Step 3.

Step 13

Click Next.

Step 14

Give your shortcut a name and then click Finish.

Making Java Work in Browsers on a 64-bit Windows

Having just installed Windows 7 x64, I was wondering why a fresh installation of JRE (Java Runtime Environment) does not work in my Internet Explorer/Firefox. After a while, I kind of figured it out.

It is simply due to the wrong version of JRE that I had used. Call it a dumb mistake, or part and parcel of learning. The JRE downloaded was intended for 64-bit operating systems, whereas IE8 and Firefox are 32-bit applications, so naturally it will not work. The solution, download a 32-bit version of JRE, and voila, everything works again.