Solved How can I have full 'Administrator rights' for my user account?

[seymoria]

Hi.

I am the only user on my system and there is only a single account. Control panel shows my account as having full administrator rights.

However, whenever I try to do literally anything, even the simplest operations like moving, deleting, or renaming a file, a prompt appears every time asking 'You will need to provide Administrator permission to do this' and I have to click a YES to go ahead.

The more annoying thing is that when I am using some software involving the above functions (renaming or over writing files) the operation completely aborts with an 'access denied' message.

Nobody uses this computer except me and I want to have full rights to do anything.

Thanks for help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Seymoria,

Administrator accounts do not run elevated by default for security purposes. This is done so that nothing on your PC will also be able to run elevated without you first getting a UAC prompt to approve it. Once you click on YES, then it runs elevated for only that session and instance.

It's not just about keep unauthorized users from running anything elevated, it's to prevent say malware from being able to run elevated without you knowing about it and it having full access to everything on your PC.

This is why it's not recommended to use the built-in elevated "Administrator" account for everyday use, but only as needed instead.

If you insist, then you could use the tutorial below to elevate the privilege level of all administrator accounts to be the same as the built-in Administrator account to have full access. Just be warned, that everything that runs while you are signed in will also have the same unrestricted rights.

User Account Control (UAC) - Elevate Privilege Level

 

[seymoria]

Thank you for the reply.

This tutorial seems to be directed towards Windows Vista and lists various options for the intended purpose. Can you briefly guide me which option and how to use it for Windows 7?

I fully understand your security advice and the dangers of malware in my case. I don't want to tamper with the default security features. Is it not possible that I 'authorize' my specific programs that I frequently use while keeping in place the security settings for everything else? For example, I want to use a batch renaming utility for files and an image format conversion software to work with image files. The default security simply doesn't let me use these apps!

Regards.

 

[Brink]

The tutorial is for Windows 7 as well.

 

[seymoria]

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.