An Ode to the Command Prompt - the Most Powerful and Least Used Windows Tool

By Ciprian Adrian Rusen on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 21:32

At the beginning of 2010, we started a series on System Recovery tools for Windows 7. Little did we know that the series would expand tremendously and, in the end, we would cover quite extensively a very old and misunderstood tool: the Command Prompt. While working with it, we were fortunate to truly learn its power and usefulness. Therefore, we would like to end our series of articles with a recap about all the great things the Command Prompt can do.

The Basics about the Command Prompt

If you have not used the Command Prompt much, it is best to start with the basics. In our article about How to Customize the Command Prompt you will learn where to find this tool and how to start it and customize it. You might not think of your Command Prompt as something cute and colourful, right? Think again. Go through this tutorial and experiment with all the configuration options. The Command Prompt can be cute and pink too, right along with the newer, sexier Windows 7 tools such as Desktop Gadgets.

Before you run any command, it is best to learn how to run the Command Prompt in Administrator 'mode'. Many of its powers require administrator privileges in order to work.

In Command Prompt - How to Use Basic Commands we have covered the most basic and yet useful commands. You will learn how to navigate through partitions, files and folder structures and how to work with them. Also, you will learn how to launch other applications or how to get help while working in the Command Prompt.

Getting into Command Prompt's Advanced Powers

Now that you've got your basics right, it's time to fine-tune your ninja computing skills and learn some of the advanced commands you can run inside the Command Prompt:

  • Command Prompt - Advanced Disk Management Commands - To complete the list of file and folder management commands listed in the basic guide, we've got more advanced stuff about how you can manage your partitions directly from the Command Prompt. You will learn how to create, modify or delete partitions with a few simple commands.
  • Command Prompt - Advanced Commands for System Information & Managing Active Tasks - Do you want to know all currently running processes? Do you have an unresponsive application which you want to kill? Do you want complete system information by typing only one short command? This tutorial has the answers for you.
  • Command Prompt - Advanced Networking Commands - If you want to be the ultimate geek, you need to learn a bit about networking and how to run some networking tasks in the Command Prompt. This tutorial covers useful commands which help you retrieve information about your network connections and MAC address; and test and display information about active connections.

Repair Your Computer from the Command Prompt

The ultimate power users (such as geeks :)) are able to utilize the Command Prompt also for repairing broken computers and Windows operating systems. For them we've got the following tutorials:

Conclusion

Our series on the Command Prompt tool is far from being complete. We did not manage to cover all the commands you can run. What we tried to do was to simply give you a taste of what this powerful tool can do for you and hopefully raise your interest in learning more about it. Do let us know if we've succeeded. Also, if you've got some other cool tips and commands to share, don't hesitate to leave a comment. We might decide to continue the series.

Related articles:

Fix Windows 7 using Startup Repair
The Run Window in Windows 7 - Why Use it Anymore?
How to Run Programs as Administrator in Windows 7

Content: 
Tutorials
Programs
Command Prompt
System and Security
Windows 7
Best of 7 Tutorials

Comments

Corrine (not verified) - Tue, 12/07/2010 - 01:21

The Command Prompt series is great! It is my favorite (as you know, Ciprian: Command Prompt Series, 7Tutorialsl )

Ciprian Adrian Rusen - Tue, 12/07/2010 - 10:13

Thanks Corrine, both for the appreciation and the help in spreading the word.

Corrine (not verified) - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 02:06

You're welcome, Ciprian. I have a lot of respect for the incredible efforts you and the 7Tutorials Team put into the tutorials.

kzinti1 (not verified) - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 05:48

How much longer will this site be up since you're ending your articles?
And why? What suddenly brought this on?
Have you nothing more to teach us about Windows 7?

Ciprian Adrian Rusen - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:14

I think you misunderstood our survey. We did not say we are ending our articles in general. We said we are considering ending the Genuine Help series, which can be found by accessing the "Genuine Help" button on the top menu.
And also, as a result of the survey, our reader's opinion was not to stop that series. Therefore we decided to continue it and re-invent it for next year. That's all.

We will keep delivering tutorials on an ongoing basis.

kzinti1 (not verified) - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:33

I sure am glad I misunderstood. We all need you.

Brian (not verified) - Tue, 12/14/2010 - 23:30

Ciprian,

I have been trying to learn all I can about the Command Prompt, but with each version of Windows it keeps changing! Many commands I learned in W98 for example, don't work in W7.

But now I think I may have found the way out of this problem: POWER SHELL.

This, new, I think replacement seems like it will be around quite awhile without major changes.

If this is right I would think this would provide the basis for a long series of article on the subject.

I hope you can begin such coverage.

BRIAN

Alzaman (not verified) - Sun, 01/09/2011 - 04:24

I have been using the command prompt for many years, and though i was aware of most commands, the commands such as tasklist, diskpart and even simplistic commands like getmac are an utter godsend now that i've been made aware of them.

A goldmine of a site.

Many Thanks

KABay (not verified) - Sat, 01/15/2011 - 06:41

And Microsoft said DOS wasn't in Windows anymore. People have just forgotten about the Command Window. I am an OLD command line user and have always kept a shortcut to it on my desktop. Old habits die hard. I even still write batch files regularly. But now I am learning Powershell because it is the first scripting language in about 15 years worth learning because it works everywhere and lets you do anything.

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