Customize the Windows Command Shell

Microsoft OSs have used a command-line interface ever since the company released its first version of DOS. In MS-DOS (and even in Windows Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95), the primary command shell was command.com. Starting with Windows NT, Microsoft provided a command shell called cmd.exe. Cmd.exe is a Windows console program, which means that it uses a text-based window (technically known as a console window), as opposed to a graphical window, for its input and output. A cmd.exe console window looks similar to an MS-DOS command prompt, but the resemblance is merely superficial. Cmd.exe is much more powerful and more customizable than its MS-DOS predecessor.

You can customize the command shell in one of two main ways:

• The console window—Windows provides a dialog box with four tabs that let you configure cmd.exe's console window in various ways. Most of these changes aren’t specific to cmd.exe but instead relate to console programs in general.
• The cmd.exe command—Cmd.exe provides some handy features that you can customize to suit your preferences. These features make working from the command line easier than ever.

Customizing the Console Window
Windows provides a tabbed dialog box that gives you several options for customizing the command shell console window's appearance and behavior. To access this dialog box, right-click the command window’s title bar and select Properties. The dialog box that opens contains four tabs: Options, Font, Layout, and Colors. (If you right-click the cmd.exeshortcut icon and select Properties, Windows adds shortcut-related tabs to the dialog box, but I won't discuss those here.) The Font and Colors tabs are self-explanatory, but the Options and Layout tabs require some clarification. . . .