"Run As" pops-up uninvited. How to stop it?

[eitang]

Hi all,

Suddenly I get almost systematically the small window "Run As"
asking me which user account I want to use to run the program?

Current user (with "protect my computer... TICKED) or
The following user (UNCHECKED)

I have never asked for this, of course and do not know what
to do in order to get rid of this annoyance ???

Is this coming from TCMADMIN.EXE ?

(Ah, forgot: Using TC 9b5 under XP SP3)

TIA,

[Dalai]

When exactly does this happen?

Regards
Dalai

[eitang]

Hi Dalai,

Thanks for the quick reply.

>> When exactly does this happen?

Difficult to say. I am using many programs that I wrote myself (in Delphi) and they are used since years ago. The problem started today running some of these. But it is NOT systematic. The main issue s that I cannot change the options in that Run As window. Is it really a TC program?

Another point is that the Run As comes AFTER my program is up and running OK... Which is ridiculous.

Thanks,

[milo1012]

Is this coming from TCMADMIN.EXE ?
...
Is it really a TC program?

Well, I'd use things like Process Explorer or Process Hacker to see if TCMADMIN.EXE is the cause of this for real.
You can see the command line of launched programs and enumerate active windows in PH (though this might not help if this dialog is a system dialog).

Additionally, if this behavior started "out of nowhere", you might want to check your system for security issues.

[Dalai]

Well, normally this dialog appears when you try to launch a program whose name is "setup.exe", "install.exe" or similar, and the user account doesn't have the required privileges (i.e. is not an admin).

It can also appear if the compatibility settings for any lnk shortcut has been altered to be run as under a different account. See the shortcut's properties > Advanced. See for example this site and make sure the mentioned option is unchecked.

2milo1012

You can see the command line of launched programs and enumerate active windows in PH (though this might not help if this dialog is a system dialog).

If this "Run As" dialog appears, the program is about to launch, but there is no process yet. Unfortunately, there's no indication what program/process will be launched. The active window enumeration might give a clue, though.

Regards
Dalai

[eitang]

Thanks milo,

By now I checked and saw that the problem exists also with no TC running at all!

Running any program from the "start" menu CAN cause the coming of the Run As window !!!

I also timed the appearance of this Run As window - It comes up about 20 seconds AFTER the required EXE already functions 100% correctly !!!

So it is probably a Windows phenomenon... I'd like to know if anybody can point me in the right direction before I am forced to restore the C: drive from my last backup...

[milo1012]

If this "Run As" dialog appears, the program is about to launch, but there is no process yet. Unfortunately, there's no indication what program/process will be launched.

But you can see if you have any TCMADMIN.EXE instance at all. For me, it is hardly launched at all for my normal TC operations.

Running any program from the "start" menu CAN cause the coming of the Run As window !!!

Strange, but like I said: if it started out of nowhere, it must have a cause. Maybe some program messed up the registry settings (virus?).

[eitang]

Found the Culprit !!!

Thanks to milo1012"'s advice to use ProcessExplorer, I found a running program I've never heard of called "ByteFence" that was installed to my C:\program files today. I am sure this is the problem although haven't tested it yet.

I browsed internet this afternoon looking for a Cleaning Program for Android, and think that this got installed while I was downloading some programs to test.

I'll confirm later.

2Dalai:
>> .. the program is about to launch,

<LOL> As I said this dialog appears 20-30 secs after the EXE is already working ...

>> ... Unfortunately, there's no indication what program/process will be launched.

Typical of Windows...

Thanks both of you, for the time being.

[ghisler(Author)]

I get this when I change my user account to a restricted account/standard user in control panel. But you should also check whether you have a virus, it may try to install itself to the protected windows directory.

[eitang]

I confirm the disappearance of the Run As window after uninstalling the ByteFence program.

2Christian,

Thanks for the intervention.

>> you should also check whether you have a virus, it may >> try to install itself to the protected windows directory.

Indeed, but As I said it is (probably) not a virus just a nagging program.

Many tTanks to the three of you !!!

[ghisler(Author)]

Ah, sorry, I missed that.