I am so lost here How can I simply go back to 7?

[caperjack]

If you did an in-place upgrade, I have done a little thing to make an installation .iso for you.

download

See part 2 of this tutorial:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-upgrade-iso-download-create.html

However all of the software he deals with works on 7 so he is not at all up on 8.[/QUOTE]

should not be a major problem all the software i used on win7 i use on win8 , i would wait a week or so before installing the Incredimail program ,see how it goes good luck

also this from your first post

I researched and found that I needed to activate the Administrator account and install from there,

you should never had had to do this ,as the user created when win8 installed would have been a full admin acct ,so you are having issues with software you are trying to install i think

 

[copperscale]

also this from your first post

I researched and found that I needed to activate the Administrator account and install from there,

you should never had had to do this ,as the user created when win8 installed would have been a full admin acct ,so you are having issues with software you are trying to install i think

I am having problems with ANY software I try to install. Even the Mozy upgrade, and their people could not get it to install either when they remoted in to my system yesterday.

Things worked just fine at first, I was able to work with my system and install stuff until I got something from Microsoft and that is when things went bad. Nothing has worked right since and things keep getting worse and changing. this makes tracking issues really hard to do.
I have run multiple virus scans and malware scans but nothing is showing up. That was my first thought. I do have Defender activated and updated and also have the firewall set and running.

 

[copperscale]

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone here for all the helpful suggestions and information. I did manage to fix some of the issues, but not all. I am probably going to just wipe the drive and start clean, as bad as I hate to. I have now managed to lose all my user folders somehow while looking for a particular folder that muse be a hidden file. The only things that are still working are my browsers and Incredimail, strangely enough. I have no idea of how to get the user folders back as the ones stored in windows.old are empty.
Time to start over, right?

 

[whs]

Hmm, that's pretty serious. Losing user folders is about the worst scenario you can have. Don't you have images of your old system. You could recover them from there.

 

[copperscale]

I do have everything backed up, but, surprise! Microsoft support fixed it just now and for FREE! I contacted them on chat to find out how to find the instructions to create a bootable repair disk from my downloaded version of 8, not an easy thing to find on their site, but instead they fixed my computer for me. That and they did it for FREE!!!! WOW. I still need to do a recovery disk, but they sent a link for me to go read how. Apparently, even though I have my original downloaded install from them on a USB key, I have to download it again. Dumb, but OK. Anyway, thanks so much for taking time to reply. I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[DoctorA]

Wow, great to hear that Microsoft stepped up and helped you out. They probably want to put the best face on Windows 8 for users. Good PR move on their part.

 

[XweAponX]

I think your problem is the same as mine- You did an Upgrade, on your machine? I did an upgrade on this machine, from Windows 7 and a HOSED Windows 7 at that. My SFC /SCANNOW would not run and I could not do an In-Place Windows 7 Install in order to repair the system, which was my preferred way of repairing Windows 7.

You may have had Issues with your OS that did not become apparent until you upgraded to 8. When you upgrade to 8, it moves EVERYTHING into the new OS, including the stuff that has become corrupted.

You may be able to fix your system by running an In-Place Install to restore all files and folders to default. Because this thing where it is taking Permissions from Admin and applying them to Installs, it sounds like a major Group Policy foodle. You should try SFC /SCANNOW first, if that does not fix it, then do the in place install - Simply boot to Windows 8, stick your upgrade sisk in and start the Setup, and when it asks you what you want to do, if it asks, choose "Upgrade" again. It'll install a fresh copy of all system files.

Also, Windows 8 File Signing, has a higher level of Encryption from what was required in Windows 7 originally. So there may be signed files that your current user can't read. Make sure your User account is jacked in to your Skydrive account, and given Admin rights, the same rights as the Administrator.