In the day-to-day activities of a teacher of ICT, you definitely encounter a few challenges here and there. Viruses, slow internet, corrupted flash drives, unresponsive operating systems are just some of the challenges we face everyday.
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Sometimes, the obvious solutions fail to rectify the problems. This then calls for one to try out DOS based solutions. In this article, I share with you just 5 DOS commands that could come in handy in the event that the obvious solution fails.
1. Ping: Use this command to find the quality of your internet.
Step 1: Open the Run dialogue box (Win key + R)
Step 2: Type cmd and click OK.
Step 3: In the DOS window type the following command and press enter. ping yahoo.com -t (Mind the spaces)
A steady stream like this shows a good internet connection
2. Format: use this to format a stubborn flash disk or hard drive.
Step 1: Identify the drive letter of your flash drive. In the figure below, its drive F:
Step 2: Open command prompt and type format f: then press enter.
At, this point, press the enter button and wait for it to progress to 100%.
Step 3: At the next screen, simply press enter
Your flash drive is now ready
3. ipconfig: use this command to know your computer’s IP address, that of your router and subnet mask.
Step 1: Connect your PC or laptop to a network. (In most cases, this is automatic)
Step 2: Open command prompt and type ipconfig then press enter
In the picture above,
- The IPv4 is your computer’s IP address
- Default gateway is the router’s IP. This can be used to troubleshoot network issues or manually connecting another computer to the same router.
4. slmgr -rearm: Use this to extend your windows license when it expires
Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter: slmgr -rearm
Step 3: Restart your computer
5. Attrib: Use this command t deal with stubborn viruses on your flash drive.
Step 1: Open command prompt
Step 2: Identify the drive letter
Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter: F: attrib This will display the file attributes including the file extensions on your flash drive. Identify the problematic file extensions which are usually, .lnk, .vbs, .exe, .wsf
Step 3: Type this command and press enter f: attrib -s -h -r /s /d *.*
Step 4: Type del *.lnk then press enter. (This removes shortcuts) Do this for other problematic file extensions like .bat, .wsf, .exe, .vbs . You can refer to this article on how to manually remove viruses.
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Stephen Dumba
E-zone School of Computing
+256 752 111 223 / +256 772 111 223
