My Windows XP Pro Administrator Account is always running in user mode...
... and it is driving me CRAZY!!!!! Seriously, almost any application I try and start will give me a "Run As" prompt asking if I wish to run this program with my current username, a checkbox offering additional protection, and the option of running the program as a different user. This is monumentally annoying. I'm ready to abandon the user and establish another Admin account to be rid of the problem, but I thought I'd solicit advice from the MS community. Thanks in advance if you can help. Again, the machine is Running XP Pro and is giving me Run As prompts for almost every app in spite of the fact that I am using the admin account. That is all.1 person needs an answerI do too
March 12th, 2010 4:06am

Does it do this from another administrative account? If you don't have one, please create one to test. And: The First Question Of Troubleshooting: If the problem is new, what changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't? The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and versions) did you use to determine this? Be sure the computer is clean: http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_MalwareMS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 12th, 2010 4:10pm

The answer to the first question is that Yes, I have created an Administrator Account and No, the problem does not recur there. The problem also doesn't affect either of the two "Guest Accounts."I am still contemplating just pulling up stakes and moving the application data, desktop, and my documents folders to the new Admin account and starting fresh.Your inference that a Malware application seems to be the cause is correct, but I do not believe it to be the proximate cause of my problem. About a week ago the "Internet Security 2010" malware arrived on my current Admin account instance. It was particularly malicious in that it somehow bypassed AVG's normally flawless security and set up shop. I was unable to install Malwarebytes while it was in residence.Three days after the program's appearance, it disappeared just as mysteriously, leaving the new system of Run As popups and the loss of the ability to open many files without using the "Open With" dialogue. I assumed at the time that AVG had simply gotten its act together and expelled the intruder. Running an up to date version of the now installed Malwarebytes software found 3 items in its full scan, two of which were obvious false positives. (It is extraordinarily unlikely that a worm called Crusader would be designed to hitch a ride on the Crusaders.exe of Paradox Interactive's "Crusader Kings". That would be like a biological virus that only infects left handed persons.) Internet Security 2010 does not appear to have been one of them.Thus it seems the Malware is gone but that AVG changed some user settings for greater security. That's the theory that makes the most sense, in any case.Another possibility is that my company's VPN allowed one of their control programs to go in and fix the thing without telling me, but this seems somewhat less likely. Since the VPN software has been installed, the Switch User option has been disabled.I hope this helps you diagnose the issue, and thank you for trying to help.
March 14th, 2010 11:37pm

AVG will not remove Internet Security 2010 and your computer is not clean. Scan your computer per the instructions here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-vista-2010 Once the computer is clean, if the issues don't go away then I would just copy your data to the new user account and then delete the old one. But clean up your machine first.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 15th, 2010 2:44pm

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