Windows denies even administrators access to certain folders, for example "System Volume Information" containing data of individual restore points. Even worse, a virus could end up in these folders a virus scanner would not be able to find and remove it due to this restriction.

As administrator, you have the option of getting the rights you do not have. However, this permanently changes the settings; which is not advisable in most cases. Using the "at" command, Windows automatically starts a program at a predefined time in such a way that it runs with system rights.



To do this, you must enter a few parameters in addition to the program name. They are the start time and the "/interactive" option in order to communicate with the program. Call up the" Run" command in the Start menu and type "at [hh:mm] linteractive [Program name]" and press [Enter). Replace the time [hh:mml with the time displayed in the system tray plus one minute. Click "OK". Now wait till the minute is over and till the system runts the program with maximum administrator rights. This can be Windows Explorer for instance, which can now open the directories that were previously blocked.

This technique is useful in a situation where, for instance, a virus has taken refuge in the "System Volume Information" folder. For this, you must either have the necessary rights to remove the virus or run the disinfection tool with system rights. Administrators do not even have rights over the entire registry. For example, Windows saves user accounts and groups in the SAM database under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM" key. You require higher system rights to access this entry.