The Shortcut tab contains basic configuration items for the Cmd.exe shortcut (and thus the operation of Cmd.exe). These items don't have any direct effect on the actual behavior or operation of the command shell window itself, but instead they deal with how the shortcut looks and operates. These configuration items are:
- Target: This item is normally not changed. It provides the target location (i.e., the executable program) for the shortcut.
- Start In: This field allows you to configure the starting directory of the command shell. By default, it's set at %Homedrive%%Homepath%, which in my case results in C:\Documents and Settings\Will>. If you have a collection of command line utilities located in one specific folder, you can make them easier to use by changing this field to the location you want the command shell to start up in.
- Shortcut Key: You can configure a key combination to act as a shortcut key for the command shell. Enter the key in the field that you want to use and then use the combination Ctrl+Alt+your_key.
- Run: This field allows you to configure what type of window the command shell opens into. By default, this is set at Normal Window, but you can also configure it for Minimised or Maximised as you desire.
- Comment: The Comment field allows you to enter a value for the Tool Tip that will display when you hover the mouse cursor over the shortcut.
- Change Icon button: The default Windows icon library is available at %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll. Figure B shows how to select a new icon for the shortcut.
- Advanced button: In Windows XP, you can configure alternate credentials by using the Run As command. Clicking the Advanced button lets you enter these credentials, thus allowing you to execute an application using elevated privileges (this can also be done by holding down the [Shift] key, right-clicking Properties, and selecting Run As).
| Figure B |
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| Changing the shortcut icon |
The Security tab allows you to set the NTFS permissions for the shortcut itself. You'll do this via the same process you'd use for any other file, although I'm not sure why you'd want to set permissions on the shortcut as opposed to the actual executable file. But if you need to do it, here's the place. Configuring the Cmd.exe window appearance
You can configure the actual appearance and behavior of the command shell to your liking from Windows or from within the shell window itself. To open the command shell Properties from within Windows, right-click the Command Prompt shortcut and select Properties from the context menu as discussed previously. To open the Properties window from within the shell window, right-click anywhere on the title bar and select Properties from the context menu. The Options, Font, Layout, and Colors tabs are available for configuration, no matter which method you choose. The Options tab
The Options tab (Figure C) contains several options that allow you to configure the basic appearance and operation of the command prompt.
| Figure C |
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| Configuring the Options tab |
- Cursor Size: You have three options here to control the size of the command line cursor: Small is a single blinking underline, Medium is a half-height blinking square, and Large is a full-size blinking rectangle.
- Display Options: You have the choice of either Window or Full Screen. I recommend avoiding the Full Screen setting in case you need easy access to other applications. However, if you enter Full Screen mode and need to get back to the Window view without closing the command prompt, you can press the [Windows] key or the [Ctrl][Esc] key combination to bring the Full Screen down into the taskbar. From there, you can right-click the command prompt in the taskbar, select Properties, and change back to Window view.
- Command History: The Command History section provides configuration options for making use of the DOSKEY functionality of the command prompt.
- Buffer Size: This value controls how many commands the command prompt will store in memory. You can cycle through these commands by using the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys.
- Number Of Buffers: This value determines how many concurrent instances of the command prompt you're using separate DOSKEY buffers for. With the default value of 4, you can have up to four command prompt instances open, and each will have its own buffer.
- Discard Old Duplicates: This setting allows Windows to remove duplicate command entries in the buffer, thus freeing up space for new entries.
- Edit Options: These options allow you to make editing the contents of the command prompt easier and quicker.
- QuickEdit Mode: Selecting this option will allow you to use the mouse to highlight text for copying, as shown in Figure D. Once you've highlighted the text you want to copy, press [Enter] to commit it to memory.
- Insert Mode: Selecting this option allows you to insert text at the point of the cursor by right-clicking your mouse.
- AutoComplete: This option is available only from the Windows XP Defaults window by right-clicking the command prompt title bar and selecting Defaults. It allows you to quickly complete typed commands by pressing [Tab] to cycle through the available items in the current working directory.
| Figure D |
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| Using QuickEdit Mode |
