30th November 2001
We're all familiar with the command line - and it still exists in Windows XP. In fact, Microsoft has created a few new tools for those of us allergic to the GUI. These may (or may not) work in other NT-based OSes. According to the Help Center: BOOTCFG configures or changes BOOT.INI file settings; DEFRAG does what its always done; DISKPART manages disks and partitions; GETMAC obtains the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols; DRIVERQUERY spits back a list of installed drivers and their properties; PAGEFILECONFIG configures your virtual memory settings; PRNCNFG configures and displays printer information; PRNQCTL prints a test page, pauses or resumes a printer, and clears a printer queue; SC shows and allows the configuration of service information; SHUTDOWN shuts down or restarts a local or remote computer; SYSTEMINFO provides basic system configuration information; TASKKILL ends one or more processes; TASKLIST shows running applications and services; and SCHTASKS schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time. If you type faster than you can click, these puppies should keep you happy.