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Launch any Windows program from the MS-DOS Prompt command line. First make sure that the directories that contains the programs you want to launch are in your PATH statement. Then, just type in the name of the program's .EXE file and hit Enter.
Type command START followed by a period (.) at the MS-DOS prompt to open the current folder. Type command START followed by two periods (..) at the MS-DOS prompt to open the parent directory (if there is one) of the directory that you are currently in.
Graphical computing is better than working from a command prompt. But you can still have the command line in Windows 95 *and* the graphical interface. Right-click on the Start button and select Open. Double-click on the Programs folder and then the Startup folder. Right-click anywhere in the window, select New/Shortcut, and a wizard will open up. Click on the Browse button, navigate to the Windows directory and double-click on the file DOSPRMPT. Finish the Wizard, launch the DOS Prompt, then place the Command Line window where you want it on the desktop. The next time you start Windows, it'll open in the same location.
Make DOS Apps Ask for Input
You can run a DOS program from a Windows 95 shortcut even if it requires variable parameters each time it's run. Create a shortcut for the DOS program, and then right-click on the shortcut and pick Properties from the context menu. Click on the Program tab and add a question mark to the end of the path in the "Cmd line" field. When you run the program from the shortcut, a parameter window will open where you can type the variable information.
If you have to type in a long path to a DOS program, here's a shortcut. From the Explorer, a folder or the desktop, drag any file and drop it into the MS-DOS Prompt window. The path to that file and the filename will appear on the command line.
You can copy or cut information from a Windows application and paste it into a DOS application or to the MS-DOS Prompt command line. After copying or cutting the information, right-click on the MS-DOS Prompt title bar and select Edit/Paste from the context menu.
A quicker way to paste into the MS-DOS Prompt is to click on the Paste button, which is the third button from the left. If the toolbar doesn't appear in the MS-DOS Prompt window, right-click on the title bar and select toolbar from the context menu.
To copy data from the MS-DOS Prompt, right-click on the title bar and select Edit/Mark. Highlight the area in the MS-DOS Prompt window that you want to copy by pressing and holding the left mouse button and dragging across the area you want to copy. Press Enter and your ready to paste the information.
Here's another way to copy data from the MS-DOS Prompt window. Click on the Mark button on the MS-DOS Prompt toolbar, highlight the area you want to copy by dragging the cursor and then click on the Copy button.
If a DOS program won't run normally, create a shortcut for it, then right-click on the shortcut icon and select Properties. Select the Program tab, click on the Advanced button and select the MS-DOS mode checkbox. This will tell Windows 95 to run the application in real DOS, quitting all current Windows and DOS-box applications and Windows itself. Windows will automatically restart when you exit the DOS aplication.
DOS veterans know that typing two periods after the Change Directory command (CD ..) brings you to the parent directory of the current directory. The Win95 MS-DOS Prompt improves on this quick command by letting you use three, four or more periods to move you further up the directory chain--to the grand-parent directory and the great-grand-parent and the great-great....
Create your own Diskcopy utility using the MS DOS Prompt. Right click on the desktop (or in the folder you want your new utility to exist) and select New/Shortcut from the context menu. Type diskcopy a: a: in the command line (assuming A: points to your diskette drive). Now, whenever you want to copy a diskette, just double-click on the new icon.
From the MS-DOS Prompt Properties dialog, you can set the size of the type that appears in a the DOS window. Click on the Font tab and choose a set of font dimensions from the scrolling window. When you select one, the preview window shows what it will look like. You set the font size for individual MS-DOS Prompt windows, so if you have two or more running, they can use different type sizes.
Click on the toolbar Background button to set a DOS window to run in background. You can then open another MS-DOS Prompt and execute commands while the other DOS app keeps running.
If you type the good ol' DIR command in a MS-Prompt Window, you'll see a new variation on an old theme. In addition to the standard DOS 8.3 filenames displayed on the left, the Windows 95 long filenames are also displayed on the right.
DOS Copy now accepts long filenames, too. So you could, for example, type:
COPY 1195BUDG.DOC November 1995 Budget
When you're in an MS-DOS Prompt window and you need to type a command using a Windows 95 long file or directory name, just type the filename as it appears in its truncated version using the ~ character.
When you're in an MS-DOS Prompt window and you need to type a command using a Windows 95 long file or directory name, type the whole filename inside of quotes ("long filename")
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