The account that has system root access, is "known" as a root admin account. An administrator account is any account with admin rights. W7 has the Administrators group which is not the same as Xp's Administrators. A user with admin rights in w7 is more like a Power Users loosely speaking.
ok...you are right, accounts can change from standard to admin at will...I made another new account set as standard and it was able to go admin...for some reason I just think thats weird to be able to do that...but I guess this isn't a problem anymore =/
I have another question now then...Theres a problem I want to run that "*Program name* requires Administrator privileges to run." I tried right clicking it, then run as admin, and i just get the same pop up message. I then tried going to properties>compatibility tab>check box: run this program as administrator, and it still doesn't work...why?
I'm new to using a standard account since switching to windows 7 =[
Ignoring the Root/hidden administrator account for the moment - you should not have, (and windows should not Allow), a system without at least one active member of the administrators group.
This means that under normal conditions you cannot demote the last live admin account, as this would effectively lock you out of your own system, as you would have no way to create or re-enable an admin account.
This does occasionally happen and you can end up locked out of the admin functions on a system.
in this case the NT password recovery disk may be used to enable the Root/hidden administrator account if this does not automatically happen when entering safe mode.
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
jepherz; I just attempted to change one of my Standard User accounts to Administrator and could not without supplying an Administrator password to the "User Account Control" popup window. That means only an administrator on your computer can change a Standard User account to Administrator. The only reason I can think of that would allow what you describe as "change at will" would be if you did not log out after the change (or reboot). To change a Standard User account to Administrator "at will" is not a normal Windows 7 function.
This sounds like a function of the previously mentioned "User Account Control" or UAC. This is a security feature introduced with Vista. It will help protect your computer.
Older programs, or programs not written to use this security feature, will ask you for the administrator permissions each time you start the program. Up to date programs are written to allow you to give Standard User accounts permission to run the program. You can contact the software maker for an updated version of the program or perhaps find a different program written for Vista / 7 that you can use. I also have a couple of these older programs but I feel the UAC security is well worth the minor inconvenience.
Cheers!
Dang...thats why I'm able to change freely. It's cuz I disabled UAC.... Someone suggested I turn it off because it conflicts with steam(a gaming platform thing). It just doesn't work with it on, the screen doesn't dim and ask me for a password, it's just not compatible =/
I'm gonna have to look further into this steam and UAC thing later. So what do people think about UAC on windows 7 though? I know most people just turn it off in Vista cuz it's just annoying. I never had vista though so I don't know exactly how much the same they are or whatever...really wasn't expecting to be asking all these questions switching from XP...
A standard user can NEVER change themselves to an administrator, regardless of the UAC settings. That would simply be foolish and pointless. Only an administrator can promote another user to administrator.
see...now I'm just getting confused again...lemme ask it like this:
If you are on a standard account and try to change that standard account you are currently on to admin, what happens? now that I have UAC back on again, the moment I click on "change your account type" A message pops up asking for my admin password with the avatar I picked for that admin account. I type in that password for the admin account, and it lets me switch to admin.
When I had UAC off though, I was able to change freely...
I'm guessing UAC just conflicts with these old games, its mostly my lil cousin that plays them and I guess they figure little kids care more about the games than security, so they do nothing about to fix compatibility with UAC =T
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