How To Run µTorrent In Hidden and Locked Mode

Few days back I received a mail, asking me to show the way to run a µTorrent in  hidden mode at start-up. Here in this post I will describe how to hide µTorrent from being displayed at start-up and enabling password protection to access it.This can be achieved by the additional features supported by the µTorrent.Perform following simple steps to hide µTorrent.

Procedure To Hide µTorrent at Start-up:-

µTorrent has a Boss-Key feature that can be used to make µTorrent invisible on the desktop.First make certain that µTorrent is set to open at Windows start up.Also make sure to set a Boss-Key.Boss key is nothing but a shortcut key assigned to the application that can be used to open the application.

Both of these settings are in µTorrent at Options>Preferences>General.To set a Boss-Key, a combination of modifier key (Ctrl, Shift or Alt) and the key (numbers, letters or function keys) is used.  At default Alt is used.  So if you tick in the Boss-Key box and press C, then Alt+C will be the Boss-Key.If you wish to use Shift or Ctrl, then that key and the number/letter must be pressed at the same time after you tick the Boss-Key box.Press OK when done.

After you have done the above, go to Start>Run and type regedit and press OK.

Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Run

You will then see the µTorrent start up path on this screen
Double-click on the µTorrent entry to edit settings

You will then see this screen, now Add "/hide" to the end of the command (without quotations)and Press OK

Your µTorrent should now start on Windows start up and be invisible.To have µTorrent be visible, press the Boss-Key combination you entered.

Procedure to Lock µTorrent:-

If you want to lock other users out of µTorrent, just below the BossKey option is an option to set a BossKey password.If enabled and password set, when µTorrent is in BossKey, it will also be locked to those without password. As far as I can tell, the BossKey must be used to enforce the password and lock.  Also, this would not prevent another user with access to the operating system from terminating µTorrent in Task Manager.