ipconfig, streams and cmd prompts

[iceni60]

hello :) having had a computer for less then a year, ive missed out on all the fun with DOS and cmd prompts, and whatever else there was in the old days ;D .

i cant get ipconfig to work. i type in ipconfig in run and command prompt comes up for a few seconds, then really, really quickly (about 0.1 secs) writting appears in the box then it all disappears. ???

the same thing happened when i tried to run streams to get rid of my KAV ADS (in the end, to get rid of the ADS i had to install KAV 4.5, then uninstall it)

its a long story but my ADS came back, i got rid of most of them by running adsspy by Merijn, i still have about 100 left. and because of this System Restore wont work

so seeing as my ipconfig and streams ignorance seem to be connected with cmd prompts, if i work out how to use one i'll understand the other. so can someone explain to me how to get ipconfig to work? thanks :)

[nick s]

-{ Quote: "hello :) having had a computer for less then a year, ive missed out on all the fun with DOS and cmd prompts, and whatever else there was in the old days ;D .

i cant get ipconfig to work. i type in ipconfig in run and command prompt comes up for a few seconds, then really, really quickly (about 0.1 secs) writting appears in the box then it all disappears. ???

the same thing happened when i tried to run streams to get rid of my KAV ADS (in the end, to get rid of the ADS i had to install KAV 4.5, then uninstall it)

its a long story but my ADS came back, i got rid of most of them by running adsspy by Merijn, i still have about 100 left. and because of this System Restore wont work

so seeing as my ipconfig and streams ignorance seem to be connected with cmd prompts, if i work out how to use one i'll understand the other. so can someone explain to me how to get ipconfig to work? thanks :)" }-
Go Start, Run, type cmd, hit Enter. The console will come up. Then you can use system commands like ipconfig. I use Open Command Window Here from Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx). You can right-click on a folder and select Open Command Window Here. Then you can run command line apps in that folder.

Nick

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Go Start, Run, type cmd, hit Enter. The console will come up. Then you can use system commands like ipconfig. I use Open Command Window Here from Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx). You can right-click on a folder and select Open Command Window Here. Then you can run command line apps in that folder.

Nick" }-
i just want to reply quickly to let you know ive seen your post, i was getting alittle confused with picture extensions. i hope cmd's make more sense to me.
thanks, Nick, i typed it in the cmd window rather then the run box and it worked. so it seems that was the same problem i was having with running streams too (useing the run box, and not cmd prompt) i really hope i can get streams to work now and have my system restore back :)
this has been a really great help to me thaks lots Nick 8)

[iceni60]

i just downloaded cmdhere powertoy. i'll play around with it and see how it goes. if it helps rid me of those final ADS, with the help of streams, you dont know how happy that will make me, so cookies to all for helping tonight. thanks

[iceni60]

i installed cmdhere, but i havent worked out exactly what it does ???
i have got this PowerShell for Windows XP (http://www.jastek.net/programs.php), which if you put the my computer icon in quick launch, you can right-click it and get a menu which has a cmd prompt, is cmdhere something like that?

[nick s]

Once you install it, you can right-click on any folder and select Open Command Window Here. So if you put streams.exe in folder C:\Program Files\streams, you can open a window with a "C:\Program Files\streams>" prompt. Type streams and hit Enter and it will execute for you.

Nick

[Alec]

Well, perhaps a little additional history or context will help you understand the "Command Prompt Here" item. Back in the days of DOS as well as in the present day command window, you can't just execute any old ".exe", ".com", or whatever file that may happen to reside anywhere on your machine simply typing its name. The command interpreter, the thing that reads what you typed and tries to do something with it once you have hit the "Enter" key, will by default only search the current working directory for the command you have typed. So, in general, if the file "streams.exe" is not in the current working directory (typically shown as the path listed to the left of the ">" in the command prompt), then when you type "streams" you may likely get an error message saying that the command could not be found.

But, wait, you may say... I can type "ipconfig" in the command window and it works even though there is no "ipconfig.exe" in my current directory. Yes, this is likely true, because there is something called a "path environment variable". This "path" variable is a list of all directories you want the command interpreter to search in addition to the current directory. So, typically, the "path" variable will include the "C:\Windows\System32" directory and "ipconfig.exe" resides there. You can see the current path by just typing "path" in as a command. There are also a few commands, such as "dir" for "directory", which are just built into the command interpreter itself and always work.

