Administrator messed up

[NMrabbit]

I bought a new Acer 1TB 4GB Ram 4-core Win Home Premium 7 64bit at WalMart.
Get no help from Acer or Microsoft.
I spent 16 hours transferring files and folders and trying to learn how to use this monster. I thought I was computer literate 85%. I have been using PC's since 1988. I am 76. Anytime it takes a computer engineer to operate this machine, something is wrong. I read Dummies for 7 and read some of these responces to other askers. I am not about to remove all my files, documents, pictures and other transferred programs ---JUST to rid this computer of the
"You are not the administrator"
In the user folder I am the adminsitor. I have a guest user and a standard user.
I still can not down load anything off the internet. It is something I have done since I downloaded AlarmZone Security and Spybot. Can any one help me?

 

[bigmck]

I bought a new Acer 1TB 4GB Ram 4-core Win Home Premium 7 64bit at WalMart.
Get no help from Acer or Microsoft.
I spent 16 hours transferring files and folders and trying to learn how to use this monster. I thought I was computer literate 85%. I have been using PC's since 1988. I am 76. Anytime it takes a computer engineer to operate this machine, something is wrong. I read Dummies for 7 and read some of these responces to other askers. I am not about to remove all my files, documents, pictures and other transferred programs ---JUST to rid this computer of the
"You are not the administrator"
In the user folder I am the adminsitor. I have a guest user and a standard user.
I still can not down load anything off the internet. It is something I have done since I downloaded AlarmZone Security and Spybot. Can any one help me?

I am a fan of Zonealarm, but let's try this. Remove Zonealarm and Spybot. Do a System Restore to the point before you had them. Download Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows See if this makes things OK. Let us know what happens.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

If it were mine I would use Free version of Revo Uninstaller and completely remove AlarmZoneSec&Spybot.
Then run a full scan of this free software...Malwarebytes : Free anti-malware, anti-virus and spyware removal download
Last I would install MSE AV which is free along with Windows Firewall.

Remind you.............If this were mine ...that's what I would do.

Post back if you need more help.
THW

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Welcome to Seven Forums NMrabbit!

I completely agree with the above two members and be sure to uninstall the antivirus protection you have installed fully, as mentioned above REVO Uninstaller is one way to do this. A second way, which I personally prefer is using the vender's removal tool for each installed antivirus application from their website, although it can be a bit more tedious than REVO.

Was there any type of free trial antivirus software installed when you got the computer, such as Norton or McAfee which you may have tried and uninstalled previously, or remains intact? If so, his would need removed as well

And finally, does the problem seem to be isolated to files which have been transferred from your other computer? Since I don't know for sure the wording of the error was not paraphrased, you might just be having trouble accessing files that you don't have the Permission to use by anyone on this computer. Depends in part on how you transferred the files. You may need to take ownership of them, if the security permissions do not list you or a group you're a member of (e.g. Administrators) with permission to alter the file. If you think this is the case (if the antivirus removal didn't help) read about permissions in the book you have. It does explain permissions.

Best of luck!
Mike

 

[profdlp]

If it were mine I would use Free version of Revo Uninstaller...

Excellent advice. I'd also use it to clean out any of the stuff Acer put on there that you don't want. Just make sure you know what it is - Revo is quite thorough.

 

[NMrabbit]

Thanks a lot BIGMCK. You hit it on the head square. After I got back on. I used revouninstaller. Cleaned the HD slick. So far everything is normal. Thanks again. NMrabbit

 

[bigmck]

Thanks a lot BIGMCK. You hit it on the head square. After I got back on. I used revouninstaller. Cleaned the HD slick. So far everything is normal. Thanks again. NMrabbit

Glad to hear things are going smooth. If you have any further trouble, let us know.

 

[bigmck]

When I first started reading this thread with the title "Administrator Messed Up", I thought it was going to be a criticism of John.

 

[NMrabbit]

I found remnants of both SpyBot and ZoneAlarm after I used Revouninstaller. I deleted them by(DELETE) but on the Computer tree in Program Files (x86) Zone Alarm is gone, but Spybot is still there. When I try to (DELETE) a window says that The Folder or File can't be opened because it is being used by another program? I can't find Spybot anyplace else on my computer. NMrabbit

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hello again NMrabbit,

Do you happen to have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) installed? (free or paid version) If so, MBAM includes a useful and powerful tool called FileASSASSIN that will almost always do the trick. If you don't have MBAM installed (I would recommend it - the free version anyway!), it can be downloaded from here: Malwarebytes Anti-malware Or else the tool can be downloaded as a standalone application here: FileAssassin

Either of these should delete the files you are having trouble with. (If you are having trouble locating it in MBAM, it is in is own tab in the main application, titled "tools" if I remember correctly.)

Hope this helps, let us/me know either way!

Sincerely,
Mike

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Rubyrubyroo,
That's where it is...

Never used it but handy tool if someone gets into trouble located a bad file!
THW

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Thanks for the visual The Howling! This tool (File Assassin,) works as good if not better than Move on Boot or Unlocker - which are other traditional tools used in these type of cases, but have seem to have become almost obsolete IMHO since it is commonly found already present with MBAM as a "unnoticed tag-along!"

But the there tools are linked-out as well if they are of more interest to someone or in case they do work better in some specific case (of which I cannot find a real world example of as of current day.)

Mike