Few days ago I got a request in forum on how to change the refresh interval for the Weather gadget in Windows 7 sidebar. I was awake at 5AM that day and didn’t know what to do, so I thought I should investigate to see if that is possible. After using and testing the Windows Gadget, I found that the gadget is controlled by javascripts such as weather.js file in js folder. After editing the javascript file with Notepad++, I tried to save the changes and I received a Save failed error window popup with the message “Please check whether if this file is opened in another program” when trying to save the changes I made on weather.js file. When I tried using the Windows Notepad, it simply shows Access is denied error. I used Unlocker to check if the weather.js file is locked to any running process but it shows no locking handle found. Finally I checked the security settings for the file from the Properties window and found that none of the users except TrustedInstaller have modify, write or full control permissions on it.
The solution to allow editing of this file is to take ownership of the file and set a proper permission for my account. This can be done by right clicking on the file, select Properties, got Security tab, click the Advanced button, go to Owner tab, click the Edit button, select the user and click the OK button. Then go back to the Security tab of the Properties window, click the Edit button, select the user and check Allow for the Full Control checkbox.
That’s 13 clicks just to allow me to edit that protected file. A simpler way is to use WinOwnership where I can just drag the file to the program’s window and click a button which will give me full access to the file. If you’re not comfortable with the drag and drop, you can double click on the program to browse for the file or folder that you want to patch. WinOwnership remains on top of all windows to allow the drag and drop easier without bringing it back to the front.
Other than giving yourself full access to the file, you can also use WinOwnership to undo the change by clicking the Undo button. The video below shows how WinOwnership works if you’re still not sure what it does.
There’s something odd about WinOwnership which is it only seems to work if the UAC is disabled. I wasn’t able to drag any item to the WinOwnership window when UAC is enabled and running the program as administrator.
WinOwnership is free, portable and works with all versions of Windows starting from XP to Windows 8 including 64-bit. Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4 to run. Thanks leofelix for sharing this with us in forum!
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