Hello and welcome to errortools articles. Today we will talk about some great and awesome tips and tricks for the command prompt. Commands which can make your life easier and your workday more pleasant.
That being said let's dive in right into muddy waters and swim out with new knowledge.
Tip 1: Read Motherboard information
There are a lot of reasons why you would like to read information from your motherboard, maybe you would like to upgrade your BIOS, perhaps you would like to know the serial number, maybe even the version number. Well, you can, type the following code into the command prompt and you will receive all information about your motherboard.
wmic baseboard get product,version,serialnumber,product
Tip 2: Copy command output to clipboard
Getting information from the command prompt to a word processor, into an email or any other medium can be somewhat troublesome, usually, people tend to screenshot or write from a command prompt into another destination, which could induce errors, and let's be honest, it is not practical. You can copy command output directly into the clipboard ready for pasting it anywhere with
| clip. So for example if you would like to paste the directory structure of your c drive command would look like:
dir c: | clip, now output would be placed into the clipboard ready to be pasted anywhere needed.
Tip 3: Erase data permanently
When you delete data on your hard drive, what really happens is that files are marked with a marker which marks that space for new data writing, but the data itself is still present and can be brought back. This sometimes could impose problems but if you would type:
cipher /w:c Windows will write random data over each marked file deleting it forever without means to be brought back.
Tip 4: Manage your IP address
If you would like to play with your IP address and do fancy stuff with it do the following:
ipconfig /release to release your IP address
ipconfig /renew to renew your IP address
ipconfig /flushdns to flush down DNS information and enjoy a new browsing start.
Tip 5: Check to see are packets reaching the desired location
You installed a new LAN printer, or a new switch, maybe you want to check if your new site is up and running. Use
ping destination in order to see if TCP packets are reaching desired information, you can use it with a specific address like
ping 192.168.1.1 or you can type a web address, for example,
ping google.com and see if a connection can be established.
Tip 6: Get information about a specific command
So you learned some command prompt commands, but you do not know all of their configuration or switches? No worries, just type command
/? to get a list of available switches for it. For example
ipconfig/? will write you a list of available switches for
ipconfig command.
Tip 7: Link and execute multiple commands one after another.
Let us say that for example, you would like to copy files into a different folder, then rename some and delete others and you need to do a couple of times. Instead of writing command after command once each one is finished link them with
&& and they will execute one after another.
Tip 8: Scan and repair files.
In order to scan files and repair broke or corrupted ones write in the command prompt:
sfc /scannow. Please know that this command can take a long time since it is solely dependant on the number of files, their size, and the power of the computer.
Tip 9: Manage and configure your computer energy
Command
powercfg will let you manage and see the power configuration of your computer. Just write
powercfg/? and see what you need and want to change or get information about.
Tip 10: Associate files with applications
Windows already has some file associations defined, and some applications take over some type of files but if you want to take control into your own hand use
assoc command. For example
assoc.txt= "APPLICATION NAME" will associate txt files with the provided application.
Tip 11: Hide files and folder.
Do you have some folder or file with information that you do not want to be seen when someone opens file explorer? Use
attrib +h <name of file> and hide file or
attrib +h /D <folder name> to hide folder.
Tip 12: Get a list of installed computer drivers
Want to know which drivers are installed in your system? Use
driverquery and take a look.
Tip 13: Find and locate shared folders
have you shared a folder but forgot which one and where? Do not bang your head on the wall, we have a simple solution for you. just type in command prompt
net share and see everything.
Tip 14: Run commands as an administrator
You do not have administrator privileges? Do you want to bypass common blockades?
runas /user:yourdomainadministrator command
That is all that we have for you today, I certainly hope you have found something useful here and that we have managed to teach you some valuable things.
Advanced desk features
It would be very difficult to even start a free eMail list without mentioning Google's Gmail. Introduced all the way back in 2004 as an invite-only service it became over time the most popular email platform largely due to the fact Google is offering free eMail accounts.
