Computer Flashback: Windows 98 Run Commands
Even with all the fancy-pants new features found in Windows XP and now Vista, Microsoft Windows 98 (Second Edition) remains our favorite Windows-flavored operating system. We love it so much, we still use it on one of our trusty laptops. Over the years, we have discovered several very useful functions available via the command line or even the “Run” prompt (Start
→ Run...
).
Anyway, without spending too much time researching or explaining these wonderful tools, we figured posting the information online may prove beneficial at some point in the future. So, without further ado, we present this working repository of helpful MS run commands:
start
→ starts any program (e.g.,start firefox.exe
)edit
→ open and edit any file (e.g.,edit win.ini
)taskkill.exe
→ close/exit running application(s) or program(s)sort.exe
→ sort file data by the nth character in a lineping
→ send ping (e.g.,ping google.com
)setdebug
→ opens the ActiveX debugging tool for Javarunas.exe
→ launch application as a different userrecover.exe
→ recover data from damaged NTFS diskmsconfig
→ opens the System Configuration Utilitywin.ini
→ displays the win.ini configuration filewininit
→ displays any changes to be implementedopenfiles.exe
→ list or close any group of filessysedit
→ opens the System Configuration Editorwinipcfg
→ opens the IP Configuration Utilitycommand.com
→ opens the MS-DOS command promptdoskey
→ installs various command line toolsexplorer
→ opens the Windows Explorer Windowdefrag
→ opens the Disk Defragmentation toolcdplayer
→ opens the Windows CD Player (wow)scanreg
→ runs the Windows Registry Checkerextract
→ opens the File Extraction Utilityinf
→ opens thewindows\inf
directoryiextract
→ extracts IE backup informationfdisk
→ initiates the Disk Format Utilityscandisk
→ initiates the ScanDisk Utilitydrwatson
→ runs Dr. Watson error debuggerattrib
→ opens the File Attribute Editorwinfile
→ opens the Windows File Managerdrvspace
→ opens the DriveSpace Utilitychkdsk
→ opens the Drive Error Checkerwinhelp
→ opens the Windows Help toolcalc
→ opens the Microsoft Calculatormem
→ opens Memory Information panelregedit
→ opens the Registry Editoripconfig
→ display network settingsprogman
→ opens the Program Managersetver
→ runs the Set Version toollabel
→ opens Drive Label Utilitypbrush
→ opens Microsoft Paintdiskcopy
→ copy a floppy disktelnet
→ opens Windows Telnetnet
→ opens the Net Utility
If something doesn’t look or work as it should, or if you have additional information, please drop a comment — we would love to flesh out this post with information that is both useful and accurate. Thanks!