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User account changed into a guest account, how can I change it back
So this is probably the strangest problem I have ever encountered with Windows 7. About two or three months ago, I noticed that my user account had suddenly changed into a guest account. I get prompted for an administrator password when trying to do any tasks that require administrator privilege. It is not a huge hassle, as I know the administrator account password.
Here is where it becomes very strange. When I turn my computer on, it automatically logs me into my user account (the guest account). When I got into the user accounts section of the control panel and try to manage user accounts, it shows exactly zero user accounts on my computer. Also, when I try to change my user account (the guest account) to an administrator account, precisely nothing happens.
It gets evens stranger. When I log out of Windows, the only user account I can pick from, to log back into Windows, is the generic "Administrator" account. My user account is nowhere to be found. When I go to the control panel and try to manage accounts, only the administrator account is listed. There is an option turn on a generic guest account, but nothing related to my original user account is shown. Again, this is in contrast to when I am logged into my user account (the guest account), and see exactly zero user accounts listed on the manage accounts screen.
I feel that I am pretty good at avoiding bad websites, and I do have an antivirus program installed (not that that will prevent my computer from being infected, but I have used it to do full system scans and I have found nothing on my computer every time). Additionally, I have Windows updates set to be automatically installed, so all of the updates have been installed on my version of Windows 7. I tried asking Microsoft support directly; all I got was that no user accounts showing up under the manage user accounts tab is a pretty bad sign, and that in order to fully diagnose the problem, I would need to sign up for the "Assure Plan" (or whatever it was called), which cost $149.00 for one year. Forget that option (for now).
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue? How can I switch my original user account from a guest account, and then how could I make it an administrator account once I have retrieved it (so-to-speak) from being a phantom guest account? I mean, I know the administrator password and all, and so I have been able to essentially use my computer as if nothing is wrong. But this whole issue seems very very strange and so I want to see what you guys have to say about it. I hope these are not the signs of a more serious (and potentially major) issue. Thanks in advance for anyone's help with this.