DOS Tips & Tricks

Finding DOS Software
What version of DOS is on your computer?
Use Edit To Open Multiple Files
Help With DOS Commands
Copying Files From Your Setup Diskettes
Finding a File On Your Hard Drive

Finding DOS Software
One of the toughest tricks to accomplish nowadays is finding DOS programs. Everything on the store shelves is Windows, Windows, Windows. In fact, It's a lot easier to find software for Linux than it is for DOS.

There are usually a couple of stores in each city that sell used computers and software and they're worth checking out. Another place to check out are the different schools, businesses and larger organizations in your community that probably have old DOS programs kicking around on shelves in their archives. This is especially true if you're looking for business-related programs like word processing software or database and spreadsheet programs. The price from these organizations may be the cost of your gas to go and pick them up!

If you're really stuck, you might check out the manufacturers themselves. I doubt very much if they just threw everything out when Windows took over, and they might even have a list of other obsolete programs collecting dust in their warehouse.

Of course, there's the Internet. Performing a search in your favorite browser will probably find you all kinds of shareware and freeware for DOS, as well as more possibilities on where to find brand name software. You might have to check this out and download from someone else's computer, though. Something with a little speed!

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What version of DOS is on your computer?
Type ver at the DOS prompt and press ENTER.

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Use Edit To Open Multiple Files
You can open multiple files under the EDIT command and view each file in a separate window, which is accessed by clicking on the View menu. To open multiple files from the DOS prompt, type the file names separated by a space after the EDIT command. Example: EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT CONFIG.SYS

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Help With DOS Commands
In versions 5.0 and newer, you can use the help command for usage information and proper syntax of the different DOS commands. To view all the commands, just type HELP at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. For help on a specific command, type HELP, leave a space then type the command. Example: HELP XCOPY will give you information on the XCOPY command. The HELP command is not available in the stripped down versions of DOS that come with Windows 9x.

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Copying Files From Your Setup Diskettes
Most of the files on the DOS setup diskettes are compressed. These compressed files will have the last letter of their extension replaced with an underscore (eg. EDIT.CO_). If you should happen to accidentally delete one from your hard drive, or if one has become corrupt, you may need to copy a single compressed file to your computer.

Make sure the EXPAND.EXE program is in the DOS directory on your hard drive. If it isn't, you can copy it to your DOS directory from Setup disk 1 using the copy command (it's not compressed).

To expand and copy EDIT.CO_ to your computer change to your DOS directory and type EXPAND A:\EDIT.CO_ C:\DOS\EDIT.COM.

If you don't know which disk it's on or what the last letter of the extension is supposed to be, check out PACKING.LST on Setup disk 1. It's an uncompressed text file that contains a list of all the files included on the DOS setup diskettes.

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Finding a File On Your Hard Drive
If you know a files name and you want to look for it in the current directory, its common knowledge that the DIR command will do the job. (eg. DIR WHATEVER.TXT)

But if you're not sure which subdirectory it's in, you can add a couple of switches to the DIR command. (eg. DIR WHATEVER.TXT /S/B). The /S switch tells it to check all subdirectories. The /B switch has the effect of producing a condensed list of matches. Without this switch, DOS organizes matches under subdirectory headings. This command provides the complete path to the files matching your search criteria.

Another method is to use the ATTRIB command with a /S switch. (eg. ATTRIB WHATEVER.TXT /S). This brings up the same list but has the added bonus of telling you which attributes are set on the file. The /B switch is not required, nor available with the ATTRIB command.

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