Managing administrative accounts on your Windows PC | AVG

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Managing administrative accounts on your Windows PC

By default, you must actively authorize installation or reinstallation of any software on your Windows PC. This prevents viruses, malware, or unauthorized individuals from stealthily installing unwanted software without your consent. Before installing AVG software, we recommend signing in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges to make authorization as simple as possible.

Refer to the sections in this article to check which existing user accounts on your PC have administrative privileges, before signing into an administrative account and installing your AVG product. This article also contains troubleshooting steps if you do not have access to an administrative account.

Verify your administrative accounts

  1. Click the Windows Start button, start typing control panel to open the search field, then select Control Panel from the search results.
  2. Select User Accounts, then click User Accounts again.
  3. Click Manage another account.
  4. A window appears showing your current User Accounts. For User Accounts with administrative rights, Administrator appears under the user name.

Before installing or reinstalling AVG software, ensure you are logged in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges.

  1. On your keyboard, press the Win key and X key simultaneously, then select Control Panel from the menu that appears.
  2. Select User Accounts and Family Safety, then click User Accounts.
  3. Select Manage another account.
  4. A window appears showing your current User Accounts. For User Accounts with administrative rights, Administrator appears under the user name.

Before installing or reinstalling AVG software, ensure you are logged in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges.

  1. Click the Windows Start button, type user accounts into the search field, and select User Accounts from the results.
  2. Under Make changes to your user account, select Manage another account.
  3. A window appears showing your current User Accounts. For User Accounts with administrative rights, Administrator appears under the user name.

Before installing or reinstalling AVG software, ensure you are logged in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges.

Install your AVG product

  1. Download the setup file for your AVG product using the relevant link below (by default, downloaded files are saved to your Downloads folder):
  2. Right-click the downloaded AVG_(...)_setup_(...).exe setup file and select Run as administrator.
  3. Refer to the relevant step below to authorize installation:
    • If you are signed in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges, click Yes when prompted for permission by the User Account Control dialog.
    • If you are not signed in to Windows as a user with administrative privileges, enter an administrative account password into the User Account Control dialog and click Yes to authorize the installation.
If you are unable to install AVG software because you cannot access an administrative account, refer to the troubleshooting section in this article for advice.
  1. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation of your AVG product. For detailed installation instructions, refer to the relevant article below:

Troubleshooting

Refer to the relevant section(s) below for advice if you cannot access an administrative account:

Use an alternative administrative account

You may be able to authorize installation of AVG software by entering credentials for an alternative user account with administrative privileges. When the User Account Control dialog appears, click More choices to see a list of administrative accounts on your PC and select an alternative account. If you only have 1 account with administrative privileges, the 'More choices' option does not appear.

Reset your administrative account password

In some cases, you may be able to reset the password for your administrative account. For more information, refer to the relevant article below from Microsoft support according to your operating system:

Further recommendations

If neither of the solutions above resolve your issue, contact your device manufacturer.

  • All AVG consumer products for Windows
  • All supported operating systems
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