Windows 7 - administrative privileges

when attempting to install/uninstall software get message that I don't have "administrative privileges' - I am the administrator

If you're logged on with an administrative account with UAC enabled, by default, in actuality, you are not. I have indeed seen software installation packages that due to their design do not trigger a UAC dialog to execute. You can try right-clicking on the installer and choosing "run as administrator", but if that doesn't work you can actually enable the local admin account which is disabled by default. To do so, you would start lusrmgr.msc, enable and then set a password on the "Administrator" account, and then switch user and log in as the administrator with the newly-set password. Once that is done, you can install the software, then log off (or reboot, as necessary) and switch back to your account, then re-disable the administrator account again via lusrmgr.msc.