I’m working on my computer as an Ordinary User rather than my normal life as an Administrator. The reasons are long and involved but it’s actually how I ought to use the computer. It’s too easy to do foolish stuff if you’re an Admin, or give malware a chance to do something nasty.

I still need to install software though and it’s not really very convenient to keep logging off to log in again as Administrator. The solution is to right click install files and select Run As…

Now this works fine assuming that the file you are trying to run has .exe at the end of the name. This counts for most programs and most installers.

It was installers that were causing me problems as many were supplied as .msi files and the right-click menu for these does not include the Run As… option.

The answer lies with the Command Prompt, if you start that as an Administrator. Left-click on the Start menu, All programs and Accessories but right-click on Command Prompt. Left-click on Run As… and supply the proper username and password.

Now navigate to the folder with the setup file. Type cd foldername to go into a folder or type cd.. to move up a folder. To see the contents of a folder type dir. Press Enter after each command. Once you’re in the right place, type the name of the file to start it as an Administrator.