Most Useful "Run" Commands for Windows Users:

While current versions of the Windows Operating System are designed to be "point and click," there are still times where the fastest or most simple route to a task is to use the command line. For the tasks described in this document, you will always start out as follows:

1. Click Start, click Run, type the appropriate command (for example: "msinfo32.exe" without quotation marks) in the Open box, and then click OK

Then proceed with the rest of the steps as outlined here. To best supply you with an excellent resource, these commands are organized according to their most common use. Please note: It is ALWAYS best to back up your data before making changes or using "tweaks" on your Windows system.

"Run" Command Reference Guide

Opening an entire command line window so you can use multiple command-line features.

1. (Remember - Click Start, click Run, type the appropriate command in the Open box, and then click OK.) The command is cmd.exe
2. This will open a window that looks much like the older MS-DOS environment.
3. Within this window you can type any command or you can input the "help" command for more information.
4. When you are finished you can type the "exit" command to close the window.
Getting information on your own computer system to give to a technician, for sales purposes or for your own use:

1. The command is "msinfo32.exe"
2. This should open up an ordinary window with system information.
3. Click on the File menu, click Save, and save the result .nfo file to a location that you can remember.
4. This file can be e-mailed or otherwise transferred as needed.

Getting information on your own Windows version to give to a technician or for your own use:

1. The command is "winver.exe"
2. This should open up an ordinary window with system information.
3. This will also tell you some basic information on your Windows system.
4. To capture this information in a graphic format, make sure that the information window is still selected and press the keys "Alt" and "Print Screen." Then open "mspaint.exe" from "run" or from the Start menu and press the keys "CTRL" and "V" to paste the screen capture and save it as desired. (note- saving the image as a .bmp file will result in a fairly large file that might be difficult to send in e-mail or save. It is recommended instead to save graphics files in the ".jpg" format.

Getting information on your own computer system to give to a technician, for sales purposes or for your own use:

1. The command is "msinfo32.exe"
2. This should open up an ordinary window with system information.
3. Click on the File menu, click Save, and save the result .nfo file to a location that you can remember.
4. This file can be e-mailed or otherwise transferred as needed.

Initiating the Windows File Protection Service to scan protected files and verify their integrity:

1. The command is "sfc /scannow"
2. Caution: This particular command will replace any files in which it finds an error, corruption or problem. It is recommended that you do a full backup before using this command. If you do run the command and decide that you are uncertain, you can cancel it if you do so fairly quickly.
3. Once the command is run, it should open up a window which tells you to wait while Windows verifies files.

Testing a website to see if it is down or to watch for it to come back up.

1. For this command, you will need to first use the "run" box (as explained at the top of this document) to open a command-line window. The command to open a command line window is "cmd"
2. This will open a window that looks much like the older MS-DOS environment.
3. Now type "ping" and then the WWW address of a website such as "www.google.com"
4. This will test the site four times. If it says "Request timed out" or gives you another error-type message, you can see that either the site itself is down or your internet connection is down. (For the purposes of this document, it is not possible to provide extensive troubleshooting tips on errors.)
5. If you wish to monitor a server or internet connection that is down, you can use "ping www.google.com -t" to let the ping command continue to run. If the site is restored or the connection is restored you can observe the change.

To observe error Application, Security, and System logs for diagnostics or other purposes:

1. The command is "eventvwr.msc"
2. This will open the "Event Viewer" window.
3. You can click on the appropriate logfile for the area you wish to check.
4. You can click on "Help" and "Help Topics" for more information on how to use the Event Viewer or the Microsoft Management Console.

To view all open applications and running processes, to close problem applications, or to view information on system usage:

1. The command is "taskmgr.exe"
2. This will open the "Task Manager" window.
3. You can view open applications and processes from here, as well as see information on CPU usage and other interesting options.
4. Caution- before proceeding, take note that "ending task" will not usually cause problems and in some cases can solve problems. However, if you are not certain what an application or process is doing, you may want to research it more before ending a task.
5. If you are certain an application is not responding or otherwise has a problem, you can click on that task and choose to "end task."