RANU: Running Admin Tasks easily

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A while back I described the set of shortcuts I use to run things as Administrator, even though I'm logged on as a Limited User.

I've packaged them up for dowload. Enjoy.

Overview

Logging on as a restricted user greatly increases security, protecting you from certain virus & trojan horse attacks, and adheres to the "principle of least priviledge".

However, if your domain user account is a normal user on your machine, it can be challenging to perform certain administrative tasks, like:

  • Control Panel applets
  • Administative Tools
  • Install software from Corpnet
  • Edit HKLM reg keys

This collection of shortcuts make it easier to run these tools as Administrator.

Setup:

I like to use it as a toolbar on my Windows Task Bar.

  1. (Optional) Copy to your local machine
  2. RClick on the Windows Task Bar
  3. Select Toolbars->New Toolbar
  4. Point to the Admin Tasks folder

Also, it's a good idea to teach windows to run each explorer window as a separate process. This way you can have both Administrator and User explorers open at the same time. See Aaron Margosis' blog for more info.

Details:

CMD

Launch a command prompt as Administrator

CMD w Network Launch a command prompt as Administartor, but with your network credentials

Explorer w Network

Launch explorer.exe as Administartor, but with your network credentials. Requires setting ExplorerSeparateProcess (see above).

Page Defrag

A sysinternals tool that I like for defragmenting my pagefile.

Regedit

Runs regedit as Administrator (relies on a possibly undocumented option to regedit).

Task Manager

Runs Task Manager as Administrator

Control Panel

Runs CPL control panel applets.

Administrative Tools

MMC Snap-ins that appear in Control Panel->Administrative Tools

Administrative Tools->More

Most of these appear under the the Computer Management MMC snap-in, but here you have direct access to them