Can no longer install without doing "Run As Admin"..

I would persit and make a new account. There is something defiantly wrong with that user account, and it could cause more/other problems in the future. I would bite the bullet and press on.

orlando1974 said:

are you saying that because those "tweaks" that did not carry over, usually are?

in other words, does your procedure usually retain wallpaper, screensaver, taskbar items, library items, settings etc when copying an account over?

Reading the links I gave you in full will answer those questions.

orlando1974 said:

Thanks for the options. I tried Microsoft's preferred method... I created a total of 3 user accounts (all admins) so that I could perform as the 3rd account the copy and paste from account 1 to account 2.

Although account #2 when tested still worked for installing programs w/o requiring the Run As Administrator, I'm not really liking the fact that I lost most of my customizations of Account 1, such as:

Wallpaper, Desktop background and widgets, programs pinnned to taskbar at the bottom. In addition I had assigned icons representing my different hard drives. All gone back to the default generic versions. And my Libraries where I use to have music selections, video selections, etc...they're all now empty.

So Im not sure what exactly got copied over but all the visual tweaks and organizations I had done did not copy over, so I'm not really any further. Not sure which direction to go now? Keep the original account but just always do Run As Administrator everytime? Or persist and make my new account match perfectly my original account?

Well; i believe the reason behind why you lost all the customizations is because somehow it appears that the uac profile for your 1st admin account somehow got corrupted. What caused it to happen? well there could be a number of things there and Im not a 100% expert in that part of the area.

An admin account will always exist on the machine. It has to.

For better security, you could create a standard user account and use that. Then whenever you need to do something that needs admin approval, UAC will prompt you for the admin password.

See all the links for a more complete understanding and information:

Why use a standard user account instead of an administrator account? - Microsoft Windows Help

What is a standard user account?

User accounts: frequently asked questions - Microsoft Windows Help


Why you should not disable UAC:
http://www.howtogeek.com/124754/htg-...t-disable-uac/


Understanding UAC:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...#1TC=windows-7

orlando1974 said:

Thanks for the links...I've read all and now I feel more confused than ever.

How can I help? Is there a way I could explain that might help you understand UAC?

orlando1974 said:

simply trying to open certain folders on my other hard drives (not the C drive), and I get the following message: "You don't currently have permission to access this folder. Click continue to permanently get access to this folder."

What happens when you click continue? Does it work?

orlando1974 said:

Should I reformat my other hard drives and copy back everything after from my backup source?

No, let your backup be a backup. Always have your data in 2 locations.

orlando1974 said:

Also, it is safer for me to select INSTALL FOR ALL USERS when I install new software on my PC? I'm the only one using the computer... but if this will avoid problems in the future....

Yes I would install for all users for programs that offer it in the future.



Try the take ownership command on the external hard drives or any folder with your own personal files that you want full access to.

See here: Take Ownership Shortcut

This will permanently make sure your allowed to open and edit all your files.

Read the full tutorial completely.

Other options to take ownership:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67...ship-file.html