How to make a program always start with administrative rights?

Some programs, especially utilities, need administrative rights to run correctly (or at all). This isn't the best programming model, but if you have programs like that and you need to run them on Vista, you can set the properties to allow the program to always run as administrator. Here's how:

1. Right click the shortcut icon for the program.
2. Select Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button.
4. Check the box that says "Run as administrator."
5. Click OK.

Now when you use the shortcut to launch the program, it will run as administrator. You'll need to click Continue at the UAC prompt (unless you've disabled UAC).

How to increase the maximum bit rate for WMA files in Media Player?

The bit rate of an audio file refers to the number of bits that are processed per second. In the Windows Media Player, you can set the bit rate but you'll find that the maximum available for WMA files is 192 Kbps. If you want to set a higher rate, you can edit the registry. As always, be sure to make a backup before you make changes to the registry. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the registry editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences
2. In the right pane, double click the item WMARecordRate
3. Choose Decimal and enter the bit rate you want to use, in bits. For example, 320 Kbps is entered as 320000.
4. Close the registry editor.

Now your tracks will be stored at the higher bit rate.

How to disable the system tray?

I use the system tray items frequently, but some folks don't, and want a more minimalist look for their taskbars. If you're all about simplifying the look and don't want to be bothered with all those icons in the notification area, there's a registry edit that you can do to get rid of it.

1. Open your favorite registry editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
2. Click an empty space in the right pane and choose New DWORD Value
3. Right click the new value to rename it to NoTrayItemDisplay
4. Double click the new value and set the value to 1
5. Log off and log back on for the change to take effect

Note that this disables the system tray for your user account only, and it doesn't keep the applications in the tray from running - it just keeps their icons from being displayed there. You can get the tray back by changing the value to 0.

Is there an easier way to use my printer as a copier?

You can turn any scanner and printer (both) into a copy machine using software, and you don't even have to pay for it. A free program called (appropriately enough) Photocopier works with XP, Vista and even older programs such as NT and Windows 98. You set the number of copies and the brightness level, click the Copy button and it just works.

Download it here:

Photocopier