What use are they if they cannot be altered from their default values anyway? Rhetorical question.

First, what's the best way to circumvent the Settings system and write to the application scope settings file directly (security issues in the next paragraph)? XmlReader/XmlWriter?

IIRC, if an application tries to write to its Program Files folder, Windows Vista and 7 does some magic to prevent that. I suppose I need to call UAC to elevate and I must put that fancy shield icon on my application's Options window's OK button and so on. Link to a quick how-to?

Alternatively, you may tell me that what I'm trying to do is stupid and I should store my alterable application scope settings somewhere else altogether.