The PC Informant » Command-line

Command line tip #13- Find flash cookies

Vic Laurie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:12:54 +0000

The previous post discusses Flash cookies in some detail. I commented that I have found that the Windows search function is not the best way to find Flash cookies. However, the command line can be used by entering the following:

dir "%appdata%\macromedia\*.sol" /s/b

The quotation marks are necessary. This command works in both XP and Vista. To make a text file with the list, use:

dir "%appdata%\macromedia\*.sol" /s/b >C:\list_of_flash_cookies.txt

Of course, you can choose your own file name and location.

Command line tip #12- shut down hung programs

Vic Laurie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:01:58 +0000

It’s been quite a while since I gave a straight command line tip but here’s one for quickly closing a program that gets stuck or frozen. You can use the Task Manager (described here) but that can take a fairly long time. With the command “taskkill”, you can force a quick shutdown of a hung program. The details of this command are discussed on a page at my command line site and the following tip is from there.

To quickly shut down a non-responding program, open the command line and enter:

taskkill /f /fi "status eq not responding"
For convenience, you can create a batch file with this command. Simply enter the command given above in Notepad and save it as “close_stuck_programs.bat” . Be sure that Notepad does not tack on the extension TXT. Place the file on the desktop or somewhere convenient. If a program hangs up, double-click this file to close the program down.

Stop Windows XP update reboot nagging

Vic Laurie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:00:49 +0000

We just went through the monthly Windows update process and I was reminded of something that annoys many PC users who use automatic update. After the update patches are installed, Windows wants to reboot and in XP will keep nagging you every 10 minutes until you do. You can tell it to reboot later but it comes back before you know it and asks again. If you are in the middle of something, you may not want to reboot for a while but those messages just keep popping up. Here’s a way to turn the message off until whenever you choose to reboot. It involves temporarily stopping the Windows automatic update service and there are several ways to do this. You can use the Services Console (described here) or the command line. The command line is probably easier. Open the command line window by entering “cmd” in Start-Run (without quotes). In the command box, enter

net stop wuauserv

This will halt the messages. The automatic update service will resume the next time you reboot.

I don’t use automatic update but prefer to be notified when updates are available so I can choose my own time to start the process. However, most average home users probably have automatic updates enabled and this tip may save you some aggravation. Note that Vista has changed the frequency of nag messages and waits 4 hours between messages. That pretty much removes the annoyance.

Fixing a stuck print job

Vic Laurie — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:00:26 +0000

Just about a year ago, I gave a tip on what to do if you get a print job that hangs up. This problem seems to be fairly common since I have recently seen posts at several blogs about it. So I am revisiting the problem. The tip I gave involved the command line. For whatever reason, some home PC users are afraid of the command line so I’ll point out a little utility mentioned at Lifehacker. The program is called Stalled Printer Repair and provides a graphical user interface.

Just for the record, the command line steps are (Vista will require administrator privileges):

sc stop spooler
del %windir%\system32\spool\printers\*.*
sc start spooler

As is so often the case in Windows, there are other ways to accomplish the same task. For example, the command shell “net” can also be used instead of “sc”. Just replace “sc” with “net” in the commands given above.

Another approach is to use the services management console. Enter “services.msc” in the Run line or the Vista Start Search line. Find the entry for “Print Spooler” and stop the service. Next, manually delete the files in the folder Windows\system32\spool\printers. Then restart the Print Spooler from the services console. (Vista will require administrator privileges.)

Fast way to open a recently used Word document

Vic Laurie — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:21:30 +0000

I have been using Microsoft Word in one version or the other since Word 95. However, Word is a far more powerful program than I need and I probably am unaware of 95% of its features. For that reason, I don’t give many Word tips but now and then I come across one that I think is worth passing on.

Did you know that the executable file that opens Word can have switches? There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to use startup command line switches to start Word 2007, Word 2003, Word 2002, and Word 2000. Most of the switches for the file winword.exe are of little use to the average Word user but there is one that allows a handy shortcut. I’ll discuss the details below but if your eyes start to glaze over and you want to skip the discussion, I have prepared a little file for you that implements the shortcut. The download link is at the end, following the discussion.

