Clear uac icon overlays on windows 8 icons

M$, from Windows Vista introduced icon overlays on icons of programs requiring elevated priveledges to run. These UAC (User Acount Control) overlays looks like this



I don't usually like the how these security overlays cover up the icons. From my opinion, the overlay makes the icons ugly.
In previous versions of Windows (Windows Vista and Windows 7), it was possible to turn off completely the UAC thus removing the icon overlays. In the recent Windows 8 however, which I am sure most of you (including myself) are using, you cannot turn off UAC since most Apps in the Modern UI(Metro Apps) require it to be on in order to run them.
Please not that I also like the UAC to be on since it serves it purpose by ensuring that only allowed programs run.
I found a way I see it useful for me that ensures that your icons remains as beautiful as they were intended. You can follow these simple steps to achieve this:
1. You must google and download these softwares that will assist you to accomplish this
(a) Resource Hacker (Google for it)
(b) IcoFX you can get a free trial at (h**p://***.softpedia.com/progDownload/IcoFX-Download-35273.html)
(c) IconsExtract from (h**p://***.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.zip)
2. Copy the file "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll" to a folder on your desktop.
3. Open imageres.dll using IconsExtract and select the icon No.78. Right Click on it and choose "Save Seleted icons". Select a location to save eg on your desktop
4. Now install and run IcoFX and open the icon you saved on step 3 using it.
5. Follow the process as shown on the following images

On the left there are different same icon of different sizes. Select the first go to Adjustments>opacity


Set the opacity to "-99" as shown below. If you set it to 100% opacity, the system will display black overlays on icons on the place of UAC icon overlay.


The icon on the left should now appear to have been deleted as shown below

Do this for the rest of the icon sizes EXCEPT ALL 16X16 AND 8X8 icons (This is important) leaving a total of 6 icons unchanged. This will ensure that the UAC overlay icons appear on windows settings which I like unless otherwise you don't.
After having set opacity to -99 for all icons with exception, save the file. Now open the imageres.dll file you copied to your desktop using resource hacker. Go to "Icon Group" expand it and go to No.78 expand it. Select 1033, Right click on it as shown below and select Replace Resource. Select the location of the icon you saved after editing using IconFX. Use to replace the resource.



Save the imageres.dll file and you are done.
Start Windows in save mode, take ownership of "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll", rename it and copy the imageres.dll you edited to this location. If you are using Windows 64bit, copy also the same file to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\imageres.dll since both files are the same.
NOTE: UAC icon overlay may still appear on icons due to the cache so if you want you need to clear icon cache on "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" and "C:\Users\uaername\AppData\Local\IconCache.db"
Icons overlay will still appear on icons when you set view to small icons. This is not a problem to me since I usually use large icons.
This can be used for Windows Vista, 7 and 8

 

I am also using Windows 8 Pro x64. I don't understand your problem. Have you followed the other steps. If you have the you can right Click on the imageres.dll file and the context menu that appears should contain "Open Using Resource Hacker" since you said you have installed the Resource Hacker. Just see it for yourself:




When you are copying the imageres.dll file from C drive, Copy the file first then paste it on the desktop just to be sure you copied it

 

For anyone, there is a simple registry tweak that adds the "Take Ownership" option on the context menu as below



You can find it here (h**p://media.askvg.com/downloads/2007/10/Add-Take-Ownership-Option.zip)

 

What I know is that taking ownership of a file when you are running on an admin account doesnt require any elevation. I've never used link for askvg I provided but I usually use this tool to add such tweaks.
This is the image setup. This toolkit was designed for windows 7 but most tweaks apply also to windows 8

The "Take Ownership" on the context menu can be added by just a click as indicated below


This has more tweaks such as speeding up adding OEM logo, taskbar thumbnail preview, adding "Open with Notepad" to context menu etc. I commonly use the below highlighted ones.


If you like, you can google, its about 25mb.
NOTE: Not all the tweaks will apply to Windows 8