If you look at the PinballY program folder, you'll see a separate program called PinballY Admin Mode.exe. What is that? Do you need it? Should you be using it instead of the regular PinballY.exe? How is this different from running PinballY.exe with the "Run as Administrator" command? This section attempts to answer those questions.
PinballY Admin Mode.exe is a separate version of PinballY that you can use if you require Admin mode to run any of the games that PinballY launches. If you require Admin mode, launch PinballY via the PinballY Admin Mode.exe program file instead of the normal PinballY.exe program.
It might sound from the name like PinballY Admin Mode.exe simply runs PinballY in Admin mode. Not quite. What PinballY Admin Mode.exe actually does is a bit more involved:
It's important to understand that PinballY Admin Mode.exe isn't just "PinballY running in Admin Mode". PinballY Admin Mode.exe is actually a separate, small program that only performs a few special functions that require Administrator mode privileges. When this is running, the regular PinballY.exe program - which contains the PinballY user interface and most of its other functions - runs in regular user mode. When the user-mode PinballY program needs to carry out some special operation that requires Administrator privileges, such as launching a game in Admin mode, it sends a request to the Admin Mode program via the communications channel telling the Admin Mode program to carry out the special operation.
This separation of the program's functions into "regular" and "Admin" portions is designed to allow PinballY to access privileged Admin functions when necessary, without forcing you to run the entire PinballY program in Admin mode. And by the same token, it allows PinballY to launch most of your games and Run Before/After commands in regular user mode. Admin mode exposes your system to more potential harm from program bugs, so it's best to use Admin mode as sparingly as possible.
Not unless necessary. It's only necessary if one of the games you want to launch with PinballY needs to run in Admin mode, or one of the Run Before/After commands needs to run in Admin mode.
Ideally, this should never happen. Ideally you shouldn't even have to read this section. If you come across something that seems to require Admin mode, or that someone else told you requires Admin mode, that might be due to a misunderstanding or a configuration problem, not an actual need for Admin mode. Try to find a better option before resorting to Admin mode.
Easy: just run PinballY Admin Mode.exe instead of the normal PinballY.exe.
When you run PinballY Admin Mode.exe, it automatically launches the regular PinballY.exe for you. You don't have to launch the regular PinballY.exe separately.
Don't check-mark the "Run as Administrator" option in the PinballY.exe file properties dialog. That will prevent PinballY Admin Mode.exe from being able to launch the regular PinballY.exe in normal user mode, which defeats the purpose of the "separation of powers" designed into this.
See the diagram above. When you use PinballY Admin Mode.exe, only a small portion of the program - just the functions that absolutely require Admin mode privileges - actually run in Admin mode. The whole rest of the program runs in ordinary user mode, with all of the standard Windows protections against accidental system damage from program bugs. All of the game programs that PinballY launches also run in ordinary user mode, also with protection against system damage from program bugs.
In contrast, when you use the "Run as Administrator" command in Windows Explorer to run PinballY.exe, you force the entire program and every program it launches to run in Admin mode. The entire PinballY Direct3D UI will run in Admin mode. Every Visual Pinball game it launches will run in Admin Mode. Every Future Pinball game, Pinball Arcade Game, FX2/FX3 game, etc will run in Admin mode. The risk of system instability or operating system corruption is increased.
Admin mode is a special program execution mode that gives a program full, unrestricted access to nearly all Windows system resources, such as operating system files, OS registry keys, and protected memory areas. Windows blocks ordinary "user mode" programs from accessing these resources, to protect the system against harm by malware and by accidental program bugs.
Microsoft designed Admin mode for use by trusted system programs only, such as Windows control panels, special system setup programs, installers, and the like. In Microsoft's view, nearly all programs should run in ordinary user mode. Admin mode is intended to be a rare exception that you use only when you're doing something special that has a legitimate need to mess with system settings. However, Microsoft left it up to the user to decide which programs get the special privileges. If you really want to run some Elbonian ransomware in Admin mode, Windows will let you.
Admin mode is dangerous because a program running in Admin mode has unrestricted access to all system resources. It can make changes to system files, including core operating system files and registry entries. In the worst case, such changes can damage the system and force you to reinstall Windows.
Most people think of this sort of danger as being primarily from malware. That's certainly a factor, and if you download a lot of random Internet software, a major factor indeed. But Microsoft created the system protections as much to prevent accidental damage as to prevent malware attacks. Back in its earliest days, Windows had a terrible reputation for instability, insecurity, and general bugginess. Some of that was deserved, but a lot of the mess actually came from buggy third-party application software that could trash the system accidentally, just because the system was so wide-open. Microsoft put the Admin mode barriers in place in large part to limit the collateral damage that could be done by buggy applications.
When you run a program in Admin mode, you take down all of those barriers. When you routinely run all application software in Admin mode, you return to those Stone Age days of Windows where any program can trash the whole system.