As you know, Word keeps a list of the most recently used files (MRU). They can be seen by opening the File menu or in Word 2007 by clicking the orb in the upper left corner. You can then access a previously opened document by clicking its name in the list. However, there is a way to access a previously used document before Word is even open. It makes use of a switch that has the form /mfilen where n is the place of the file in the most recently used list. Thus to open the file that you last used (it is first in the list), the command would be: winword.exe /mfile1To reopen the next-to-last file that you used the command is:winword.exe /mfile2 and so on until you exhaust the MRU list. You could enter the command into the Run box or use the command line. The command line would actually use “start winword.exe /mfile1″. However, creating a shortcut is more convenient.

It’s easy to create a shortcut that will open Word and the last document that you worked on. You will need to know the path for the executable file winword.exe. Normally, it is in a folder of the form C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeX where X is a number that depends on your version. For example, Office 2003 is Office11 and Office 2007 is Office12. I give general procedures for creating a shortcut at Computer Education. The command to be used in the shortcut for Word 2003 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\winword.exe" /mfile1 and for Word 2007 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" /mfile1 Note that the quotation marks are needed because the path has spaces in it.

If you prefer a ready-made shortcut, I have written a little batch file that should do the job on most systems. Download it here, unzip, and place anywhere convenient. Double-clicking this file should open your copy of Word with the last document that you used.

Command line tip #11- Find local IP addresses with “ipconfig”

Vic Laurie — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:28:13 +0000

Command line tip #10 mentioned that your router or Internet gateway will have a local IP address. There will also be a local IP address for your computer. Entering “ipconfig” in the command line will display both addresses as well as something called the “subnet mask”. For home setups the subnet mask is almost always 255.255.255.0 and is not usually a parameter that needs attention. As mentioned in the tip on using “ping”, you may need to know the gateway IP so you can check if you are connected. Also, the local address for the computer can be useful if you have more than one computer on your network. You can “ping” another computer on the local network to see if your computer is communicating with the second computer.

The command “ipconfig” has a number of switches and functions. They are discussed at commandwindows.com/tcpiputil.htm.

Command line tip #10- Check your Internet connection with “ping”

Vic Laurie — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:22:02 +0000

I previously noted that there are a number of commands that can help with checking out a home network or a broadband connection. There are more details at commandwindows.com/tcpiputil.htm but here’s an example of using the command “ping”. Suppose you are having trouble with connecting to the Internet. Is it your connection to the Internet that’s the problem or your connection to the local network/router? Ping can help you find out. Ping sends out a packet to a designated address and measures its response time. The target will return (hopefully) a signal. For example, you can “ping” Yahoo by entering “ping yahoo.com” into the command line. (Not everybody will accept pings. For example, don’t expect any response from Microsoft.) If Yahoo responds, you know you are connected to the Internet. If you get no response, you can check if you are connected to your local network by pinging the local IP address assigned to the router or “gateway”. The local gateway IP address will be something like 192.168.1.1 or a similar group of numbers. So you would enter “ping 192.168.1.1″ in the command line. If you get no response, then your problem is that you are not connected to the local network (or your router isn’t working).

How do you know what the local gateway IP address is? That’s in the next command line tip. Stay tuned.

Command line tip #9- Clear your printer spooler

Vic Laurie — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:28:25 +0000

For one reason or the other, a print job may get hung up and stop responding. One way to possibly clear this problem up is to use the command line to stop and restart the printer spooler. The services command “sc” can be used. In the command prompt, enter “sc stop spooler” followed by “sc start spooler” (omit the quotation marks).

Command line tip #8- Check your network

Vic Laurie — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:44:51 +0000

Many PC owners now have home networks. Being able to connect several computers together is great but networks bring a new set of problems. The command line comes with a variety of tools for checking networks and it is worthwhile for even average PC users to know how to use some of them. Three commands that everybody can use are “ipconfig”, “netstat”, and “ping”. I give some details about these commands at this link.

Command line tip #7 – Make a hierarchy of folders

Vic Laurie — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:10:51 +0000

Many PC users are aware that the command “md’ can be used to create a new folder. However, it is less well known that a whole hierarchy of folders can be created in one line with a command like: md [path]new\new1\new2This will create a folder “new” with a sub-folder “new1″ that itself contains a sub-folder “new2″. Note that you must specify the correct path. Otherwise, the folders will be created in the working directory of the command prompt.