Welcome to the 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. Depending on how many and what kinds of tips we get from you, we may focus on certain aspects in future installments. So, on with the tips:
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{*} If you want to give your computer some personality, try giving it a name with the and DOS command {LABEL}. The LABEL command allows you to name your hard drives with 11 character names. So, if you want to give your C: hard drive the name "BOB", type "{LABEL C:BOB}" and press Enter. Now, every time you get a directory listing of C:, you will see the and line "Volume in drive C is BOB" at the top.
{*} One common mistake most people make when writing batch files is to forget to use the and {CALL} command to run other batch files. If you want to run a second batch file from within another batch file, use the syntax of "{CALL MYBATCH2.BAT}". If you don't use the CALL command, the second batch file will exit to DOS instead of returning to the and first batch file.
{*} If you have been adding a lot of new macros to your DOSKEY (DOS version 5.0 and up), you might want to raise DOSKEY's buffer size. The default buffer size is 512 bytes. You can up it to a full 1k by using the command line switch "{/BUFSIZE=1024}" to the first DOSKEY line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Make your first DOSKEY line be "{DOSKEY /BUFSIZE=1024}".
{*} Sometimes you need to compare two files to see what's different about them. DOS offers two commands for comparing files, "{COMP}" and "{FC}". Of the two commands, {FC} gives better results. If you want to compare MYFILE.TXT with MYFILE.OLD that's located in the and subdirectory OLDSTUFF, type
"{FC MYFILE.TXT OLDFILE\MYFILE.OLD ~|MORE}" and press Enter. The "{~|MORE}" command is added since most file compares are rather long.
{*} If you are curious about some of the technical aspects of your computer such as what type of video it has, DOS 6 includes the {MSD} command. MSD will give you information about your computer's memory, video, operating system, mouse, COM ports, and other devices.
{Reminder:} Type "{VER}" and press Enter if you are not sure what version of DOS you are using.
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