If you notice an application icon or system icon with a blue and yellow shield (Icon overlay) at the corner, it means that the applications need to run with administrator privileges. When you run such an application, you will get a UAC prompt. While they are there for security reasons, it gets annoying to get the prompt every time you run it. In this post, we will show how to remove the blue and yellow shield from an icon in Windows 11/10.
Why is UAC important?
The UAC, or User Account Control setting, ensures that no program can run with admin privileges unless allowed by the user. It prevents potentially harmful programs from making changes to your computer. It is best to keep this setting to default and not make any changes unless necessary.
Remove Blue and Yellow Shield from an Icon in Windows
The blue and yellow shield is an Icon Overlay. If you wish to remove it, try our suggestions – one is sure to help you:
- Reinstall the application and set Compatibility
- Change UAC Level
- Use NirCMD to remove the shield but keep UAC
- Bypass UAC for these programs.
Once you have done this, you may need to clear the Icons cache.
1] Reinstall the application and set Compatibility
The application icon on which you notice these shields is usually a shortcut. They signify that the UAC prompt will appear every time you run the application.
- First, uninstall and then reinstall the application. Do not run the application unless the rest of the steps are complete.
- Right-click on the shortcut icon.
- Select Properties from the menu.
- Switch to the Compatibility tab and uncheck the box that says Run this program as an administrator.
- Click Apply and OK.
It will remove the shield icons from the application icon in Windows.
2] Change UAC Level
Use WIN + Q to launch the search bar. Type UAC to reveal the User Account Control setting. Once you open the setting, you can lower the level.
Choose the setting that says – Notify only when apps try to make changes to my computer. Once you choose this option, you will not get any warning when you run the apps with a blue or yellow shield icon. However, this will become a permanent setting, which can be dangerous if you accidentally run a rouge application.
3] Use NirCMD to remove icon but keep UAC
NirCMD is a command-line utility allowing users to run applications without displaying any UAC. We can use this to disable the UAC prompt. However, it only bypasses the prompt and ensures that the application is run with elevated privileges as expected.
Download nircmd.exe from here and copy it into your C:\Windows folder
Open the Properties dialogue box for the shortcut for which you want to get rid of the shield symbol
Click the ‘Change icon’ and confirm with ‘OK’ right away without any changes
Add ‘nircmd elevate ‘ at the beginning of the target application path-
nircmd elevate <Path to application EXE file>
Confirm with ‘OK.’ The shield symbol will be gone.
The admin privileges will make sure to launch the program with admin privileges but without any UAC.
4] Bypass UAC for these programs
It is possible to bypass UAC from selected programs on your Windows 11/10 computer. For that, you can use the Task Scheduler. Alternatively, you can create an elevated program shortcut to get the same thing done. Read our exhaustive post to find out how you can bypass UAC for these applications.
If the above steps resolve the UAC prompt, but the shield icon remains, you may have to clear the Icon cache.
We hope you find this guide easy to follow and that you were able to remove the blue and yellow shield icons from those applications.
Read: How to remove Green Check Marks on Desktop Icons in Windows
How to remove Shield on Icon in Windows 11?
To remove the shield on the icon in Windows 11, you need to change the UAC or User Account Control setting. Open the User Account Control Settings wizard on your computer and choose the Notify only when apps try to make changes to my computer option. Then, click the OK button.
What does the yellow and blue shield mean in Windows 11?
The yellow and blue shield implies that you must have permission from the user who installed it to run or access it on your Windows 11 computer. It is also known as the UAC shield. If you want to remove the shield, you must change the UAC settings, as mentioned above in the article.
