An administrator account provides full access to a computer's files and folders. The administrator access is mandatory for many tasks; for instance, some software installation or certain tasks of system maintenance and management. The administrator account in Windows 7/Vista does not have a predetermined name, like "Administrator." Rather any user account could be either "administrator" or "standard" type. Thus it is necessary to discover which account has administrator access.
Step
Log in to your user account in Windows 7/Vista.
Step
Click "Start" in the lower-left corner of the screen and then "Control Panel" in the right panel of the "Start" menu.
Step
Click "User Accounts and Family Safety," followed by opening the sub-menu "User Account."
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Step
Read the brief information given under your account icon. If it says "Administrator" then your account has the required privileges. But if the account type is "Standard user," proceed to the following step.
Step
Select "Manage another account" to display a list of icons for all user accounts on the computer.
Step
Read the information under each account icon to find out which one is administrative.
Step
Click "Start" in the lower-left corner of the screen. Click on the small triangle in the bottom line of the "Start" menu and choose "Switch User."
Step
Click on the administrator user icon as determined in Step 6 and type a password (if required) to access this account.
