Solved made Win7 mad, now it's spiting me.

[meamjw]

I've been fiddling with UAC for a couple days while trying to fix a problem with IE. I apparently got something all screwed up because it bitches about permissions for half the things I try to do now. Twice today it wouldn't let me install software. The latest was Super Ad Blocker. Earlier it was Autoruns from Sysinternals. Actually I got Autoruns installed but I couldn't even turn off Yahoo toolbar. This kind of stuff makes me so mad I may turn into a Microsoft hater. It's my friggin computer and no one else ever uses it, so I figure I have 100% right to do whatever I please to it. Someone please tell me how to completely stop this permissions crap. And I don't want any lectures about how it will make my computer less safe. What good is it to be so "safe" you can't do a danged thing you want to do?
Thanks for any real help.

 

[Jacee]

Have you looked through the tutorials? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11949-elevated-program-shortcut-without-uac-prompt-create.html

 

[Gornot]

meamjw, there probably isn't that many things a user would need to do while having UAC disabled, so whichever error you had with IE, it wasn't worth meddling with the lecture I'm not about to give you in your current mood.

Do a system restore to a point prior to those IE errors. If it doesn't work, I suggest you simply do a clean reinstall of Win7. Simply turning UAC off completely is not an option.

 

[alphanumeric]

To turn UAC off move the slider all the way to the bottom where it says "Never notify". You'll probably get one more nag message when you click OK, but after that it shouldn't rear its ugly head. If you still have problems installing programs its not a UAC problem, you have something else going on. Does your user account have administrator privileges?

 

[meamjw]

alphanumeric,
It was your reply that gave me a roundabout clue. My main account did have me listed as administrator until yesterday, but today it was listing me as standard user. I had tried to change that but it wouldn't retain the change. I logged on with the Administrator account then was able to give my primary account admin privileges again. I wish I still had XP. Regardless of whether Win7 is a bit more secure, I had learned to stay pretty well protected in XP without any of this permissions garbage. Thanks!

 

[alphanumeric]

It kind of sounded like you were maybe using a standard user account in stead of an administrator account. The baked in security is why you can't change it using the standard user account. Only an account with admin privileges can make another account an admin. Thats actually a good thing. UAC is too, but I have turned mine off. They can lecture me all they want that turning it off is a bad thing to do. I know what it does, I know how it works, and I'm prepared to live with the consequences of turning it off. Going from XP to 7 is a big change in how you do some things in windows. Even finding some stuff can be a pain if you don't use the search feature. I think you'll find the more you use windows 7 the more you'll start to like its features. It will do some pretty cool stuff if you take the time to learn a few keyboard short cuts.

 

[mborner]

I've been fiddling with UAC for a couple days while trying to fix a problem with IE. I apparently got something all screwed up because it bitches about permissions for half the things I try to do now. Twice today it wouldn't let me install software. The latest was Super Ad Blocker. Earlier it was Autoruns from Sysinternals. Actually I got Autoruns installed but I couldn't even turn off Yahoo toolbar. This kind of stuff makes me so mad I may turn into a Microsoft hater. It's my friggin computer and no one else ever uses it, so I figure I have 100% right to do whatever I please to it. Someone please tell me how to completely stop this permissions crap. And I don't want any lectures about how it will make my computer less safe. What good is it to be so "safe" you can't do a danged thing you want to do?
Thanks for any real help.

I went from XP to 7, also, and it's a shocking change. don't fool yourself into thinking that W7 is more secure than XP because if you're running as an administrator and you've got UAC turned off, it most certainly is not. I keep UAC turned all the way up and use only my standard user account and I have absolutely no issues whatsoever. Then again, I've picked up a couple of good books and learned how to use W7 properly. You said, yourself, that you screwed things up with UAC, so please, don't blame W7. IMO, the solution to your problem is simply learning how W7 works and how to use it properly. Understanding how UAC works and what it does goes a long way in making it work to your advantage and keeping your system secure. Please don't give up on it. Good luck.

 

[meamjw]

Problem OK now.

I finally got W7 back to normal. I got along with it fairly well for a few months, but after I got it screwed up, I had about a week that I couldn't get anything done but fight with it. Thanks to all who tried to help.
Will the admin (or whoever knows how) please close this thread. I looked for a way to do it but couldn't find one.