Account types changed from Administrator to Standard User

T

Ted Smith

I bought a Vista computer for my wife last Summer. She (as the owner) had
administrator priviledges, so I used her account to set up another one for
myself, also as administrator. Recently there have been a number of things
we could do anymore so I checked the account types, and both are set to
Standard User, even though we are still listed as Administrators (along with
our User Names and Password status) next to the icon on the user pages. In
the Change Account Type screen where it lists the account as Standard User,
if I check the the Administrator radio button the Change Account Type button
greys itself out and won't permit a change. The only other account is the
Guest account and it has not been activated. How can we recover from this??

Ted Smith
 
T

Ted Smith

Hello Tyro,

Thanks. I had just posted again stating my suspicion that I had interpreted
the Change Account incorrectly. Your suggestion confirmed that I had. I
followed your instructions and indeed the cmd screen lists both myself and
my wife as administrators. Thanks!


Sounds like you might be misinterpreting something. If you are listed as an
Administrator, you are.
Just as a quick check, click start, type cmd in Start search and press
Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You should get the UAC window.
Click continue. If you're in a command window, you'll see Administrator in
the title bar. If you can get this far, you are an administrator.
Type exit to close the command window or click close.

Tyro
 
T

Ted Smith

Bless you. Have a wonderful night!


Tyro said:
secpol.msc exists in Windows Vista Ultimate which I use. I don't know
about other versions. If you think it should be in your version, you can
activate the command window as you did to get to the administrator command
window, and type: sfc /scannnow. This will attempt to repair any system
file problems.

Tyro
 
C

Christopher Perkins

So are you saying both of your accounts do not have administration rights
and there is not other administrator account? Or are you saying that your
administrator password got changed? If it is any off these issues can help
you. But i need more details so I can assist you better.
 
G

Gordon

+Bob+ said:
Your world must be very painful Gordon. Perhaps you could take some
courses in self awareness and self improvement. You might enjoy your
life more.


And people who disable UAC and run as Administrator on a daily basis, quite
often without a password are the MAIN contributors to all the spam, viruses
and Trojans with which the internet is infested.

Let me ask you - why are Linux boxes not zombies? Because people do NOT run
as Root (aka Admin) and have passwords.
 
T

Ted Smith

You are truly pathetic Gordon. I pity you.

Gordon said:
And people who disable UAC and run as Administrator on a daily basis,
quite often without a password are the MAIN contributors to all the spam,
viruses and Trojans with which the internet is infested.

Let me ask you - why are Linux boxes not zombies? Because people do NOT
run as Root (aka Admin) and have passwords.

--
Asking a question?
Please tell us the version of the application you are asking about,
your OS, Service Pack level
and the FULL contents of any error message(s)
 
G

Gordon

Ted Smith said:
You are truly pathetic Gordon. I pity you.


Oh. I'm quaking. I suggest you LEARN about computer security.
You are obviously TOTALLY ignorant about it.
 
G

Gordon

Ted Smith said:
You are truly pathetic Gordon. I pity you.


PS. It's attitudes like yours, that when I run Windows, I am forced to use
AV, Antimalware etc etc. Not to protect myself, but ignoramuses like you.
 
B

+Bob+

And people who disable UAC and run as Administrator on a daily basis, quite
often without a password are the MAIN contributors to all the spam, viruses
and Trojans with which the internet is infested.

I'll agree that un knowledgeable people might be safer with UAC on.
But that doesn't mean that everyone who shuts it off is a danger to
computer safety.

As for these folks being the main reason that viruses spread: instead
you can blame MS for a very poor architecture that they refused to
correct for many years. You can also blame them for major security
holes that they have introduced in conjunction with their plans for a
software takeover of the world. It was a long time before they valued
security over immediate profit and they still lean the other way in
many cases.

Security problems will continue to dominate until MS corrects their
architecture and stops doing band-aid approaches like UAC.
Let me ask you - why are Linux boxes not zombies? Because people do NOT run
as Root (aka Admin) and have passwords.

That, the fact that they have always had a better security
architecture, that they haven't valued profit over security, and the
fact that it's a much smaller target.
 
C

Christopher Perkins

Hello Mr.Smith,
I can help you with your problem. Here is something to try. There is this
disk that I had used resently and it worked for me to help recover my
password. If I remeber correctly there was a opption to change your account
type. Or there is another option. If you still have administration rights
you can do this in cmd. But the disk is probley better. There is a couple of
file that you will have to put on a disk. Once it is on the disk you would
have to boot from the disk and you can recover your administrator password,
you can change your account type and much more.
http://www.loginrecovery.com/ I think that is what my teacher used to help
me recover my password. Please let me know if this help you. Thank you.

Christopher M. Perkins
(e-mail address removed)
 
G

Gordon

+Bob+ said:
I'll agree that un knowledgeable people might be safer with UAC on.
But that doesn't mean that everyone who shuts it off is a danger to
computer safety.

As for these folks being the main reason that viruses spread: instead
you can blame MS for a very poor architecture that they refused to
correct for many years. You can also blame them for major security
holes that they have introduced in conjunction with their plans for a
software takeover of the world. It was a long time before they valued
security over immediate profit and they still lean the other way in
many cases.

Security problems will continue to dominate until MS corrects their
architecture and stops doing band-aid approaches like UAC.


That, the fact that they have always had a better security
architecture, that they haven't valued profit over security, and the
fact that it's a much smaller target.


I generally agree with all you say - I was having a go at the poster who,
with almost breathtaking disregard for computer security, stated "I ALWAYS
run with UAC off and in an Administrator account". With no explanation WHY
he would need to do that, other than the implied one of the fact that he
could, so he does.
 
M

measekite's psychiatrist

Gordon said:
You shouldn't. You should NOT run as Administrator on a daily basis. Why
are you?
Why shouldn't he? In reality YOU shouldn't run as Administrator because you
can't be trusted to work your computer correctly. Most people can use their
computer without screwing things up. So in your case you shouldn't run as
Administrator
 
M

measekite's psychiatrist

Ted Smith said:
And I hate idiots that pretend to be experts but don't offer any help at
all for the problems expressed here. These groups ONLY exist to help
non-experts to correct problems and mistakes, and they depend on getting
that help from real experts who are both knowledgeable and sympathetic.
Most of the VIP's and experts here are that way and I commend them all.
But you have done nothing but take up my time.
Don't mind Gordon. He is a bit S.L.O.W. - They kept him back in school a
few semesters and finally had to push him out to the real world. His job at
Taco-Bell is challenging enough.
 
G

Gordon

measekite's psychiatrist said:
Don't mind Gordon. He is a bit S.L.O.W. - They kept him back in school a
few semesters and finally had to push him out to the real world. His job
at Taco-Bell is challenging enough.


Err what are "semesters" and what is "Taco-Bell"? Would that be like "terms"
and "Woolworths"?
 
G

Gordon

measekite's psychiatrist said:
Why shouldn't he? In reality YOU shouldn't run as Administrator because
you can't be trusted to work your computer correctly. Most people can use
their computer without screwing things up. So in your case you shouldn't
run as Administrator


<sigh> nothing to do with the computer WORKING correctly, as you would well
know if you had an ounce of computer knowledge between your ears.
 
M

measekite's psychiatrist

Gordon said:
Err what are "semesters" and what is "Taco-Bell"? Would that be like
"terms" and "Woolworths"?
Oh I forgot. You never went to school. In school, they break the year into
semesters. Usually there are two semesters per school year. If you had
gone, you would have known this.

Ask an adult to help you.
 

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