Win10 - Blocked Programs

[JnYves]

Good day; On October 10, 2017, I bought this new pc
Acer Aspire T, quad core A10-7800, DVD Write, Radeon R7 graphics, Win10 included,
mainly for work (website manager).
After the first installation of Win10, several programs I had installed were blocked (Hotel Giant 2, Shaiya, Battlefield),
there were yellow and blue shield on their shortcuts and grey or dashed options in Settings and Control Panel.
I tried changing couple settings, but nothing woked and this Win10 is totally new to me.

So, thinking I had made a mistake somewhere, on October 12, I reinstalled Win10 (reset),
using the same emal & password I had installed it with on first attempt.
I was very vigilant and I realized there was nothing wrong with Win10 installation.

Then I did install Hotel Giant 2 and Shaiya again, to see how it would go.
Only to find myself in the exact same situation,
programs installed are blocked, there are yellow and blue shield on their shortcuts and grey or dashed options in Settings and Control Panel.

1.0 - What is blocking my programs?
Is it Norton or Win10 Defender, or both?
How do I definitively solve this problem?

1.2 - I do not subscribe to Norton (Win10 came with a 30 days trial),
My plan is to let the trial expire and install AVG & Spybot.
Should I remove Norton (and replace it with these) in order to liberate (unblock) the programs (and my pc)?

Thanks for your help!
Regards,
JnYves.

[nukecad]

The yellow and blue shield on an icon is Windows way of letting you know that a programme need to be run as an administrator.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/some-of-the-program-icons-have-blue-and-yellow/b2d2a46e-ae4e-481b-a393-b8706afe3f12?auth=1

 

Check if the user account that you are logging in with has administrator status.

If you are logged in as an administrator then double clicking the icon (or right clicking and selecting run as administrator) should bring up the UAC which asks for permission to run them.

Edited October 20, 2017 by nukecad

[Doctor9fan]

There a new setting in Windows 10 concerning allowing apps to be installed via MS store only, I remember having to change it to allow installation of my programs after a clean install.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3174483/windows/new-windows-10-feature-blocks-desktop-apps-points-to-windows-store-instead.html
To turn off:
Go to the new “Apps & features” area of the Settings app. At the top, under “Installing apps,” there is a drop-down menu with three options: “Allow apps from anywhere,” “Prefer apps from the Store, but allow apps from anywhere,” and “Allow apps from the Store only.”

However if this is happening after the programs have installed then it’s as nukecad has stated & requires admin privileges to open.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Doctor9fan
Addition.

[JnYves]

Thank you both for looking into this!

- Doctor9fan:
I did find that Apps & features”, Installing Apps is set to Allow apps from anywhere,

- nukecad:
Requires admin privileges to open...
When I installed Win10, I was never presented a choice to "login as... (whatever user)"!
How does it log me in since I installed Win10?
Where/how do I select and change how I am loged in?
(and hence login as Adninistrator)

Ugh, I really miss the old phones, remember? You simply plugged it and it worked perfectly fine!

[nukecad]

Did you try right clicking an Icon and selecting 'Run as Administrator'?

If you are not being shown a list of user accounts to chose from when you log in then you are probably the only user account set up on the machine.

If you go to 'start menu > settings > Accounts' it will show the name of the account you are using and whether it is Administrator or Standard.

If you only have the one account then it should already be an Administrator account.

If for some reason it is not an Administrator account then you will need to enable and log in as the built in Windows Elevated Administrator, change your Standard account to an Administrator one, and then disable the built in Elevated Administrator.
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-the-hidden-administrator-account-on-windows-vista/

To change your account type log in to an administrator account, open the Control Panel and go to- User Accounts > manage another account> {select the acount you want to change} > Change the account type

Edited October 22, 2017 by nukecad

[JnYves]

Good day;
Well, to be honest, yes and no!

This "new pc & win10" event brought me to realize the cruel lack of pertinent information,
and instructions, basic ones, when you have to get a new pc after using the same one for more than 10 years...

I had to take time (off work) and spend 4 days studying win10 (web, microsoft and other dedicated pages),
and trying every steps writing down everything...

Looking back now, I can say I wasn't prepared at all to meet with win10. Installing win10 is far from any similarities with installing windows xp, or windows 97 (which I still miss very much). Win10 is a totally different world, a new method of "handling" personal computers (regardless what application the computers are operating)...

In my case, I solved the problem... for the mean time.
I would recommend new users of Win10, probably on their 2nd or 3rd instalation attempt:
Create 2 accounts uppon a fresh new re-installing of win10,
one of which accounts has to be Local (local account),
and select and use that Local Account.
So you will be able to utilise the machine and operating system to their fullest,
and hence learn over time about what win10 exactly is.
Then, one would be able to decide on making more precise adjustments (as true Administrator) if needed.
(what to enable and what to not, what to remove and what to not, etc).
Particularly Microsoft edge (internet browser) and Cortana (eAssistant).

The lack of instructions (for initial installation of Win10)
will result in people spoiling their installation and increase risks of "privacy" infrigements...

It's great to be connected,
But one has to have access to the on/off switch!

Thanks for your time,
Regards,

[nukecad]

1 hour ago, JnYves said:

This "new pc & win10" event brought me to realize the cruel lack of pertinent information,
and instructions, basic ones, when you have to get a new pc after using the same one for more than 10 years...

In my case, I solved the problem... for the mean time.

The lack of instructions (for initial installation of Win10)
will result in people spoiling their installation and increase risks of "privacy" infrigements...
 

Good to hear you solved the problem.

 

That howtogeek website I linked to above has simple, clear instructions with plenty of screenshots for most things, use the search button.

For instance searching for "install windows 10" gave these results.

https://www.howtogeek.com/search/?q=install+windows+10

 

I only use a Local, Administrator account.

I was 'conned' into setting up a MS account when I first installed Windows 10, I have since totally deleted this MS account.

Of course if you do this you won't be able to access MS services such as the Store, Outlook, OneDrive cloud storage, etc. (I never used them anyway).

https://www.howtogeek.com/227763/how-to-completely-delete-your-microsoft-account/