Cannot Delete Shortcut from Desktop because I need Admin Permissions even though I am Admin

Question

Installing the new Malwarebytes 2.0 put a shortcut on my desktop that I want to remove, but dragging it to the recycle bin shows this message:

I am an administrator on this computer, so normally clicking "Continue" solves the problem, but it didn't work here. Instead, I got this message.

How can I resolve this? I have tried using the built in super administrator account to remove it, but that does not work either.

Answer 1

Disable self protection module in advanced settings of Malwarebytes 2.0 then you can get rid of the shortcut. Then you can reenable the self protect module if you wish. It keeps anything from altering or moving or copying any of Malwarebytes' files.

Answer 2

UAC could be an issue here. Or it you didn't install the software from this account, it could be that you are not the "owner" of this software.

Try disabling UAC by going to Action Center and changing the user account control settings to never notify.

1. Control Panel > System and Security > Action Center
2. On the left hand corner, click Change User Account Control settings.
3. Drag the slider to Never notify (all the way at the bottom).

If problem still exists try and take ownership of the application.

1. Right click shortcut and click Properties.
2. Click on the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced.
4. If the "Owner:" field says System or any other user than yourself, Press Change.
5. Enter your username in the corresponding field as highlighted in the picture.
6. Try deleting the application again.

This should work 100% of the time. If it doesn't, you may have got malicious content on your anti-malware bytes.

EDIT: This is an issue with you not being recognized as an admin. You need to confirm your account is listed in the Administrators group. You can do this by following these steps.

1. Go to Computer Management (MMC Snap-in) - Press Windows + X and choose Computer Management.
2. Expand Local Users and Groups then click on Groups.
3. Double-Click on the Administrators group.
4. Confirm your account is added to the group. If not, Add your account.

Answer 3

A simple fix is to install Unlocker, which adds an option to the right-click context menu of Windows Explorer. Right click the shortcut, select Unlocker, and select delete. If it still encounters problems deleting the file, it will attempt to delete it on next reboot. I have had this work with files that I was unable to manually delete before, but occasionally it still would not work. In that case the issue might be able to be fixed by changing the file permissions, as Tech1337 says.

Answer 4

I was able to delete Astromenda from my PC using the free Revo Uninstaller; however, the "Cut the Rope" shortcut icon on my desktop remained, although I was no longer having pop-up issues with Windows 7 IE or Google browsers.

Several security scans for the icon revealed "No Issues," as if completely hidden and invisible.

After surfing my PC (using tips from various postings on different sites), I was finally able to delete the shortcut icon.

At issue was the required Administrator Permission to delete the icon. Here's how I was able to regain control and overcome this on my system (Windows 7).

Right click the "Cut The Rope" icon on your desktop.

Click the General Tab.

Find "Location" and view exactly where the icon is embedded - this will tell you the administrator's name (e.g. System, Owner, etc.) - on my system, it was listed as "C:\Users\Owner\Desktop\Cut the Rope.url" - You may want to write down this information.

Next, go to:

My Computer

OS(C:)

Users

Owner

Desktop

Find "Cut the Rope" among the list and right click it.

Properties

Security

Click "Advanced" - located below the "Permissions for Owner" box.

Click on the exact name that was listed in the icon's location information (the one I suggested you write down).

Click on "Change Permissions."

Click on "Edit."

At this point, I saw six (6) entries: three (3) listed as "Allow" and three (3) listed as "Deny."

You will need to modify the "Deny" entries, one at a time.

Click "Allow" at the top of the box for each entry. Make sure the "Include inheritable permission from this object's parent" is NOT checked.

The "Deny" entries will disappear after you modify them to "Allow" and hit OK.

At this point, only the three (3) "Allow" entries should remain in the box.

Click OK and close the screen. You will immediately notice the desktop icon no longer present.

Restart your system...and, hopefully, you'll be back on track without any issues.

I hope this helps out. It worked for me.

Disclaimer: By no means am I a techie, so I hope I have listed the process accurately, as I am running off memory...after being up all night figuring this out (it's 6:25 a.m as of this writing).

Best of luck, everyone!

Cheers!

Answer 5

Check file permissions to see if Users have the needed permissions. I have had repeated issues with un-delete-able desktop shortcuts and when I examine the file permissions for the shortcut, I find that "Users" is not even listed. When this has been the case the following fix has worked for me without doing anything crazy to the system.

Right-click on the shortcut and select the "Security" tab. Select "Edit" under the list of Group or Usernames. Click Add. In the box labeled "Enter the object names to select," type in "users." Hit enter and it will take you back to the previous screen, where Users should now appear in the list. Click on "Users" to highlight it and then select Full Control under the Allow column. Click OK and OK again in the next screen. It should now allow you to delete the shortcut.

As far as I am aware this fix does absolutely nothing except alter the file permissions for the shortcut itself, not the program to which it points or anything else. If I'm wrong, please correct me.