With Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, Microsoft has integrated a new management tool called PowerShell, similar to the old command prompt, with a blue colored background, where you can perform advanced configuration operations on Windows. The less experienced have always been intimidated by command line tools which instead are a vital part of Linux systems.
In reality, even at the user level, executing commands by writing them by hand, if you follow a guide or a tutorial, is not at all difficult and indeed makes some operations that cannot be done otherwise.
The command prompt and PowerShell are similar, but with significant differences that, even if only for information, it is good to know.
The command prompt is the command line interface provided by Microsoft since Windows NT.
It has a user-friendly command structure and is widely used for executing batch files, solving Windows problems, performing advanced actions, obtaining information and other things.
Many call it "the DOS prompt", although it has nothing to do with the old MS-DOS system.
In other articles of this blog we have seen the most useful Windows prompt commands and some tricks for the command prompt
PowerShell is, as mentioned, a similar but more advanced tool, based on the .NET Framework, useful above all to compile commands in series, to automate tasks and to perform some system operations that cannot be done from the classic prompt,
PowerShell integrates deeply with the Windows operating system and is often used by system administrators and IT professionals to perform automated tasks and to manage the configuration, for example, of Active Directory.
The PowerShell is much more advanced in terms of functionality, capacity and internal functioning than the command prompt.
As a basic usage example, in this blog we used Powershell to quickly uninstall all Windows 8 and 10 apps, including the pre-installed ones.
Although more powerful, Powershell is still difficult to use and is certainly not within the reach of normal users who have not studied it specifically.
With Windows 10, Microsoft has brought new features and improvements to both the command prompt and Powershell, making them more flexible and efficient.
For example, you can resize and enlarge the command prompt and PowerShell windows as you would any other window and even view them in full screen if your computer allows it.
Also you can now use the default Windows shortcuts to copy and paste from the keyboard, with Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V.
To open the command prompt in Windows 10 and Windows 8 just press the right button on the Start menu.
On Windows 7 the prompt is found from the Start menu in Programs -> Accessories.
To open Powershell instead you need to look for it in the search bar of the Start menu.
If it is not present or to update to the latest version, you can first download and install Powershell 7 .
