You can use the Vista Task Scheduler to launch applications with admin privilege without the User Account Control (UAC) confirmation dialog.  To do this: [more]

  • Open Task Scheduler
  • Create a new folder for the application you want to launch, or use an existing folder (if it seems to fit)
  • Create a new task
    • General
      • Name: <something simple, this is how you will refer to the task when launching it>
      • Description: <where you can give a lot more detail about what you’re doing>
      • Run only when user is logged on
      • Run with highest privileges
    • Actions
      • Start a program <path to your program, arguments, etc.>
    • Conditions
      • <Adjust as needed>
    • Settings
      • Allow task to be run on demand
      • <Adjust other settings as needed>
  • Once the new task is created, you can update your shortcut to the application with the following command (or just run it from the command line):
    C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "\<folder where task is located in task scheduler>\<name of task, see above>"

One of the nice side benefits in doing things this way is you get to use the Task Scheduler’s built-in logging capabilities.