Guru status

Posted on 11 Mar 2008 at 12:40

55. Delete from the Command Prompt

Deleting files from the Command Prompt means you can use wildcards, so the following command will delete all Excel spreadsheets in a directory:

del *.xls

This works even for files that Windows' graphical Delete tool refuses to budge, but beware: files deleted this way don't go into the Recycle Bin and there's no confirmation.

56. Make a disk image backup

Sometimes when things go really wrong, there's no option but to reinstall Windows from scratch, but forward planning will help. Set up your PC with Windows and any commonly used applications, and make an image of your hard disk. This allows you to return to a pristine state with minimum fuss, by ghosting it to your hard disk. If you have Vista Ultimate, Business or Enterprise, you can use the included Complete PC Backup, but there's lots of freeware that can do it, too. Try ImgBurn - included on our cover disc.

57. Use Tab Completion in the Command Prompt

Nobody wants to go back to the MS-DOS 8.3 convention, but regularly typing long filenames can be highly time-consuming and very boring. Thankfully, if you're using the Command Prompt, there's a shortcut. Simply type the first few letters of a file or folder, then press Tab. Windows will automatically fill in the rest for you!

If there are two or more possible matches, just press Tab again to cycle through the options.

Next: 23 invaluable keyboard shortcuts

Click here to go back to '80 expert Windows tips'.

Author: PC Pro staff