DL'ed programs (ie Firefox) won't install/update w/out admin privilege

[Ruester]

I have Win7 x64 and I'm the only one using this computer! My user account has admin privileges, and I've never set up any other accounts!

I'm not sure what changed, I haven't made any major changes to my computer recently, but all of a sudden a month or two ago, I can no longer install many programs without admin privileges, AND now Firefox can't even update itself without admin privileges - all the updates now fail!

Does anyone have a clue what might be going on?

Thanks all!

 

[remm]

Do you have UAC (User Account Control) disabled? If it's enabled it might give you grief installing programs, etc. Windows has it enabled by default. To disable go to Control Panel -> User Accounts then click on the Change User Account Control Settings hyperlink.

 

[Gary]

I have always ran Win 7 from day one with the UAC shut off. It is a pain.