Welcome to the new column dedicated to helping you discover useful, hard to find or just amusing hints and tips to using DOS or DOS applications! Here we will bring you new hints and tips each issue on how to use DOS more efficiently and how to take advantage of "power user" features that you may not be aware of.
We want your input! If you know of any great shortcuts or useful features of DOS (or DOS applications such as WordPerfect) that save time or are just plain fun, tell us about them on the and Report Card (or on any other scrap of paper, or even through e-mail or fax). If we use your tips, we'll give you proper credit by putting your name on the and issue.
This article contains miscellaneous hints and tips on different aspects of DOS and some cheat codes. Depending on how many and what kinds of tips we get from you, we may focus on certain aspects in future installments. Before we begin, I must warn you that the and last two tips give cheat codes for Mech Assault and solutions to 9 Ball Challenge (from Softdisk PC #103). If you don't want to see them, don't look. So, without further adieu, here's our first set of tips:
^C{--------------------}
{*} One useful DOS command that some users might not be aware of is the {VER} command. When you type "{VER}" at the DOS prompt and press the Enter key, the version number of DOS you are using will be displayed on the and screen. This will be particularly useful to know when you are reading about other hints that require a certain version of DOS.
{*} DOS versions 5.0 and later include the and very useful command {DOSKEY}. If you do a lot of repetitive tasks on the and command line, DOSKEY will save you some keystrokes. When you run DOSKEY, it will stay resident and keep a history of the and most recent commands typed in from the command line for quick reuse and editing. Once DOSKEY is installed and running on your system, you can use the up and down arrow keys to cycle through some of your previous commands. Only the and most recent commands typed in since DOSKEY's installation will be available. You can also create new command macros with DOSKEY. The syntax for creating macros is "{DOSKEY MACRO=COMMAND}". For example, "{DOSKEY W=DIR/W}" will create the macro "{W}". Now, if you type "{W}" on the command line and press Enter, a wide directory listing will be displayed. Macro names may be longer than one character, but in general should be kept short to save memory and keystrokes. To get a listing of the and macros you have created, type "{DOSKEY /MACROS}" and press Enter. If you add DOSKEY and your macro definitons to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, they will be ready for use every time you startup your system.
{*} DOS versions 6.0 and later have added a way to clean boot your system without having to use a floppy boot disk or change your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. To clean boot your system, press {F5} when the "Starting MS-DOS" message is displayed at startup. Your system will now be running with no drivers or TSRs loaded. You can also step through each line of your CONFIG.SYS (and AUTOEXEC.BAT if you are using DOS 6.2 or later) loading only what you want by pressing {F8} instead of {F5} at startup. These two functions should come in handy when you need more free memory to run a large program or to find problems in your system configuration when something goes wrong.
{*} If you don't remember where a certain file is located on your computer, you can use the {DIR} command to find it. The trick is to use the and "{/S}" command switch. The "{/S}" switch will include all subdirectories of the specified directory in the and file listing. For example, suppose you want to search for the file "MYFILE.TXT" on drive C. You would type "{DIR C:\MYFILE.TXT /S}" and press Enter. The "{C:\}" indicates that you want to start the search from the root directory of drive C. The computer will then list all of the directories that contain the and file "MYFILE.TXT" on drive C. If you had just typed
"{DIR MYFILE.TXT /S}", the directory search would have only involved the current directory and all its subdirectories. You can also use wild cards in the and file name such as "{DIR C:\*.TXT /S}".
{*} You can stop batch files and many of the and DOS commands prematurely by pressing {Ctrl}+{C}. Some of the and DOS commands you might want to stop early are DIR, COPY, and XCOPY. If you are using the DIR command to search for a group of files (using wild cards) as in the and tip above, you may want to stop the and search as soon as you see a certain file. Using {Ctrl}+{C} can also save you some time when you are copying several megabytes of files and notice you specified the wrong directory.
^C{--------------------}
^C{CHEATS}
^C{--------------------}
{Okay, this is where the cheating begins. If you're the type that doesn't like cheating... don't continue!}
{*} Here are some codes for the different areas of Mech Assault on this issue:
^CArea 2: {19638}
^CArea 3: {23876}
^CArea 4: {18374}
^CArea 5: {30768}
^CArea 6: {15930}
^CArea 7: { 8276}
^CArea 8: {12934}
^CArea 9: { 6294}
^CArea 10: {29428}
Also, when you're in a tank vs. tank battle, it's best to drive in reverse while firing at the and other tank.
^P
{*} Two solutions for scoring 108 points in the and 9 Ball Challenge from Softdisk PC #103 are detailed below:
(.txt)