10 tips and tweaks for Vista experts

Windows power users know that a command prompt (Cmd.exe) is the fastest way to many tasks–much faster than digging through menus and tabbed dialog boxes. In Windows Vista, this is more true than ever, thanks to User Account Control. To get maximum mileage out of the command prompt, add a shortcut to the Start menu and configure it to run as an Administrator. Here's how:

1. Click Start and type cmd in the Search box. This should produce a list consisting of one entry: the shortcut to the Windows Command Processor, cmd.
2. Right-click the cmd shortcut and choose Pin to Start Menu.
3. Click Start again. Right-click the Command Prompt shortcut you just added to the Start menu and choose Properties.
4. Click the Advanced button and click to select the Run as administrator checkbox.
5. Click OK to save your changes.

See also:

• 10 tweaks for Windows Vista RC1
• Breaking down the Windows Vista versions
• The Windows Vista Secret Decoder Ring