Are you creating an Administrative level account, the one which will be offered when you install or reinstall?
With an Administrative level account you will be able to do most anything, only being second-guessed by User Account Controls if you are about to make important changes. You can turn down User Account Controls settings in Control Panel.
If Windows 7 didn't want owners to run on an Administrative level account, it wouldn't offer it during install or when setting up a factory-installed OS. A standard account should only be used for setting up another User with lesser permissions, or turn on the Guest Account and password your own when letting others use it.
Tips for getting a purrfect install based on hundreds done here:
re-install windows 7