In this tutorial i will introduce you to the Command Line, a very powerful tool that is relatively unknown for many PC users.
Nowadays people interact with the computer mainly graphically pointing and clicking, never using the "old" Command Line which has very useful functions for an everyday user.
Also the CL is sometimes named incorrectly as DOS window, which actually disappeared back in the days of Windows XP( XP had CL).
Now lets open our Command Prompt Windows by clicking START >All Programs> Accessories>Command Prompt
OR you can also go to START> Run> write cmd and press enter.
Now with our Command Prompt open we will experiment a little bit with it.
Some people when they want know their IP Address they go to sites like www.whatismyip.com
But you can also use the Command Prompt to find it, just open it and type: ipconfig /all
Doing this it will show you a lot of information about your network settings and connections. If your behind a router with firewall then its better to just use the webpage given to search for your IP.
Another interesting command is: tracert, wich stands for trace route.With this command you can check the route that your packets take to reach a specific address in this case the server of webpages.
If you want to know more about this command i invite you to see this webpage with excellent explanations: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/781576
Moreover, we have the shutdown.exe -i command, with this you can select a computer in your network and remotely shut it down or just restart it.
Depending on the network you are on the discovery of other computers may be blocked. Try it yourself!!
Furthermore, i want to show you a very interesting command. Sometimes i want to know how many mp3 files or pdf files i have in my pc and i want a list of them, with this simple command the PC will do that for you.
Follow these simple steps:
1) Open Command Prompt
2) Go to the directory where you want to search and list all the files in it( it will list also the files located in the folders of subfolders...) In my case because i want to know all the files in the entire Hard Drive i go to the C directory. If you want to move ONE directory up just type in the Commmand Line : cd..
3) Write this command:
dir *.pdf /s /b >files.txt
You can change pdf for any file extension you want, name it mp3, wma, etc..
This command will save a file named files.txt inside the C directory, just go there and find it.
It may take a while for the computer to create the list, you will know its ready when in the Command Prompt you can see again the directory where you are positioned.
I leave you with these useful sites for your journey on mastering the Command Line Prompt:
Link Uno
Link Dos
Link Tres
Go Gators!!
