USER ACCOUNT CONTROL NOT WORKING

The behavior described matches scenarios where malware or incorrect file-association registry entries prevent .exe files from running correctly and can also interfere with User Account Control (UAC) behavior.

Follow these steps to repair .exe handling and then run the installer again.

Important: These steps involve editing the registry. Incorrect changes can cause system problems. Before proceeding, back up the registry as described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 322756 (How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP). Use an account with administrative rights.

1. Open Registry Editor with elevated rights
2. Press the Start button and select Run (or use Search).
3. Type explorer and select OK.
4. Navigate to the Windows directory (for example, C:\Windows) and locate regedit.exe.
5. On Windows 11 (same method as Windows 7/Vista in the article):
   • Right-click regedit.exe and select Run as administrator.
   • Click Yes to accept the UAC prompt.
6. Remove malicious or incorrect per-user file associations These steps clear custom associations under the current user that can hijack .exe and related file types.
7. In Registry Editor, locate and select this key:
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes
8. In the left pane, for each of the following subkeys, if present, right-click and select Delete, then click OK:
   • .exe
   • .com
   • .bat
   • .cmd
   • .reg
   • .regedit
   • secfile
9. Close Registry Editor.
10. Scan for malware
11. Update and run the installed antivirus solution and perform a full scan.
12. If no antivirus is installed, use Microsoft’s free malware removal tool, Microsoft Safety Scanner, as described in the article, to clean any remaining malware.
13. Retry the installer
14. After the registry cleanup and malware scan, reboot the PC.
15. Locate fldigi-4.2.11_setup.exe.
16. Right-click the file and select Run as administrator.
17. When the UAC prompt appears, choose Yes and verify that the installer now starts normally.

If UAC prompts still do not allow selection of Yes for any trusted installer, verify overall UAC configuration (for example, via Control Panel → System and Security → Action Center → Change User Account Control Settings) and ensure UAC is not disabled or locked by policy.

References:

• When you open a file on a Windows based computer, the file may start a different program
• You cannot change User Account Control (UAC) settings on Windows 7