Proactive Networking Blog

Back in the “good old days” of XP, you could open the Task Manager by pressing the Control + Alt + Delete keys on your keyboard. In Windows Vista, you’ll open what’s known as the Secure Desktop with that key combination.

If you want to open the Task Manager directly, press Control + Alt + Escape (CRTL+ALT+ESC). Presto!

How to create an administrative command prompt shortcut

In Windows Vista, if you are logging in to your computer using a limited user account (which is great for security reasons) and you want to run something from the command prompt that requires administrative credentials, you have to open the command prompt as an administrator. You could right click the command prompt executable and select Run As Administrator but if you are a heavy command promt user, there’s another way: you can create a shortcut and modify it so you won’t have to right click and select Run As every time:

1. Create a command prompt shortcut on the desktop.
2. Right click the command prompt shortcut and select Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button.
4. Check the box labeled Run As Administrator.
5. Click OK.

Now whenever you click this shortcut, it will open the command prompt with Administrative privileges.