[Dummies 01] • DOS For Dummies · 3rd Edition by Gookin, Dan -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Contents Introduction

About This Book How to Use This Book What You’re Not to Read Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Where to Go from Here

Part I : The Absolute Basics Chapter 1: Getting On with It

Turning the Computer On Turning the Computer Off Turning Off the PC in Windows 3.11 Turning Off the PC in Windows 95 and Windows 98 “I Want to Leave My PC on All the Time” Snooze, Computer, Snooze! Resetting

Chapter 2: The PC Hokey-Pokey (Or That’s What It’s All About)

Running a Program Background Information Worth Skipping DIR Command Tech Tidbits to Skip Looking at Files Changing Disks Changing Drives Technical Background and Other Drivel Changing Directories

Chapter 3: Life at the DOS Prompt

Names and Versions The Prompt, or What Do You Want? Prompt Error Messages Typing at the Prompt Beware of Spaces! Beware of User Manuals and English Punctuation! F3 Key Canceling a DOS Command Prompt Styles of the Rich and Famous Additional, Worthless Information

Chapter 4: Easier DOS: The DOS Shell

Starting the DOS Shell Do You Have a Mouse? Quitting the DOS Shell Changing the Display in the DOS Shell Moving between Different Parts of the Shell Working with Files Finding a Lost File Changing from One Drive to Another Changing from One Directory to Another Running Programs in the Shell

Chapter 5: The Way Windows Was

Starting Windows 3.11 The Beloved Program Manager The Treasured File Manager Running a Program in Windows Using a Window’s Gizmos Switching Programs The General Commands Getting Help Stopping a Windows Program (Safely) General Advice

Chapter 6: DOS in Windows 95/98

Summoning a DOS Prompt Window Messing with a DOS Window Important DOS-in-Windows Things to Remember

Part II : The Non-Nerd’s Guide to PC Hardware Chapter 7: Your Basic Hardware: What It Is and Why

The Nerd’s-Eye View The Microprocessor Pentium Jokes Disk Drives What Are Ports? The Date and Time The Year 2000 Looms

Chapter 8: RAM (Or Memory, the Way We Were)

Don’t Forget Memory Common PC Memory Questions Memory Terms to Ignore Conventional Memory The 640K Barrier Upper Memory Expanded Memory Extended Memory Managing Memory Upgrading Memory

Chapter 9: The Video Display (That’s the Computer Screen)

Your PC Graphics System What Makes a Graphics Adapter? Funky Text Other Popular Questions You Don’t Have to Read

Chapter 10: Keyboard and Mouse (Or Where Is the “Any” Key?)

Keyboard Layout So Where Is the “Any” Key? The Keys of State Slash and Backslash Enter or Return? Alt+S Means What? Ctrl+S and the Pause Key The WordStar Cursor- and Cursed-at Key Diamond Controlling the Keyboard My Keyboard Beeps at Me! Having a Mouse Using a Mouse Mouse Terminology

Chapter 11: The Printer (Making the Right Impression)

Getting Connected DOS’s Forgettable Printer Names Serial Connection Going Online Form Feeding Forcing a Page Out The Page Didn’t Come Out of My Laser Printer! In a Jam? Printing on One Line or Massive Double Spacing Printing the Screen Print Screen Woes Printing DOS Printing a Directory Why Does It Look Funny? Those Funny Characters at the Top of the First Page

Chapter 12: More on Modems

What Does a Modem Do? Communications Software The Internet and DOS Calling Another Computer Doin’ the Online Thing Online Attitude Saying Bye-Bye The Most Common Sources of Problems Unzipping the ZIP File Mystery Communications Terminology Explicated

Chapter 13: All You (Don’t) Want to Know about Disks

Why Are Disks Hardware? Buying Disks Formatting a Disk Formatting a Low-Capacity Disk in a High-Capacity Drive Which Disk Is This? Label Your Disks! What Kind of Disk Is This? Using the CHKDSK Command to Check a Disk’s Size Changing the Volume Label Write-Protecting Disks Reformatting Disks Duplicating Disks (The DISKCOPY Command)

Part III : The Non-Nerd’s Guide to PC Software Chapter 14: Basic Software Setup

Finding Compatible Software Installation Using Your New Software Running and Using Software Updating Your Software About the Darn Command Formats

Chapter 15: Software Mystery Grab Bag

Black Box Program Rules Basic Black Box Information Using a Menu System Batch File Menu Systems dBASE — So Popular It’s Scary

