Beginner’s Guide to the Windows Command Prompt

Earlier today I had to boot a client computer into safe mode and delete a virus via the command prompt because whenever Windows would load, the file would become locked and hence undeletable..! There are several other reasons why you may have to use the command prompt in your life (though rarely), so it’s good to know how to navigate your way around!

If you have been meaning to learn how to use the command prompt in Windows, I’ll go through some of the basic commands that are performed most often. Just so everyone’s on the same page, you can get to the command prompt by going to Start and then click on Runand typing in CMD. In Windows 7, just click on Start and begin typing cmd. In Windows 8, you can just right-click on the Start button and choose Command Prompt.

You’ll now see a large black window with the cursor at the end of the path to your user profile inC:\Documents and Settings\Username or C:\Users\Username. So what to do now!? Well, since I can’t explain everything, you’ll probably want to end up using some of the help guides that are provided in MS DOS itself by typing in HELP and pressing Enter.

When you do that, you’ll get a list of all the commands you can use in MS DOS and a short description of what they do:

You can also find out more detailed information about the parameters and how to use each command by typing in the command name followed by a /?. For example, typing in CD /?, will present you with a quick tutorial on how to use the CD command:

As you can see from above, the MS DOS command CD displays the name of or changes the current directory. So if you wanted to change from the default user profile directory to the Windows System32directory to delete a virus file, you would type in the following to navigate to that directory:

cd c:\window\system32 and press Enter

You current directory at the prompt will now change to:

Now that you are in that directory, you may want to view all of the files and directories first, so you can type in the command DIR and press Enter. You’ll now get a giant list of all of the files and folders in that directory. You can type in DIR /? and see what parameters you can pass to it.

As you can see, you could type in DIR /P to give the list in a paginated format that you can browse through slowly. Or you could type in DIR /W to get the list in a wide format rather than one single column. The cool thing about DOS is that you can include several parameters for each command, so you could type in DIR /P /W and get a page-by-page view along with wide format:

So now that we have a list of files and folders, let’s continue with our deleting a virus example. If you want to delete a file, you would use the DEL command. Again typing in DEL /? will give you some useful info on the command.

To delete a file, we can simply type in DEL filename and that will delete the file. When you use the command this way, it won’t prompt you to confirm before deleting the file, so make sure you have typed in the correct file name. Also, you have to enter the file name with the extension, so it would be DEL Test.txtto delete that file. Also, if you need to delete a file that has spaces in the name, you have to use quotes likeDEL “This is a test.txt”.

If you need to create or delete folders, you would use the MKDIR and RMDIR commands. It’s worth noting that if you try to delete a non-empty directory, you will get an error message. However, if you are sure you want to delete the directory and everything inside, you can use the RMDIR /S foldername command.

There are lots of other commands that you can use to do all sorts of stuff like copy files, print text files, change file permissions, etc. So if you can do most of this stuff in Windows using the GUI interface, then why bother with DOS, right?

Firstly, you never know when something bad will happen to Windows and you’re stuck in the command prompt because nothing else will load. Also, any command you type in the command prompt, like we showed above, can be saved into a file with a .BAT extension and run anytime by just clicking on the file or can be scheduled to run using the Windows Scheduled Tasks Control Panel applet.

So if you want to be able to routinely perform some simple actions on your computer, like copying files from one folder to another, just type the commands into Notepad and save the file with a .BAT extension instead of as a text file. Basically, you have to choose All Files for the File Type option and then type in the name like “MyFile.bat” with the quotes included.

Let me mention a couple of other commands that prove to be very useful very often.

IPCONFIG

The IPCONFIG command gives you information about your network cards, IP addresses and also lets you renew your IP address. My favorite is ipconfig /all, which will give you detailed information about each network adapter on your computer. You can then use this info to figure out your router IP address (default gateway) and whether or not you’re getting an IP address from a DHCP server.

DISKPART

Again, when you end up with hard drive problems, this command can prove to be very useful. DISKPART lets you administer the hard disks installed on your computer. You can do things like set a partition to be the active partition, assign a drive letter to a partition, shrink a disk, take a disk offline or online, etc.

SFC

System File Checker is really useful because it scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct file versions. There will be a lot of times when certain system files in Windows have become corrupt and system file checker will fix them for you easily. You just run sfc /scannow and it will perform a scan and fix any issues. It does take quite a bit of time, but worth it if you’re having any kind of corruption issues.

A couple of other very useful commands that you might have to end up using are listed below:

Chkdsk – Verifies a hard disk or a floppy disk for file system integrity.

Copy – Copies files from one location to another. The destination defaults to the current directory. If there are multiple source files, the destination must be a directory or else you will get an error.

Fc – Compares two files or sets of files and displays the differences between them

Fdisk – Manipulates hard disk partition tables. When run from the command line, it displays a menu of various partitioning operations.

