Administrator rights on own PC?

[Crewman47]

On my own home computer why can't I save and overwright files on the C drive and in the Program Files folder without running a program As Administrator?

For example the Program I have saves files to the programs folder within the Program Files(x86) and if I make a new file it shows a padlock on the icon but can still be overwritten but for files already existing on the folder (copied from my previous computer) appear to overwrite but opening them again up show no signs of being overwritten. If I do run the program as administrator I can't see these files nor can I find them in the Programs folder, only in some VirtualStore folder.

I don't know that much about them but I imagined that as a Home PC the user would automatically be giving full unlimited access?

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Windows is designed that way for a couple of good reasons.

1. To keep incompetent users from shooting themselves in the foot. (I once had a user delete command.com from C:\ while "cleaning up" a machine in the pre-Win days)

2. To reduce the chances of infection by malicious software (virus, malware, spyware, adware, etc, etc, etc). If the logged in user doesn't have admin privelegeas overwriting, modifying, or deleting crucial system files is more difficult.

 

[Jadzia]

Also the user rights allow for parental controls and personal privacy. For example, why should all your family members have access to your documents and emails? What's the point of a login password if everyone has access to all data?