User Account Control (UAC) prompts you before an application makes an important change to your computer that requires administrative privileges. By default, the UAC prompt appears on the “secure desktop”, which freezes and darkens your screen. By freezing your screen, secure desktop makes it more difficult for another application to impersonate Windows and trick you into typing your administrator password into a fake UAC prompt.

The flashing screen is distracting, and slows things down a bit. To turn off the flashing without completely disabling UAC, follow these steps (after the jump):

1. Click Start, type Secpol.msc, and then press Enter. The secure desktop appears (for the last time!). Then, the Local Security Policy console appears.

2. Expand Local Policies and then click Security Options.

3. In the right pane, scroll to the bottom. Then, double-click User Account Control: Switch To The Secure Desktop When Prompting For Elevation.

4. Click Disabled, and then click OK.

The change takes effect immediately. There is no need to restart. Now, the UAC prompt appears like any other window. This slightly reduces the security of your computer, but it might be worth it to make UAC more convenient.