Format – Delete all the files on the disk and reformat it for MS-DOS. Use mostly for formatting floppy disks or other removable disks.

Scandisk – Disk diagnostic utility that is a replacement for the CHKDSK utility.

Netstat – Shows you all the current connections from your local computer to anything external.

That should hopefully get you up and running on how to use and navigate in the MS DOS command prompt! You can also check out this site that has a list of all commands you can use at the command prompt. If you have a question, please post a comment! Enjoy!

3 reasons why the Windows 10 command prompt is the bomb diggy

The command prompt has been adored by windows administrators and power users for years.  Proficient command prompt aficionados could bang out commands and get results seconds before their less nimble peers who were still fettered to the Windows GUI.

But despite the utility of the command prompt there were always a few things that bothered me.  The Mac terminal window looked cooler than the Windows command prompt.  That frosty, diaphanous, terminal window was legendary and really made using the terminal more enjoyable.

There were ways to hack the command prompt to make it look sexier but sometimes it didn’t always work.

The other little thing that bothered me was the fact that I couldn’t easily copy and paste commands into the windows command prompt.

Admins were basically forced to take the circuitous path of right clicking the window and choosing Paste from the context menu.

Well – I’ve had enough of the shenanigans and I’m here to avow that in Windows 10 all your command prompt dreams come true.

In this post I’m going to show you 3 reasons why the Windows 10 command prompt is the bomb diggy.  I can’t get enough of it.

Check it out yo.

1. Making the command prompt ghosty

First let’s make it sexy.

To adjust the transparency of the command prompt window, right click the title bar and choose Properties.

Click the Experimental tab and then put a check in Enable experimental console features (applies globally).

This makes the Opacity slider leap to life.  Now you you spend your Saturday afternoon sliding the bar back and forth until you find the perfect translucence.

Click OK and changes are immediate.  There’s no need to restart the console window.

2. Enabling Ctrl + c and Ctrl + v

You can start copying and pasting text into the command prompt using Ctrl + c and Ctrl + v by revisiting theExperimental tab and placing a check in Enable new Ctrl key shortcuts.

Click OK, restart the command prompt and then start pasting text in with Ctrl + v!

Oh wait – I should mention something: since Ctrl + c is now assigned to copying text you can’t use it to terminate a stubborn process from the command line.

Technically, you could try Ctrl + break to kill a frozen process but I think Ctrl + c is the preferred way of extricating yourself from command line emergencies.

3. Dynamically resize text

In prior versions of Windows, if the command prompt output was longer than the window width a horizontal scroll bar would appear allowing you to scroll right to read the rest of the text.

Well in Windows 10, you can now automatically wrap text in real-time as you expand and contract the width of the command window.

In the Experimental tab, just check Wrap text output on resize, relaunch the command window, bang out your favorite command and start stretching and squeezing the window width until it sings.

lol.

Cool eh?

The Bottom Line

Microsoft is listening!

Well, at least when it comes to improving the functionality of the command prompt.  The new features such asopacity, word wrap and keyboard shortcuts makes using the command prompt fun again.

How’s your experience been with the Windows 10 command prompt? Please share your story in the comments below.  Do you know of any other shortcuts?

Here’s how to get the silly Windows 8 Start Screen back in Windows 10

Some people have been using the Start Screen for so long that they’ve developed an embarrassing, almostparadoxical love for it. The Start Screen is one of those things that the public has simply acquiesced to because it didn’t really have a choice. 

With the advent of Windows 10, the Start Screen is gone but some people feel forlorn with its absence. That’s why today I’m going to show you how to get that silly start screen back. 

Let’s get on with it! 

To boot to the Start Screen instead of the Start Menu in Windows 10, right-click the Taskbar and chooseProperties from the context menu. 

Click on over to the Start Menu tab and uncheck Use the Start menu instead of the Start Screen. 

Windows will censure you about saving your work. It needs to log out to commit your changes so if you’re not ready for that just click Cancel and save your stuff first. 

Now when you login and click the Start Button, your forsaken Start Screen appears and takes over your monitor like it did in the Windows 8 days. (seems so long ago since we skipped Windows 9 doesn’t it?) 

If you want Windows to automatically display the Start Screen at sign-on, go back to your Taskbarproperties, click the Navigation Tab and uncheck When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start. 

Once you get tired of the Start Screen (I’m sure you will) just return to the Start Menu tab and put a check in the box you originally deselected.

How can I make the Windows 10 Start Menu feel like Windows 7?

The new start menu is a flexible, configurable collection of icons and links.  And although Microsoft did a good job blending the benefits of the Windows 8 start screen with the familiarity of the Windows 7 start menu, I still think people will find that the, constantly updating, garish collection of live tiles are both a little juvenile and distracting for everyday use.

