The "Attrib" system command is used to change the attributes of a file from the DOS command line. While modern computers use Windows instead of DOS, the "Command Prompt" feature has the same ...

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 ...

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 ...

Buried deep within Windows’ bosom is a carbon-crusted fossil from the ancient days of computing. This aged wart on Windows’ soul harkens back to a more primitive time, when computers lacked the oomph ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Before Windows, there was MS-DOS—that’s the Microsoft Disk ...

Moving files around by dragging and dropping in Windows Explorer is a simple task. Many long-time Windows users may never open a DOS command-line window and may not be familiar with commands that were ...

Last month, Microsoft released a modern remake of its classic MS-DOS Editor, bringing back a piece of computing history that first appeared in MS-DOS 5.0 back in 1991. The new open source tool, built ...

At the risk of dating myself, I cut my teeth on MS-DOS (after moving on from the Commodore 64, that is), the command-line interface operating system that predated Windows. MS-DOS first arrived in the ...

Four years after working with the Computer History Museum to release the source code for MS-DOS, Microsoft is “re-open-sourcing” its command line operating system from the ’80s. This time the company ...