TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR COMPUTER WITH OUR GUIDE TO START MENU COMMANDS Before fancy graphical user interfaces(GUIs) like Windows came along, the only way to control your computer was to type text commands into a largely blank screen. Previous systems meant you had to learn special command codes in order to perform even the most basic tasks, such as running programs. Pointing and clicking on icons with your mouse has replaced this text-only method. That said, there are some down sides to the Windows approach. Certain programs and utilities, for example, are hidden away deep within the operating system, nested within folders or tucked into some obscure corner of the Windows Control Panel. As a result, many of Windows' important tools can be hard to find. Fortunately, there's an easy way to access your computer's most useful features by using a modernspin on the old Command Prompt, which is available right from the Windows Start menu. In Windows 7 and Vista, the Start menu box doubles up as both a search tool and a command line. As long as you know the name of a program or utility you want to launch, it's possible to do so very quickly. Go to Start, type the program's name into the box and press Enter on your keyboard. Windows XP doesn't have a command line box within the Start menu; if you use XP, then you'll need to go to Start, click Run. Type the command and press Enter on your computer's keyboard. Launching programs and utilities in this way is particularly useful for Control Panel applets. All you need to know is the correct command. We've givenyou a 'cheat sheet' of the most useful commands, here. 1. ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS Type appwiz.cpl into the Windows search box and press Enter. The Add/Remove Programs dialogue box will open. Scroll down the list and highlight programs you no longer need or use and click Uninstall or Remove to delete the programs from your hard drive. 2. WINDOWS CALCULATOR The Windows calculator is notoriously hard to find as it's hidden away in the Accessories folder in the Program menu. Some keyboards have a dedicated calculator button on them, but if yours doesn't, then the easiest way to launch it is to type calc and then press the Enter key on your computer keyboard. 3. SPECIAL WINDOWS CHARACTERS Do you often find yourself looking for the copyright symbol or an accented foreign letter when you're composing documents. The charmap command will soon beyour best friend. Enter charmap into the command line, hit Enter and the Windows Character Map will open. Scroll and double-click the character you want, and then paste it into your document. 4. WINDOWS DISKCLEANUP UTILITY To open up the Windows Disk Cleanup utility, type cleanmgr and hit Enter on your computer keyboard. The Disk Cleanup utility is designed to remove unwanted files, temporary items and other junk to free up some space on your hard drive. Select the drive letter of the user accounts you want to clean (if required), tick the types of files you want to remove and click Enter. 5. LAUNCH THE COMMAND PROMPT Type cmd to open the old-school Command Prompt - a black window with text-only commands. These days, the Command Prompt is mostly unnecessary. However, if you're having network problems, launch cmd, type ipconfig at the prompt and you'll be able to get some useful information, including your computer's IP address, type exit to close the window. 6. MANAGEMENT CONSOLE Type compmgmt.msc and press Enter to start your computer's Computer Management console (a collection of administrative tools within Windows). There are lots of useful tools and components here, such as the Device Manager, for example. Click on a heading in the left-hand column to view further information in each area on the right. We've covered more of these tools, later in the article. 7. DISPLAY PROPERTIES Have you ever accidentally changed your Desktop background and wondered how to change it back? The desk.cpl command launches the computer's display properties dialogue box. In Windows XP, the tabs provide access to resolution settings, wallpaper and more. Windows 7 and Vista users can type the Personalization command instead of desk.cpl for more options. 8. DEVICE MANAGER Device Manager is a subset of the Computer Management console mentioned earlier; it displays all the hardware that makes up your computer; to launch this, type devmgmt.msc. Click next to each category to reveal individual components. If you're having problems with devices not working,this is one of the first places to look. Anything with a warning sign next to it may require attention. 9. DISK MANAGEMENT Another part of the Computer Management console, diskmgmt.msc is the Disk Management tool. This is useful if youhave a new hard disk that needs to be initialised or if you need to change drive letters. Take care, however. It's unadvisable to makeany changes here unless you're confident and have everything backed up. 10. DISK DEFRAGMENTING Type defrag (dfrg.msc in XP), select a disk and click the Defragment button to re-organise the data on your hard drive and help speed up performance. Windows 7 and Vista run defrag automatically, butyou can also use this utility to change when it does this. 11. DIRECT X TROUBLESHOOTER Enter the dxdiag command and click OK if a warning appears.The Direct X Troubleshooter will launch. This looks a bit technical,but it can provide some very useful information about your system. If you need to update your graphics card drivers, for example, click on the Display tab and it will list the make and model, allowing you to search online for the correct software. 12. Event viewer The Event Viewer (type eventvwr.msc) can provide useful information in troubleshooting situations. Unfortunately, much of it is indecipherable to anyone other than experts. However, one thing you can do is browse the logs for error codes and then perform a web search for possible solutions. 13. LOG OFF YOUR COMPUTER Type log off into the Start menu (or Windows XP Run box) and press Enter. Your computer will log you out of your user account and present you with the username/password login screen. It's a useful shortcut if you have to leave your computer unattended. 14. MAGNIFY YOUR SCREEN Microsoft's Windows accessibility options are very hard to find. Type magnify in the Start menu to open the Magnifier which zooms into a portion of the screen making it easier to read. 15. Launch the onscreen keyboard Type osk to bring up the on-screen keyboard. This is useful if your physical keyboard suddenly breaks down. It works just like a normal keyboard, except you type by clicking on keys with your mouse pointer. 16. MONITOR PERFORMANCE The performance managementtools (type perfmon.msc) provides an instant graphical view of how your computer is performing.Most of the information here is aimed at expert users, but the animated graph tells you whether or not your computer's processor is strained. 17. CONTROL YOUR PRINTERS To access your printer options in Windows 7 and Vista simply type printers, which opens the Printers and Devices window. You can add a new printer here or change settings for an existing one. 18. SYSTEM PROPERTIES Enter sysdm.cpl to bring up your computer's System Properties applet among other things. This tabbed dialogue box provides information about your computer's network name and workgroup, which is useful for network troubleshooting. 19. WINDOWS UPDATES Your computer should be set to update Windows automatically. To check that it is, or to download new updates, launch Windows Update: type wuapp.exe (wuaucpl.cpl in Windows XP). 20. ANY WEB ADDRESS To launch websites, type the address into the Start menu Search or Run box and press Enter on your keyboard. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