That’s why in this post I’m going to show you how to slash the pounds off the Start Menu.  We’re going to purge the fat by removing those annoying live tiles and then we’ll spruce up the menu by changing the background color.

Let’s go!

We can put the Start Menu on a diet by right-clicking each live tile and choosing Unpin from the context menu.

Unfortunately, you have to manually right click each tile to do this.  You can’t hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple tiles – which is a little nettlesome but I can live with that.

Now look at your new Start Menu.

It’s nicer but we can actually trim even more weight from the Start Menu.

Push your mouse cursor right along the top vertical edge of the menu until it your cursor changes into a double headed arrow.

Now you can click to drag the menu down to a smaller size…

or stretch it out to its maximum height.

Okay, great but I don’t think the sky blue background of the start menu complements the muted colors of my wallpaper.

Let’s change that.

Near the bottom of the Start Menu, right click the vertical space directly above the All Apps button and choose Personalize from the context menu.

Now you can change the background color to almost anything you want.

I made an abortive effort trying to change it to white but charcoal looks good so I’ll probably pick this one.

Oh wait, hot pink is pretty bold.  It’s jarring and surprising – sort of like me.

I’m going with this one.

When you want to add your live tiles back to the Start Menu you can click the All Apps button located directly above the search box and then right click the tiles you want to Pin to Start.

I love it!

Now I admit this doesn’t look anything like the Windows 7 start menu but doesn’t it at least look better than the Windows 10 start menu?  What do you think?

How to remove Favorites and Frequent Folders in the Windows 10 File Explorer

Windows 10 is upon us and there are a few things that I like and others that I hate.

I’ve been playing with Windows 10 for several weeks now and have developed a penchant for the remixed start menu and diaphanous command prompt.  I’ve also grown to like Virtual Desktops but there are a few other things about Windows 10 that annoy me.

Today I want to talk about one of those annoyances.

By default, when you click File Explorer, you’ll see a new option at the top of the left navigation pane calledHome.

Unfortunately, there’s little about Home that makes me want to live there.

It’s just a mashup off all my favorites, frequent folders and recent files.

In fact, if you take a closer look, you’ll notice that Favorites is already displayed in the left pane under the yellow star – so why is it also on the Home Screen?

Can someone say redundant twice?  It seems like a waste to me.

Let’s make Home more useful by yanking those frivolously icons and replacing them with your local drives.  

We’re going to make it resemble what we see under This PC.

Unfortunately there’s no easy point and click solution to this.  We need to crack open the registry and rename the registry keys that correspond to Recent Files, Recent Folders, and Favorites.

Getting the reticent registry to talk

As the Administrator, press the Windows logo Key on your keyboard and type regedit in the search box.  Incidentally, now is probably a good time to backup the registry.

Now click through the tree in the left pane until you get DelegateFolders.

Here’s the full path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HomeFolder\NameSpace\DelegateFolders

You’ll see three cryptic keys in registry which relates to your recent files, folders and favorites folders.

• Recent Files {3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}
• Recent Folders {4564b25e-30cd-4787-82ba-39e73a750b14}
• Favorites {d34a6ca6-62c2-4c34-8a7c-14709c1ad938}

Click each one, press F2 and then add fbv (for fixedByVonnie) to the beginning of the string.  So for example, Recent files changes from:

{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}

to

fbv{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}

Hahaha I had to plug my site in the screenshot somehow!

Now if you return to File Explorer and press F5 to refresh the view, you should notice that everything is empty!

That’s not what we want, so let’s add a new registry key to get some useful stuff in here!

In the registry, right click DelegateFolders and mouse over to New and choose Key.

Paste in the following key name:

{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}

and double click the (Default) string in the right pane and set the value to “This PC”

Now when you refresh the File Explorer view you’ll have your drives sitting in the Home screen.

If you want Windows to honor your privacy and stop recording your recent files, just right click the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen, choose Properties and in the Start Menu tab uncheck Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar.

The Bottom Line

Hopefully Microsoft will include native support for File Explorer customizations like this one in a future Windows 10 update. Making users dive into the registry to make changes for simple personalization is both cumbersome and dangerous.

I think the problem with File Explorer is that with each iteration of Windows, Microsoft seems to keep adding clutter to the screen.

File Explorer has become a confused mess of icons and settings that baffles both tech tyros and seasoned technicians alike.

What ever happened to the Windows Explorer of the halcyon Windows XP days?  Sure maybe my quixotic vision of a clutter free Windows Explorer isn’t realistic but in the very least Microsoft should make it easier for users to hide the things they don’t want to view in File Explorer.

What do you think about the evolution of File Explorer in Windows?  Is it becoming more cluttered?  Am I the only one who thinks this?

Please share in the comments!