For a while now I have been getting multiple prompts each time I login to Windows Vista. The culprit is the latest Intel video drivers. For some reason they manage to install three executables that are 1) stored in System32 2) configured to run automatically 3) not marked as trusted. The result is that every time I login I get three prompts with a title of "Open File – Security Warning" asking if I am sure that I want to run these programs. Unfortunately the handy "Don’t Ask Me Again" check box on these prompts seem to do nothing.
The programs that I get asked about are:
igfxtray.exe
hkcmd.exe
igfxpers.exe
After a bit of poking around I found the solution to my problem. These executables have somehow got themselves tagged as "untrusted" – but because they are stored in \Windows\System32 trying to mark them as trusted will just silently fail. What you need to do is to go to \Windows\System32 and select each file and:
- Open the properties for the file.
- Go to the "Security" tab and "Edit" the permissions.
- Explicitly add your user account with full control (having a group you belong to have full control is not sufficient).
- Go to the "General" tab and click on "Unblock".
- Click OK.
Once you have done this for the 3 executables mentioned you will never see prompts again.
Cheers,
Ben
Benjamin Armstrong's Personal Blog 
Nice! I\’ve been messing with the apoint.exe app on my Toshiba tablet for almost a year trying to find a way to get rid of that prompt. Works great!!
Thanks Ben! See you in April at the MVP Summit
-Steve
That\’s interesting. Perhaps a more satisfying solution, but it\’s still quicker to untick the box which says "Always ask before opening".
But what if you want to automate the install of intel video drivers to over 100 Vista machines (more than one PC model and spec), as part of a WAIK install? You want a streamlined process, not a person having to edit the properties of a file, and so on.
Thanks, helped me get rid of the annoying prompts!
Thank you for your useful tips! They helped me to get rid of the annoying prompts with Intel Drivers on Vista.
Many thanks for showing me how to solve this problem Ben
I am having a problem with this security warning, but it\’s not Vista, it\’s windows XP and when I run \\windows\\system32 there is no security tab under the properties of this file, so how can I get rid of this security warning/ I have been trying to figure it out using this post as a guide, but I can\’t.
Thank you very much, it works great !
OMG Thank you!!! I reformated a clients computer and then I keept getting this and I had no idea how to get rid of it.
This works on windows xp sp3 so thnx sooooooo much dude
Thanks a lot Benjamin! Plain and simple to do but tough to imagine for a non-educated (since non-“nerd” sounds a bit pejorative altough you used it). Take care. Pierre, from Bromont, Qc Canada
You can also try the STREAMS utility (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx) to remove the secondary data steam from those file which I believe causes the issue.