There are a lot of good things to be said about Gmail itself, most of the area is clutter-free and the largest space is reserved for eMail itself letting users focus on what is important. WEB client itself means that you do not need to have any application installed on your device, altho via Google chrome, you can use Gmail offline offering you flexibility if needed.
The ability to connect and manage other accounts like Outlook, Yahoo, etc is just making Gmail even more attractive, and the snooze feature is a really neat little detail that will pause eMail notifications if you need to focus on other things.
Lack of organizing messages into folders is a little confusing since Gmail offers its own unique label system but sometimes I need to have old reliable save eMail to folder.
All in all, Gmail is a great service and it offers a great eMail on the go experience.
Free Windows eMail client simply called Mail is what was once outlook express. Mail itself has the ability to work with other popular accounts like Google Gmail account, Yahoo, iCloud etc. How it comes with Windows OS and it integrates very well with Microsoft Calendar, this eMail client is for many the first choice.
On the negative side, I might say this is a strip-down version of Outlook which is paid solution so some features are missing if we would compare the two.
Overall, a simple and nice eMail client worth your time, especially if you are on the Windows platform.
Great eMail client matching in functions against paid and premium solutions of big tech companies. Fueled with plenty of customization options and reskinning ones this eMail client offers a lot for its free price tag.
It is also fueled by Mozilla community focusing on privacy and security. It can work with any mail service and it is lightweight with a clean look, altho the look itself can be heavily customized.
The bad side is that client itself relies on email services to provide cloud-based emails, so if you are receiving your email via a service that does not have a cloud-based service in itself all of your received emails will be locked to the computer where you have received them. Also customizing it can be sometimes a little too technical for the average computer user.
All in all, Thunderbird is one great eMail client and it would be a shame not to use it because of its technical side, if you need a reliable and secure eMail client on a single machine, look no further than Thunderbird.
Outlook comes as a part of the Microsoft Office suite and as one of the oldest eMail clients, it is still widely popular and adopted through many users and businesses. It has tight integration with all Microsoft services and full integration with Calendar making it one of the if not the best eMail client out there.
Outlook also has a free online service completely free for personal use as well.
The downside is that you can not get it as a separate product if you want a business version other than as a part of the Office suite.
The final verdict would be that this is perhaps the best eMail client out but the big downside is that there is no desktop version outside the Office suite.
eM Client offers a wide array of features, including a calendar, contacts, and chat. Support is provided for all the major email services including Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, and Outlook.com. The latest version also offers PGP encryption, live backup, basic image editing capabilities, and auto-replies for Gmail.
Its automatic system makes it very easy to get emails from other services since there is no manual setting, all that is needed is to type in your email and eM Client will do everything else automatically.
A one-time purchase is not pricy and it could offer some features that some free clients are missing. Go check it out with a free trial and see if it is for you.
This eMail client's main focus is the simplicity of use with visual appeal while tackling multiple eMail accounts. It has many built-in apps along with a customizable interface. Unlike some more Microsoft-centric email clients, Mailbird Business supports a diverse range of integrated apps, including WhatsApp, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, and Slack, all making for a better-streamlined workflow.
The downside of this client is the yearly subscription plan. I think people, in general, want to get away from software subscription plans so I will include this as a downside but bear in mind it is downside just in terms of a business plan not in the client itself.
Inky is eMail client if you are looking for security. It uses AI along with machine learning in order to block all types of phishing attacks that can get through to other clients. The proprietary machine learning technology can literally read an email to determine if it has phishing content, and then is able to quarantine the email or deliver it with the malicious links disabled. It also takes things a step further and offers an analytics dashboard, which allows an administrator to see patterns of attacks based on dates, or targeted users.
The downside is that client itself is so much focused on security that sometimes some nonsecurity features get overlooked and provide a poor experience but if you need a good and greatly secured eMail client Inky is one to check out. 
When you are in settings, on the left side move toward the bottom until you run into a tab that says On Startup and click on it. On right, a new section will open, click on Open a specific page or set of pages.
You will be presented with the option to add a new page by typing its URL or getting it from bookmarks or using a specific opened one. You can repeat this process until you have added all pages that you wish to be automatically opened once Chrome is opened for the first time.