Anyway, many times you may have a commandline executable that happens to reside in a new directory and you don't want to have to bother with adding this new directory to the path environment variable. So, enter the "Command Prompt Here" powertoy. It lets you right click on a folder/directory and immediately create a command window with that folder/directory already selected as the current working directory.

I hope this helps. I know that it may all sound sort of confusing at first, but it is all old-school DOS semantics. You should be able to find some resources around on the net, like perhaps MSDN, that will help educate you on DOS and the command window if you are curious.

[iceni60]

thanks, nick and alec :) . it seems my dos prompt in the screenshot does the same as cmdhere i can right click streams folder and a cmd pmt opens for steams, but when i run, streams -d , it straight away says no files with streams found >:( . when i run crucialads and merijn's adsspy, adsspy has removed most of the streams, they show i have ads on my video card mainly, and afew others i think. is there anything i can do to get rid of these last ADS? can i replace my video card?

[nick s]

-{ Quote: "thanks, nick and alec :) . it seems my dos prompt in the screenshot does the same as cmdhere i can right click streams folder and a cmd pmt opens for steams, but when i run, streams -d , it straight away says no files with streams found >:( . when i run crucialads and merijn's adsspy, adsspy has removed most of the streams, they show i have ads on my video card mainly, and afew others i think. is there anything i can do to get rid of these last ADS? can i replace my video card?" }-
Try the following at the prompt: streams.exe -s -d c:\

Nick

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Try the following at the prompt: streams.exe -s -d c:\

Nick" }-
thanks, nick. i think i had written that down somewhere awhile ago ::) .it worked :) so thanks again.

however, i still get access denied when i try and use system restore. it may be the ADS, or could be SP2. the ads reappeared on the same day that i installed SP2. its a long story which i'll leave for today :D .

it looks like its something i'll have to live with until i reinstall OS, i want to reinstall because it will hurry-up my getting imaging software, getting my CD writer working and more RAM. so thanks for your help ;D

[stalker]

-{ Quote: "i installed cmdhere, but i havent worked out exactly what it does ???" }-



Well, I think you do not need any additional software. Why ??


1. Hum, as I see in screenshot you posted, you already have "DOS Prompt" option in right-click menu, and that is exactly what that software does. It let you to open cmd prompt on every directory (therefore that dor being current/working directory)


2. Rather than installing new software try dping this (if you are familiar with registry editing though)

Start Regedit, and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\, create new key (name it as you wish), then create sub-key called Command (exactly that, i.e., it must be named "Command"), add "string" entry, and modify its value. You can do this for ANY program on your computer. I for example use this option for IfranView image viewer, particulary to start it with /thumbs switch in any directory (Thumbnails mode), I am currently browing.



If you do not know well, how to edit registry, try applying this .reg file, i.e., copy the text inside CODE quoting, save it in some plain-text file, close it, and rename its extension from .txt to .reg.

Than you can simply double-click it (or right.click -- Merge), and next time right-clicking on some directory, you will see new option - CmdShell ...



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CmdShell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CmdShell\Command]
@="D:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe"




HTH


P.S., I also attached this file to my post (in .txt extension, cause .reg was recognized as invalid extension for an attachment ...

[iceni60]

thank you, stalker, for your post :) im happy working in the registry, as one of the first programs i ever downloaded was the tweaking experience (http://windowsxp.homedns.org/xp/asp/twg/twg.asp). as a newbie i thought that was how tweaking was done :o .

how should i back up reg. first?. or dont i need to?

thanks 8)

[stalker]

If you only attend to apply only the reg-hack I posted, then of-course no registry backing-up is needed (it's straightforward hack, and it is also very obviously what it does)


But if you will change some "deep" system settings on your one (in future for example), then it would be clever to do it so. Also, make sure that you know, how to restore registry back from Safe-Mode (to some previously saved state), because if you really screw something, and you don't know exactly how to do it, then you won't even have a chance to restore it to some previous backed-up configuration.



HTH

[iceni60]

thanks, stalker for your help, and useful explainations too :)