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I want to have UAC enabled but at the moment it's really annoying me. I often need to edit text files that are located in the Program Files folder, but doing so requires administrative privileges. When I launch my text editor from explorer it, of course, doesn't get admin rights. Is there a keyboard shortcut for opening a program with admin rights? I don't want a shortcut or to enable 'Run as Administrator' from the editor's executable file. Additionally is there a way to create a shortcut with admin rights? I want to create shortcuts in a subfolder of Program Files but permission is denied.

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What are you doing that requires editing of text files in Program Files? – Scott Chamberlain Jan 5 at 8:39
Generally you try not to write to the Program Files folders. I consider them a "one off". Once installed they generally modify files within app data. Knowing what context this is in would be helpful though. – Sam Jan 5 at 8:56
@ScottChamberlain It's a pretty old program I'm using and it writes data to Program Files. To test my stuff I need to change the data in the config files quite frequently, and they're all located in Program Files. – user184691 Jan 5 at 10:21
My recommendation would be to not install that particular program into Program Files, since it isn't really Windows compatible. But Scott's answer is probably simpler. – Harry Johnston Jan 7 at 2:25

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Create a Shortcut, Right click it and go to the properties. you will land in 'shortcut' tab if not go to the shortcut tab and go to the Advanced (bottom right) Now tick mark 'Run as Administrator'. I think this will solve your problem. Screen shot

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Great answer, but "I don't want a shortcut or to enable 'Run as Administrator' from the editor's executable file.". In my opinion it is the best solution though. – Sam Jan 5 at 8:56
That wouldn't work for file extension associations though. Say like double clicking on the file to open it in notepad. And I also don't want notepad to always have admin rights when it's not needed. – user184691 Jan 5 at 10:20
up vote 2 down vote

Per your comments sence this is one program you can make program files behave "the old way" for that one program.

Open the Properties page for the folder for that one program and go to the security tab.

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Click the Edit button and check the Allow box for the Modify option for the Users group.

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After doing that that folder will behave like the old XP style Program Files and you (and the program itself) can modify the continence of that folder without being a elevated user.

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