Problem Installing Programs on Windows 7

Kirbith

So I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on my laptop and have come across a new problem whenever I'm trying to install a program. The problem seems to be related to the User Account Control Settings. My setting on that is set to the default (Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer). I first noticed this Thursday when I was trying to install MySQL workbench for a class. Normally the computer will pop up with a User Account Control window making me verify first before a program will install. Instead, this is no longer happening and instead, programs get held up on the Status bar on the install screen, with nothing happening with the install. Temporarily disabling making the computer ask me to verify before it install anything -kind of- works, but it seems intermittent. I have had this problem with any program I've tried to install since Thursday. I tried doing a system restore to about 2 weeks prior, but the problem still persists. Any suggestions as to what I can do to fix this?

Essee

Does manually right-clicking the setup and choosing "Run as Admin" change anything (I assume you have this ability)? Sometimes that makes things arbitrarily install or run correctly, even if you're the admin in the first place. Other than that, I'm not really sure what to suggest... I always have UAC turned off completely, because I run a very tight ship.