Unless you work as a systems engineer, you will hardly have to deal with the Windows command line today. The command line is the basic tool to perform operations and commands without using windows and folders, without using the desktop, typing on the keyboard in a black screen.
Even if it seems out of date and, in some ways, it is, there are some commands to be launched via the main command prompt that everyone should know and that is worth fixing in this article for future reference.
To access the command prompt, run CMD on Start -> Run or, on Windows 8, access it from the Windows-X menu (right click on the lower left corner).
To execute the commands, write them in lower case and press Enter .
READ FIRST: Prompt guide to run Dos commands on Windows
1) CIPHER
The Cipher command deserved an article in this blog for its importance.
It is used to overwrite the free disk space in Windows so that files deleted with the recycle bin are no longer recoverable.
To clean the disk drive C, for example, using the " cipher / w: c " command will wipe out all traces of files on the disk certainly keeping the files not deleted.
2) DRIVERQUERY
driverquery is used to list the drivers of your computer with all the details.
Write driverquery-v
driverquery-v> listadriver-txt will save the list in a text file in the current folder.
3) SHUTDOWN
The shutdown command shuts down the computer that can be done with the button without problems.
The convenient command is instead shutdown / r / o, which restarts the PC and launches the menu of advanced startup options to access the safe mode and the recovery utility.
4) SFC
SFC stands for System File Checker and is used to check system files to correct errors of files not found or corrupt
Run the sfc / scannow command to detect damaged or missing files and replace them with good files.
5) TASKLIST
The tasklist command can be used as a task manager, to see the updated list of all the activities running on the PC.
Tasklist-svc shows the services related to each activity, tasklist-v provides more details on each process and tasklist-m locates the dll files with active processes.
These commands are useful for advanced troubleshooting or for manually tracking malware.
6) TASKKILL
Any process that appears in the tasklist command can be stopped and terminated with the taskkill -im command followed by the name of the executable file or with taskkill-pid followed by the process ID number.
7) ASSOC
Assoc is the DOS command to view file associations with programs.
In practice you can easily control how a certain type of file is opened if you double-click with the mouse.
Run the assoc .txt command to see which program opens the txt files.
By writing assoc .txt = you can change the program to use.
8) FC
FC stands for File Compare and is used to compare two text files to see if there are differences.
This is especially useful for writers and programmers looking to find small changes between two versions of the same file.
Then type fc and then path to the folder and name of the two files you want to compare.
Adding the "/ l" option to compare only ASCII text.
For example you could write: fc / l "C: \ Program Files \ example1.doc" "C: \ Program Files \ examplee2.doc"
READ ALSO: Command Prompt Cheats (CMD)
9) IPCONFIG
Ipconfig is the command to know which IP address the computer connected to the network has.
If you are using a router you will find the local network address of the router.
Ipconfig / release followed by ipconfig / renew are the commands to ask for a new IP address, useful for restoring the internet.
You can also use ipconfig / flushdns to update DNS name resolution.
ipconfig / all finally shows all the network addresses of the computer.
10) NETSTAT
Entering the netstat-an command you will get the list of network ports currently open with their IP addresses.
This is a great command to search for and fix malware problems or software internet connections.
11) PING
The Ping command is used every time you want to check if your computer is connected to the internet or if it can connect to a particular network device.
Usually you use the ping command www.google.it to check the internet connection or ping the router's ip address to check if there is a LAN connection.
READ ALSO: Faster connection and lower network latency by reducing the connection time (Ping)
12) PATHPING
Pathping is a more advanced version of ping useful if there are multiple routers between the PC and the device being tested.
13) TRACERT
The tracert command is similar to pathping, you must write tracert followed by the IP address or the domain to know all the steps that the packet does to get to that address starting from our computer.
Unlike pathping, however, tracert also shows how much time (in milliseconds) each pass between servers or devices passes.
14) POWERCFG
Powercfg is a very powerful command for energy management.
You can use the " powercfg / hibernate on " and powercfg / hibernate off command to manage the hibernation mode and you can also use the " powercfg / a " command to view the energy saving states available on the PC.
Another useful command is powercfg / devicequery s1_supported which see the list of devices that can wake the computer from hibernation.
Powercfg / lastwake instead tells us which is the last device that woke up the PC from a suspended state.
The powercfg / energy command can be used to get a detailed report on the PC's energy consumption.
This report is useful for checking any system anomalies that can increase energy consumption.
In Windows 8 you can also use the powercfg / batteryreport command to get a detailed analysis of battery use in laptops.
15) RECIMG
recimg stands for Recovery Image and can only be run in Windows 8 to create a system image.
Virtually all purchased Windows 8 / 8.1 computers already installed already have a recovery image to reset but this could include unnecessary programs that you would prefer not to have.
By running recimg you get a list of options to use this command to create a custom system image.
You must have administrator privileges to use the recimg command and you can access the recovery image created by reinitializing Windows 8.
This guide explains how to use this command.
READ ALSO: 20 commands to type in "Run" on Windows
