DOS & Windows Tips

autoexec.bat

add this line at the end of your autoexec.bat file to add the jdk compiler to your path so you don’t have to type the full path c:\jdk\bin\javac to run the java compiler.
PATH=%PATH%;C:\jdk\bin

add the line “doskey” to your autoexec.bat–this will give you up-arrow previous command history to scroll through.

Batch Files

these little batch files may be helpful to making your windows environment more productive. You can grab the whole set of batch files as a zip archive here.

ls.bat:
make a text file called ls.bat and put the following lines inside it:
@ECHO OFF
dir %1 |sort|more
save this in a directory in your path statement (like c:\windows\command) and then you’ll be able to type ls at the dos prompt *and* in your telnet window 🙂

unsysattrib.bat:
windows has an annoying habit of disabling the system attribute from the properties pane. So by adding this simple batch file to your send to menu, you can easily get rid of the system attibute on files or folder that shouldn’t be marked as system
@ECHO OFF
attrib -s %1

Attributes Revisited…

For some reason Windows 9x took away win3.x’s attributes column in Explorer. Personally, I like having the attributes visible. So here is a registry hack that will add the option to show the attributes column to explorer windows. Not sure what it does? This preview shows what the registry file changes (note however, you will still have to check that checkbox yourself to actually see the attributes column). The vbs file just directly adds the column to your explorer windows, which you can see in this preview. You will probably need to reboot before the attributes column starts showing up.