Whenever a program refuses to cooperate in Windows 10, one of the first recommendations is to use elevated privileges or enable one of the available compatibility modes. While accessing these options isn't difficult, the operating system's interface doesn't make the process as comfortable as we'd like. The alternative is to use something like AdvancedRun, another tool from the inexhaustible Nirsoft that lets us run a program with advanced parameters in a more efficient way.
We all know that compatibility options in Windows are shrinking. Generally, that has been the strongest point of Microsoft's operating systems, and honestly, a 20-year-old program running on Windows 10/11 is almost magical, but it's obvious that Redmond wants to leave that mess behind.
Of course, it can't do it carelessly. The business environment is extremely demanding, and its upgrade cycles are very slow due to issues like costs and the classic “if it isn't broken, don't fix it.” If you need to run a program with advanced parameters, additional commands, elevated privileges, and/or special compatibility modes, you can still do it, but today we recommend doing it through AdvancedRun.
How to run a program with advanced parameters using AdvancedRun
This little tool from Nirsoft was once part of the old NirExt package, but now it's available independently. AdvancedRun enables options to add command-line modifiers, change the working folder of the executable, raise or lower its priority, modify the window state (and size) at startup, specify process affinity (and thus take advantage of the strongest cores), force (or restrict) privilege elevation, enable compatibility with previous operating systems, use custom environment variables, and much more. Once you've set all the conditions, all you have to do is save the configuration and click “Run”.
As always, AdvancedRun from Nirsoft is completely free and portable, doesn't drag dependencies, and comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The great advantage of AdvancedRun over the traditional method is that it makes the whole trial-and-error process less tedious. It definitely deserves a place on your maintenance USB stick, like the rest of Nirsoft's programs.
