Computer trivia

Windows Vista had many security precautions one of which is running the processes at a lower privilege. In Windows XP all programs were given the same privileges as the account under which they are being run which is not the case with Vista. Here the programs are given just the privilege that they require to run successfully. This applies even to ‘Windows Applications’ like Command Prompt (cmd).

So, if you open an application in Vista, it will not have the Administrative privileges even if you are the Administrator. Say, you opened command prompt, you will not be able to start or stop any services because the program does not have administrative privileges.

The solution to this is to open the applications as Administrator. To do this you can right click on the application or its short cut and select ‘Run As Administrator’, which throws a prompt and then opens with Administrative privileges. Now things work exactly as they were working in the Windows XP.

There is a keyboard shortcut to do this quickly. Suppose you searched for some application using Windows start menu search utility. Once the required application is found, press ‘Ctrl + Shift + Enter’ instead of just hitting ‘Enter’. This will open the application with Administrator privileges.

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