Step 4: Run ProShow for the First Time as an Administrator
When ProShow is opened for the first time, it performs a number of steps to initialize itself for your computer. To ensure this all goes smoothly, you should run ProShow as an administrator the first time you open it.
- Right click on the shortcut for ProShow (either on your Desktop or in the Start Menu), and choose Run as Administrator.
If you are a registered user of ProShow, or if you purchase ProShow at a later time, you'll want to Run as Administrator when you enter your registration keys to ensure that ProShow can properly save your registration information.
- Right click on the shortcut for ProShow (either on your Desktop or in the Start Menu), and choose Run as Administrator.
- Click the Activate Registration button on the Evaluation screen when ProShow starts.
- Enter your registration information which was sent to you when you purchased the software. Click Activate.
Once you've run as an administrator the first time and successfully entered your registration key, you can run ProShow normally by just double-clicking on the icon. You do not need to run as an administrator every time.
Additional Compatibility Steps If You Encounter Problems
Installing correctly as described above should ensure that ProShow will run fine on almost all Windows 7 machines. However, if you continue to experience issues, you may be encountering something specific to your computer
or operating system configuration. In rare cases like these, there are two additional steps you can take.
Set ProShow to Always Run as Administrator
If you want to ensure that ProShow is always run with sufficient administrative rights, there's an option inside the properties of the ProShow desktop icon, allowing you to select this software to always Run as an Administrator.
- Right-click the ProShow icon, and click on Properties.
- Choose the Compatibility tab on the top.
- Check the box next to Run this program as an administrator, then click the Apply button at the bottom.
- If you do not see this option, that's an indication that your user account is not set up as an administrator. Contact the person responsible for configuring your computer for assistance.
Disable User Account Control (UAC)
Windows 7 contains an updated version of Windows Vista's User Account Control, also known simply as UAC. UAC is a security measure where Windows will prompt you at various times when settings change on your system. This
helps to prevent unauthorized access to your computers settings and files, which is a common way that malicious software misbehaves.
Unfortunately, this feature can block third party software (like ProShow) from placing the necessary files in the right place, or from writing the program's registry entries properly. In an attempt to prevent viruses and other
malicious software from abusing your user account's administrative privileges, Microsoft requires that you specify whether the software is actually allowed to be Run as an Administrator or not.
Running ProShow as an administrator fixes most registration issues with Windows. But occasionally, User Account Control can conflict with ProShow files during the initial installation process. To make sure that absolutely
nothing can interfere with the installation of ProShow, a last-resort is to disable the UAC beforehand.
- Go to the Control Panel, and click the icon next to User Accounts.
- Click on Change User Account Control Settings.
- In the UAC window, you'll see a slider that ranges from Always Notify down to Never Notify. Move the slider down to Never Notify.
- Click Ok.
- Your computer may require you to approve the change, and may want to reboot.
After the reboot, try installing ProShow again, using the steps listed above. Once you've gotten ProShow up and running without problem, just revisit the UAC screen and move the slider back to where it was.
