With the Windows Vista Script Elevation PowerToys you'll be able to keep the operating system on a short leash. This may be a tad of an overstatement; however, the PowerToys are indeed designed to greatly streamline your workflow in Vista. The latest operating system from Microsoft brings to the table strong restrictions set in place in accordance with users privileges. Under the helm of the User Account Control, in Vista all users, including administrators run with standard privileges.

In the context of performing tasks or launching applications restricted by the UAC, Vista administrators are delivered elevation potential. "After using Windows Vista for many months, elevating a task or application as necessary has become second nature. However, I also encountered a number of shortcomings when trying to elevate some types of tasks in Windows Vista, and that became frustrating. So in the spirit of the old Windows PowerToys, I've created a few Script Elevation PowerToys to overcome these limitations," explained Michael Murgolo, Senior Infrastructure Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services.

The Windows Vista Script Elevation PowerToys will enable Windows Vista users to perform elevation of privileges with tasks and applications that the operating system will not allow by default. For example, Vista does not allow administrators to perform elevation of privileges from the command line or the Run dialog box.

But Windows Vista's shortcomings when it comes to the default options of User Account Control do not stop here. Additionally, the majority of Windows script types failed to present the Run as Administrator command on the right-click contextual menu. The PowerToys also clone "the default actions for Windows Installer packages (.msi) and patches (.msp)" and applies it to other types of files and updates. CMD Prompt Here as Administrator is the final PowerToy delivered by Murgolo, allowing Vista users to make the best out of the "CMD Prompt Here" command.

"To install these PowerToys, right-click on an INF file, select Install, and approve the elevation. To uninstall, use the Programs and Features selection on the Control Panel. I hope you find these tools useful and that they improve your experience with UAC. Perhaps they will inspire you to create PowerToys of your own. (For those who use other scripting languages like Perl or Python on Windows Vista, it should be easy to create an "Elevate Script" PowerToy for those languages as well.) As with all PowerToys, these are unsupported, "use at your own risk" tools. In any event, have fun elevating," Murgolo concluded.