BIOS is a firmware interface between a computer’s hardware and the operating system and like any software, it can be updated.
Knowing the BIOS version can tell you if you have the most up-to-date version of the BIOS or it has to be updated.
This note shows how to check the BIOS version in Windows from the command-line interfaces. (more…)
The clear command in Linux is used to clear the terminal’s screen.
You can also use the clear command in a Windows PowerShell where it is an alias of the Clear-Host command, that does pretty match the same – removes all text from the current display, including commands and output that might have accumulated.
But if you try to execute the clear command in a Windows command-line prompt (CMD), expecting it to clear the screen, you will get an error as follows:
‘clear’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Below you will find how to clear the command prompt in Windows. (more…)
A Windows product key is a 25-character code that looks like XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX and is used to activate Windows.
This short note shows how to find the Windows product key from a command prompt (CMD) or from a Windows PowerShell and check its validity. (more…)
The Active Directory Users and Computers is a management console used to administer Active Directory (manage users, groups, computers, polices, etc.).
By default, it is deployed on a Windows Server host, when it’s promoted to the domain controller during the Active Directory Domain Services role installation.
In this short note i am showing how to start the Active Directory Users and Computers console from the “Run” dialog, from a command-line prompt (CMD) or from a Windows PowerShell. (more…)
If you have a batch file that runs on a system startup and has to connect to some server, you may want to make it wait until the network becomes ready before actually making attempt to connect.
In this note i will show a code snippet that can be used in a batch file to wait for the network connection before executing a task. (more…)
Do you wonder how to find out what version of Windows is running?
The Windows version can be checked in multiple ways.
In this short note i am showing the easiest way to get information about the Windows version using the winver command from the “Run” dialog or using the systeminfo command from a command-line prompt (CMD) or from a PowerShell. (more…)
If you have forgotten a local user password in Windows but you can still log in to the computer with PIN, picture password or another administrator account, you can easily reset the forgotten password from a command-line prompt (CMD) or using a PowerShell.
In this note i will show how to change the forgotten local account password in Windows using the net user command. (more…)
In Windows, a Local User is the user created in the local system, whose username and password are stored on the computer itself.
A Domain User is one whose username and password are stored on a domain controller (e.g. Active Directory) rather than the computer the user is logging into.
In this note i will show how to determine whether the current user is a Domain User account or a Local User account using the command-line prompt (CMD) or a Windows PowerShell. (more…)
The easiest way to run a batch file on a system startup is to place it in the Windows “Startup” folder or drop there a shortcut.
Programs placed in this folder are meant to run automatically whenever the computer boots up.
In this note i will show how to run a batch file on a system startup for the “Current User” and for “All Users”. (more…)
In Windows you can run any program with the .exe extention from a batch file that is very useful in different automation scenarios.
For example, you may want to create a batch file to use it as a launcher for the program that you want to execute with some parameters.
In this note i am showing how to create a batch file to run an .exe program. (more…)