Sometimes it can be useful to list the contents of one or more directories in a text file, for example by creating a file catalog. Windows does not allow you to perform this operation from File ...

MS-DOS or Microsoft Disk Operating System was the dominant operating system for Personal Computer throughout the 80s. MS-DOS is a non-graphical command line operating system. MS-DOS allows the user to ...

Archive.org has gone to great lengths to preserve and host dated software, but up until last week, its vast collection of classic games and MS-DOS executables skewed toward the overly safe side. Sure, ...

The Config.sys is the main configuration file used by OS/2, MS-DOS and other operating systems. Config.sys commands loads programs into the memory and sets ups the memory management of the system. The ...

The MS-DOS "Attrib" command allows you to add and remove attributes from a file -- even if the file is hidden or you cannot start Windows. You can also use this command to modify the attributes of a ...

Windows ME and earlier versions required MS-DOS to perform many background functions and operations. Many business applications developed for early versions of ...

I recently had to undergo the yearly Windows reinstall. No biggie. However, now I see under my System Properties (right-click My Comp) on the Performance tab, that my 4 partitions (C through F) are ...

As the forerunner to the graphical user interfaces in Microsoft’s Windows platform, MS-DOS helped set the stage for the company’s dominance in the PC software market. When MS-DOS was released in 1981, ...

If you think messing around with the user-interface of a modern console, or even a modern iteration of Windows is hard, spare a thought for anyone involved in PC gaming during the 1980s and early 90s.

Editor’s note: After this article was published, Microsoft issued a statement clarifying that cmd.exe will not be going away after all. Read Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols’ follow-up column. My very first ...

Clifford led How To coverage. He spent a handful of years at Peachpit Press, editing books on everything from the first iPhone to Python. He also worked at a handful of now-dead computer magazines, ...