Look at what DOS(Disc Operating System) commands can be used for.
note: FAQ under construction!

People don't know DOS(Disc Operating System) commands. It is a sad, but true fact. Every since Win95 came out, DOS and its commands has been deliberatly pushed into the background by Micro$oft and people have followed, not knowing how useful DOS commands can be. I will try to show you several example where knowledge of DOS can be a life saver.

  • catching trojans maskarading as TSR.
    You have all heard of trojan viruses, right? The ones that sit in the background and monitor for example everything you are doing, grabing and making notes of all your activites without you even knowing anything about it. These trojans viruses are also called TSR or Terminate-Stay Resident programs for they sit inside your memory - usually the conventional memory of your first 640K. Now, did you know there is a tricky DOS command you can use to look at your memeory there and find out exactly what's residing inside? The command is MEM/C/P Try it yourself right now. Open a DOS window, go to the C:\ prompt and type it and study what is displayed on the screen.. You will be amazed. It lists everything that is running right now. Nice, eh?
    Here is a shot of my system with the MEM/C/P command.
    Don't worry if all this seems like Greek to ya, but instead find an old DOS book, study it and you will understand what the screen is showing. Of-course, you can also use the ordinary MEM command or to find out about all its possible switches, type MEM/? on the C:\ prompt.

  • Network commands to use on the C:\ prompt:
    Recently, I asked a "friend"(who shall remand nameless) to please ping a web site(server) for me, for I wanted to get their IP number, and I couldn't connect using their DNS name, so I wanted to try the IP number instead. To my utter astonishent, he asked me: "Duhh, what d'you mean ping? How duuh I do that?" I told him to open a C:\ prompt, and to type the PING command there. Then I asked him to read back to me the IP number. (and he was suposed to be somebody who according to him "knew" computers. Uh huh....yeah..well, whatever). My point is ping is a just a basic net command, that everyone should know. You can also check your open connection on the C:\ prompt with another net command - netstats, You can even upload and d/l off FTP server right from there.
    For a complete list of many more Net commands, their uses and what they can be good for, read the Net commands FAQ



  • utilities that only work in DOS:
    Dr WHo lists a wonderful soft in his FAQs called scorch. It is the only utitily that I know of which cleans that pesky Windows' swap file on your HD. But you can only run it in full DOS mode, sorry, by itself, or as a part of a batch file. For that, you will have to reboot into DOS mode.
    Now, I have made my PC to boot in a DOS mode anyway. To do this yourself, first make your C:\MSDOS.SYS a writable, NON-"read only" NON-"hidden" file. Second, open the MSDOS.SYS in your ordinary text editor and look for the BootGUI=1 line. Change it to BootGUI=0. That's zero, not O. While you are at it, look for LOGO=1 line and change that to LOGO=0. That will prevent that annoying Windows95 or Widows 98 logo from apearing while you are booting up. Now you are done. ^_^ Reboot.

    See, now how useful DOS can be? Now go and find an DOS old book and study it!

    DOS