If User Account Control (UAC) is turned off in Windows 7, none of the desktop gadgets would run. Also, when you right-click on the Desktop and click Gadgets, the Desktop Gadget Gallery would not start. This could be a deliberate move by Microsoft to enhance the security by preventing gadgets from running under administrative privileges. By amending a registry value, you can make the gadgets work even if UAC is disabled.

Run Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets with UAC Turned Off

Note: I haven’t studied the possible security implications of this tweak. You use it at your own risk!

1. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER

2. Navigate to the following branch:

3. Create a new DWORD value named AllowElevatedProcess

4. Double-click AllowElevatedProcess and set its Value data to 1

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

Registry Fix

Download w7-gadgets-elevate.zip and save to Desktop. Unzip and run the enclosed file w7-gadgets-elevate.reg. To reverse the changes, run undo.reg.

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