I have developed an application that needs admin rights to execute. Running the application on Windows 7, the user always have to launch the application as "Run as Administrator" otherwise my application prompts the user that "you don't have administrative rights etc...". This is OK and understandable because of UAC in windows 7.
To get rid that the user have to set the application as "Run as Administrator". I updated my application's "app.manifest" and set
<requestedExecutionLevel level="highestAvailable" uiAccess="false" />
Which done the job for me.
But now, a security center symbol shield appears with my application's icon. Now my question is "Why does this icon appear on my application, and what does it indicate?"
I tried marking another of my applications to "Always Run as Administrator" via windows but the same icon wouldn't appear with that application.
I want to understand the reasons and scenarios.
The shield is there to remind the user that if they double-click the exe to run it, they will get a UAC dialog. These dialogs should never be a surprise and if you get one you weren't expecting, you should really not consent to it.
The shield appears if you have a manifest that requests elevation (requireAdministrator or highestAvailable, but not if your manifest specifies asInvoker), and for certain file names. For more details see my blog entry (written at Vista time, but still applies to Windows 7) and MSDN articles on UAC and UI guidelines.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5775350/security-center-symbol-shield-with-my-application-icon