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General discussion

Windows 7 Administrator privileges

Jan 30, 2010 9:55PM PST

I recently got myself a Dell studio 15 with Windows 7. First start up went ok, entered in the details to create an account as and when it was asked. However, when it came to installing some programs it told me I needed Admin privileges to do so, however my account was an Administrator type (verified in Control Panel>User accounts)!

I then created a new account, made it Administrator as well, then deleted the first account. This seems to have worked, but because I'm unfamiliar with Windows 7 I'm not 100% convinced that I can full Administrator privileges. Has anyone experienced something similar and know how to verify that the account is truly fully Administrator?

Discussion is locked

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It happens
Jan 30, 2010 10:36PM PST

It happens from time to time, and there doesn't seem to be any real reason for it that I've been able to discern. Normally I'd think it's just some old program or installer, but this happened with the latest Mozilla Firefox for me once.

Sometimes it works if you right click a file and then select "Run as Administrator", but other times not. Probably the best thing to do is what you did, and make a new account since my working theory is that this is an early sign of profile corruption. Which is why it's always good to have a "spare" admin account you can use if things go south.

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Cheers
Jan 30, 2010 11:33PM PST

Thanks for that Jimmy. I might do as you suggest as well and create a "back up" admin account.

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A bit more about administrator accounts
Feb 19, 2010 4:40AM PST

I agree with Jimmy, and want to provide you with a little further information about administrator accounts.

An administrator account is a user account that lets you make changes that will affect other users. Administrators can change security settings, install software and hardware, and access all files on the computer. Administrators can also make changes to other user accounts.

When you set up Windows, you'll be required to create a user account. This account is an administrator account that allows you to set up your computer and install any programs that you would like to use. Once you have finished setting up your computer, we recommend that you use a standard user account for your day-to-day computing. It's more secure to use a standard user account instead of an administrator account because it can prevent people from making changes that affect everyone who uses the computer.

Why to use a standard account rather than an administrator account: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Why-use-a-standard-user-account-instead-of-an-administrator-account

Cheers,
Cassandra
Microsoft Windows Outreach

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User Administrator on a one User PC
Jun 20, 2010 1:27PM PDT

There is not doubt that an Admin account is more powerful than a User Admin account, but is this something I should care about if I am the only user on it? I had a problem with Spy-Bot and it took me forever to find out that it had modified my host file so I couldn't go places like VistaPrint . As it turns out I could not modify the host file from my User Admin account I had to login to the real Admin account, then why have User Admins that are not really admins. Sorry for splitting hairs here.

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They are really admins.
Jun 20, 2010 9:49PM PDT

Many are confusing admin with file permissions. Even an admin must obey permissions.

-->> Sorry but this is all about learning a new area. Some think of admin should be able to edit a read-only file which should fail. Said admin however can take ownership of the file, changed the read-only to read-write and then edit it. The steps are your clue about how the admin is yes, the admin.
Bob