Chapter 16: Playing with the Editor

Using the DOS Editor Printing with the Editor Printing Any Text File without Having to Bother with the Editor Saving Your Stuff to Disk Quitting the Editor “It Tells Me to Edit My CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT File!” Mired in the Past with EDLIN Editing Your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT File with EDLIN

Chapter 17: The Hard Drive: Where You Store Stuff

What Is a Subdirectory? The Root Directory You Are Not Required to Know This Stuff That Funny <DIR> Thing What Is a Pathname? Current Directory Technical Background Junk about Disks and Drives Changing Directories The Tree Structure “Is My Disk Okay?” Backing Up Forget about Disk Compression

Chapter 18: File Fitness (Stuff You Do with Files)

Duplicating a File Copying a Single File Copying a File to You Copying a Group of Files Deleting a File Extra Verbiage about Why You Would Want to Delete Files Deleting a Group of Files The File! I Cannot Kill It! Undeleting a File Additional, Skippable Information Moving a File Renaming a File Printing a Text File

Chapter 19: Files — Lost and Found

Name That File! Use These Filenames — Go Directly to Jail! Long Filenames in Windows 95 and Windows 98 Significant Filenames How to Name a Directory (The MD Command) Using the DIR Command Finding a Lost File Finding a Lost Subdirectory Wildcards (Or Poker Was Never This Much Fun)

Part IV : Yikes! (Or Help Me Out of This One!) Chapter 20: When It’s Time to Toss In the Towel (And Call a DOS Guru)

“My Computer’s Down, and I Can’t Get It Up!” It’s Just Acting Weird The Computer Has Lost Track of the Time Gulp! The Hard Drive Is Gone! Read This If You Care about Your Data A Record of Your Hardware Setup Program Steps to Take for a Locked-Up Computer “I Had to Reset My Computer” When to Scream for Help “I Just Spilled Java on My Keyboard!”

Chapter 21: After You Panic, Do This

“Where Am I?” “How Do I Get Back?” “Where Is My File?” “Where Is My Program?” The Perils of DEL *.* “I Just Deleted an Entire Subdirectory!” “I Just Reformatted My Disk!” Restoring from a Backup

Chapter 22: Diagnosing, Disinfecting, and Getting Help

What’s Up, Doc? More Than Bugs: Viruses Yes, You Can Believe It: DOS Has Lots of Help for You Your Last Resort: Calling for Technical Support

Chapter 23: DOS Error Messages (What They Mean, What to Do)

Abort, Retry, Fail? Access Denied Bad Command or File Name Bad or Missing Command Interpreter Divide Overflow Drive Not Ready Error Duplicate File Name or File Not Found File Cannot Be Copied onto Itself File Creation Error File Not Found General Failure Insufficient Disk Space Internal Stack Overflow Invalid Directory Invalid Drive Specification Invalid File Name or File Not Found Invalid Media, Track 0 Bad or Unusable Invalid Parameter, Invalid Switch Non-System Disk or Disk Error Not Ready, Reading Drive X Overwrite FILENAME.HEY (Yes/No/All)? Write Protect

Part V : The Part of Tens Chapter 24: Ten Things You Should Do All the Time

Care for Your Files Always Quit a Program Properly and Return to DOS Keep Your Disks Away from Magnets Keep Your PC in a Well-Ventilated Place Buy Formatted Disks Label Your Disks Wait at Least 30 to 40 Seconds before Turning the Computer On Again Change Your Printer’s Ink Source When It Gets Low Buy Supplies Buy More Books

Chapter 25: Ten Common Beginner Mistakes

Assuming That It’s Your Own Fault Mistyping Commands Buying the Wrong Thing Buying Too Much Software Assuming That It Will Be Easy (Just Because the Program Says So) Incorrectly Inserting Disks Logging to the Wrong Drive or Directory Pressing Y Too Quickly Reformatting an Important Disk No Organization or Housekeeping

Chapter 26: Ten Things You Should Never Do

Don’t Switch Disks Don’t Work from a Floppy Disk Don’t Take a Disk Out of the Drive When the Drive Light Is On Don’t Turn Off the Computer When the Hard Drive Light Is On Don’t Reset to Leave an Application Don’t Plug Anything into the Computer While It’s On Don’t Force a Disk into the Drive Never Format a Disk to a Different Capacity Never Load Software from an Alien Disk Never Use These Dangerous DOS Commands

Chapter 27: Ten Favorite DOS Commands

The CD Command The CLS Command The COPY Command The DEL Command The DIR Command The DISKCOPY Command The FORMAT Command The MORE Command The REN Command The TYPE Command

DOS Command Reference Glossary

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