User Account Controls - pop up screen removal

Hello barryman,

Just to note, UAC is security feature to help protect your system.

When User Account Control (UAC) is enabled, Windows prompts for approval or credentials of a valid local administrator account before starting a program or task that requires a full administrator access token. This prompt ensures that no malicious software can be silently installed or run.

Basically, anything that runs with administrator rights will have full access to the computer. This is not a good thing if malware is allowed to run as an administrator. UAC gives you a heads up to approve anything that wants to run as administrator so it will not do so without you knowing.

It is highly advised to leave UAC set to default, but the tutorial below can show you how to disable it as long as you are aware of the security risks mentioned above.

Enable or Disable User Account Control (UAC) in Windows

barryman,

Your post raises a number of issues -

1 "appears EVERY time I try do run ANYTHING on my PC" - The UAC challenge dialog should appear if you run something that can change items outside of your own user account i.e. that can change things for other [potential] users. So it should appear for opening an Admin cmd window or running Disk mgmt but should not appear for opening Notepad or a browser. Please list the applications it is appearing for.

2 "it won’t let me do that unless I have administrator rights" - It should challenge you for an admin account's password but, I assume you mean, you do not have that password.

3 "is it safe to remove the “Admin account” that seems to be there alongside my normal login account??" NO. You need an admin account. Arguably, you need two in case one gets corrupted [so you use the second to get in and fix things].
- You created an Admin account when you installed Windows 10.
- If you have forgotten the password for that admin account then you can create another admin account to replace it with.
- If you have no access to an Admin account in order to create a replacement admin account then things get tricky but are solvable.

4 I agree with Brink. Getting rid of the UAC prompt altogether would stop you finding out that an online hacker was trying to take control of the computer. In other words, it would stop you finding out that you are no longer "the only one using the PC".

Your response will help to identify the best recovery action in your circumstances.
- I imagine that I'd recommend that you enable the "Built-In" Admin account in order to create a replacement admin account for the one you have forgotten the password to [and then to disable the Built-In Admin again when you've finished].
- Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account - TenForumsTutorials
- Add Local Account or Microsoft Account - TenForumsTutorials
- And I imagine I'd nag you about also creating another Admin account as a spare for use in the event of account profile corruption.
- I would definitely recommend writing the passwords down somewhere secure yet convenient. I keep mine in one of those little cylinders people put on dog collars to write their address in.

Denis

Please let us know if you have any questions.

barryman said:

Also I'll leave the existing Administrator account intact although I'd like to find out what password I used or how to change whatever it is at the moment. Maybe I don't have one as I'm not asked to enter one on the popups that appear, just a Yes or No. I'm normally very meticulous with passwords and have 99.99% stored safely. Obviously I didn't take note of this Administrator one if I ever did one

0 I assume we are talking about a local user account not one that is linked to an MSAccount.

1 If you are just given the Yes/No choice then the user account you are logged in to is an Admin account.

2 What did you mean when you referred to another admin account being "alongside" your normal one?

3 You can, and this what I urge you to do today even before trying to do anything to the existing account's password, create another account & make it an Admin one & write its password down somewhere secure yet accessible.

4 You cannot retrieve a password. You can overwrite the password of a local user account using the command line without knowing the original one - see Option 5 of Change Password of Local Account or Microsoft Account - TenForumsTutorials. That tutorial also explains how to change [online] the password of an MSAccount

Denis

Barry,

Your diagram shows that you have enabled the Built-In Admin - its username is "Administrator".
- Do not create a password for it.
- You should disconnect from the internet straightaway if you want to avoid a hacker getting through.
- You should disable the Built-In Admin as soon as you have made a spare Admin of your own & have written its password down.
- Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account - TenForumsTutorials
- Add Local Account or Microsoft Account - TenForumsTutorials

You need an Admin user account to run anything that has the ability to make changes to your computer that affect other [potential] users of your computer. For example, you need to give Admin approval for
- looking at Disk mgmt [C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc]
- creating another Admin account

Denis

Barry,

I should also have pointed out that, as you are using an Admin account as your day-to-day account [your Barry account is an Admin], you need to put UAC to its highest level.
- There are many examples of malware that can sneek through if UAC is left at its default level [which is the second highest setting].
- There are no examples of malware that can sneek through if UAC is at its highest setting.

Change User Account Control (UAC) Settings - TenForumsTutorials

Denis