|
If you don't quite have a grasp on the concept of DOS or the Command Prompt, here's a quick primer on this useful but oft-forgotten interface. The Command Prompt in Windows XP is based on MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), the operating system used by the first PCs and the basis for many versions of Windows, including 9x/Me. As explained in Chapter 1, however, the Windows XP/2000/NT platform has been designed from the ground up to be completely independent of DOS. Fortunately, the DOS-like Command Prompt is still available from within Windows. If you don't have a Command Prompt item in your Start Menu, go to Start Enter.
When you open a Command Prompt window, you'll see a window that looks like the one shown in Figure 10-1. The cursor indicates the command line (where commands are typed), and the prompt usually shows the current working directory (here, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop), followed by a caret/angle bracket (>). Figure 10-1. The Command Prompt is used to implement some solutions in this bookTo run a program or execute a command, just type the name of the program or command at the command line (also called the C prompt because it usually looks like C:\>), and press Enter. Some command-prompt applications simply display information and then exit immediately. For example, Figure 10-1 shows some output from the Active Connections utility (netstat.exe) discussed in Section 7.6.3. |
|