Windows 7 - corrupted administrator account repair replace

I recently purchased a new Dell inspiron 560 MT with win 7 64 bit Home premier. During setup I think i made a mistake in not setting up a user account in addition to the administrator account. I then partioned my drive to create a separate drive for my data and losded my software into c: and my data into e: .

Subsequently i discovered that a feature in Quicken did not work. After checking with Q I found that the function worked in safe mode, Q suggested i create a test user account which I did. Logging into that test account i found that the function worked. Q told me that I probably had a corrupted Administrator account.

In addition my shutdown speed takes about 2 minutes. They said that that was also a probable result of the corrupt Administrator account.
Are they correct? I have searched for information on how to repair/replace etc this account and not found any clear answers.

my email is thunderbird vers 3.0 with two different users. i will probably nee advice on how to move the email to the new user account after repairing/replacing the admilnistrator account.
Hope you can help
Mediamavin

The admin account is default but there is a hidden Administrator account that you can activate ... see this tutorial Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable

I beleive Dell put a password on the Hidden Administrator.

Create a new Administrative account in your name in Control Panel>User Accounts. Set up the desktop and copy your files over.

Next, delete your old corrupt Admin account in User Accounts>Manage Account. Place the old files on the desktop temporarily if you are unsure that you copied them all over.

or....

After reading the tuturial Jacee linked above, if you decide you can handle the hidden Admin account (no User Account controls nag messages) then enable it instead of creating the new one, and after files are copied over and desktop set up, delete your old account.

gregrocker
Thanks for the quick reply. It is not clear to me what files you are refering to when you say in your first par. "Set up the desktop and copy your files over."

same for second par...."Place the old files on the desktop temporarily if you are unsure that you copied them all over."

Will these steps retain the settings i have previously established or will i have to reset every thing? Will i still have access to my email or will that have to be reset up?

You will have to set up your user account from scratch.

You can transfer most settings by unhiding Hidden Files in Control Panel>Folders and copying over the contents of AppData folders to new ones.

Most programs should work fine unless they were only installed for one User, since you'll be Administrator (either hidden or account).

I use webmail so you'll have to test and research more for yourself how to maintain Windows Mail if that is what you have.

Have you considered a clean reinstall which is the ultimate fix for corruption on this scale?
Clean Install Windows 7

This thread might be useful too:
Directory Username Problem

In answer to your last question, i did consider a clean install -- for a few seconds-- but given that the Quicken error is relatively trivial and the slow shutdown is only a minor problem at the moment, such drastic surgery didn't seem warrented. I was optimistically hoping for a "quick fix".

I do now see how i can repair the problem -- but given the amount of time involved for me to do the work, i think i will hold off till the patient is sicker.

Thanks for the time you took to provide me with the info i needed.
mediamavin
btw--i use thunderbird--which i suspect wil also give me the bends in moving it.

Im running Windows 7 on a Dell Inspiron 1525. I made and error and changed my administrator account to a standard account and now I cant access anything. Throught the Control Panel I cant create anothe administrator account. When I try I get a window which pops up and sayd "The specified account name is not valid, because accoutn names cannot contain the following characters:/\[]";:|<>++,?*.
Please type a different name"

But I'm not using these characters. I simply created a name "admin". I need to access to the system to make changes. Any suggestions what to do or what's wrong are greatly appreciated!