Can't make changes to the default Administrator Account

KT888 · 06 Oct 2016

Can't make changes in the default Administrator Account. I'm talking basic stuff here. Can't unlock the taskbar. Resize or move the taskbar around. Not to the same monitor or to another Which is what I want to do. I can't do other things similar to this such as changing the environment a bit. I don't know what else is blocked because I really don't spend any time in that account but if these basic functions are blocked you KNOW there are more serious things that are blocked as well.

I created a new Administrator account and it has the same issues.

I mean isn't the default Administrator's Account supposed to be able to do EVERYTHING WITHOUT verification. I am unable to make even basic changes. I can't change the view of Windows Explorer. I change the default computer view from Tiles to Details and the next Explorer window that comes up has it back at tile view. I tried to get windows to show file extensions and it won't even though I uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" in Folder Options.

BobFairmead · 08 Oct 2016

By "default Administrator's account", do you mean the hidden Administrator account? Following any Windows 7 reinstall, I immediately invoke the hidden Administrator account, delete the account created during installation, and use it exclusively. (Before the warning screams begin - I live alone, and am the only one who uses this machine, and I've always had full control of my Operating Systems in previous Windows versions, and no one died, the birds still fly, and we don't live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.) Although it doesn't quite allow one to do everything, it does give greater freedom and control, and silences the incendiary, arrogant refusals that a normal account produces. I've never experienced any of the problems you describe.
When wandering through Permissions, I have noticed other "Administrator" accounts, so perhaps these are what you refer to. I don't know the difference - I've never tried, but given Windows' obsession with maintaining control, I doubt that any Admin account created by/under a normal account would give much greater control - so maybe this is the problem here.

KT888 · 14 Oct 2016

BobFairmead said:

By "default Administrator's account", do you mean the hidden Administrator account? Following any Windows 7 reinstall, I immediately invoke the hidden Administrator account, delete the account created during installation, and use it exclusively. (Before the warning screams begin - I live alone, and am the only one who uses this machine, and I've always had full control of my Operating Systems in previous Windows versions, and no one died, the birds still fly, and we don't live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.) Although it doesn't quite allow one to do everything, it does give greater freedom and control, and silences the incendiary, arrogant refusals that a normal account produces. I've never experienced any of the problems you describe.
When wandering through Permissions, I have noticed other "Administrator" accounts, so perhaps these are what you refer to. I don't know the difference - I've never tried, but given Windows' obsession with maintaining control, I doubt that any Admin account created by/under a normal account would give much greater control - so maybe this is the problem here.

Yes Bob that's the one I mean. It SHOULD have MORE rights but for some reason it is severly restricted and just plain won't allow me to do the most basic things whereas the account I use on a daily basis lets me do... well anything. It's NOT the hidden administrators account. It's just the administrators account created on Windows install with UAC shut down. I do think you've got the right idea though. The only downside I could see is if something gets messed up in your daily account you wouldn't have the hidden master account to fix it. If you're gonna do it that way you should make sure you create an additional administrators account. If you call it Administrator you can just hide it the same way as the real hidden administrators account even though it would still have UAC enabled.

BobFairmead · 14 Oct 2016

Thinking about this, I wonder if the lesser Administrative accounts are just a sort of permanent way to avoid such as - Right-clicking Command Prompt under Start\Accessories and choosing Run as Administrator. Doesn't give you much greater control, but sets the necessary flag that allows the user to do things from then on without needing to always have to choose Run as Administrator. A kind of "OK, then, if you must - I'll allow you that... but no more." A step up from the irritating and constant, "Do you want <program> to make changes to this computer". I don't know if this illustrates it, but I no longer have Run as Administrator as a Right-click option.

The only downside I could see is if something gets messed up in your daily account you wouldn't have the hidden master account to fix it.

Bit of mixed logic there.

Because I don't work in a "daily account" - only ever in a true Admin account - things don't get messed up. It seems to me that the "messing up" is always a response from the system trying to combat the user's effrontery, daring to do something that is not (currently) allowed within the existing Permissions setup. It seems that once I've told the system that I am in charge, it relaxes, and lets me get on with it, doesn't place obstacles, and it seems happier - I certainly am. Truly, I have never had anything bad happen since I've taken total(ish) control, which I've been doing for many years now.
I could no more think of working with the default unfriendly, demanding, denying vociferousness of a standard account, than I could of doing something that I really, really, don't want to do. So I don't.

(Thoughts: I've been using PCs since their inception, and they don't frighten me. Windows is just a tool, and I have modified and repaired real steel tools over the years, so doing the same with Windows is just getting on with it. If I have to reinstall everything due to something I have done, then so be it - a learning, a tut, not a disaster. I have everything of any import backed up twice, and so a full reinstall would take maybe an hour - back to when the problem happened, if that. (And if I've remembered to regularly take an image, less than that.)
I quite enjoyed it when things went wrong - made me think, seek solutions; more learnings.
My system boots sufficiently fast, but still takes too long (for me) to Shutdown. I almost always switch off at the wall before it completes - sometimes I do immediately just to annoy it. XP used to complain and shout at me to always shutdown properly - yeah, like that's going to happen. 7 just offers a default 'boot normally' option at startup. It's learned.
Perhaps my way of working with recalcitrant and controlling Operating Systems is not for everyone.)