Microsoft Weekly

Save time with the Start command

By Ed Bott

True Windows power users aren't afraid to work in a Command Prompt window. For some tasks, in fact, this is the fastest way to get things done.

Many of the commands you'll use in a Command Prompt session date back to MS-DOS days. DIR and CD, for example, list the contents of the current directory (folder) and change to a different folder, respectively. For a full listing of available commands, open a Command Prompt window and type help.

One of the commands on that long list is more useful than it first appears. The Start command opens a new window, running a program you specify as an argument after the command. So if you type start notepad from the Command Prompt, you get a new Notepad window, ready for you to create a new file.

If you enter start without any argument, you get a new Command Prompt window, which isn't all that useful. But three simple arguments let you open File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows 7). Use start . (that's a space followed by a single period) to display the contents of the current directory in File Explorer. Substitute (backslash) to open the root of the current drive; and use .. (two periods) to open the parent of the current folder.

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