It really should be as simple as "Install, run". It looks like you've tried so many different weird things that it's hard to say what state your machine is in now. As I commented in your last post, if you don't have any databases of value on the machine I'd just totally uninstall all PostgreSQL versions, delete the user account, and install normally without attempting to manually initdb or any of that. You're doing some weird things, like trying to follow the pg_upgrade guide for what appears to be a fresh install.

@CraigRinger can you walk me through the process of a clean uninstall? I used the uninstaller and deleted the folders from program files. I can't find any postgres account in the control panel, maybe the uninstaller deleted it?

pgsnake.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/…

@CraigRinger I tried net user postgres /delete but I get "System error 5. Access is denied"

Did you run the command prompt as Administrator? Remember, under UAC, even if you have local admin access you have to explicitly run programs with admin rights. Shift-right-click on "Command Prompt" in the Start menu and choose "Run as administrator...".

I wasn't running it as administrator, now it deleted the postgres account. I reinstalled and now when I use "RUNAS /USER:postgres "CMD.EXE"" it says "unable to run CMD.exe 1326 unknown username or bad password". Yes I am sure I typed to password correctly.

It isn't clear to me why you're trying to start a shell as the postgres user. You have just done a clean install, yet you appear to be reading the documentation for pg_upgrade. Just connect with psql, PgAdmin-III, or whatever client driver you want for your programming language of choice.

Ok so you're saying in a terminal just type psql?

What are you trying to accomplish? I cannot tell you what to do when you don't explain what you're trying to achieve. Are you trying to verify that the database is running and can be connected to? If so, use PgAdmin-III or the psql shell in the start menu, or from a command prompt by specifying the full path to psql.exe or adding it to your system PATH. Otherwise: explain.

let us continue this discussion in chat

One possible culprit appears to be the sybase client drivers. nichesoftware.co.nz/blog/2012-07/590/comspec-corruption-solv‌​ed . Any chance you ever installed any Sybase stuff?

Don't think so.

@CraigRinger regarding problem solving skills and the manual: I didn't know I needed to connect to the server using cmd.exe use psql -U postgres. I tried psql but it said I can't run it as the user. That's why I tried using the run as command with the postgres account. Given the documentation I see no way I could've known I needed psql -U postgres I mean it certainly doesn't say -U is a required field?

It's difficult to balance making the documentation useful for day to day use and making it easy for people who're starting out. In this case I think it could use some explanatory notes. That said, the tutorial walks you through all this.

I agree that given the commonplace usage of sudo -u postgres psql on *nix, where ident/peer authentication is the norm, this is confusing for Windows users where md5 password auth is the default due to the lack of identity-based auth on windows.

It's hard to keep the documentation concise and clear while covering all the different OS quirks. Do we write about Ubuntu/Debian's pg_wrapper stuff too?

For malware there was White Smoke