Number 300 - May 2008

Getting a Full Screen With C:\ > Prompt in Windows XP
by Bob Thomson, Tacoma Open Group for Microcomputers
Recently I had to have my C:\_ drive reformatted. I hadn't reformatted anything since I had Windows XP installed a few years ago. As a result I had to reinstall somethings I consider to be essential to the way I operate. These include reloading my antivirus software and being able to go to the C:\_ Prompt to run some DOS programs that I still use frequently.    Notice that I didn't say: "In order to go to 'DOS'". With Windows MS-DOS no longer exists so Microsoft still gives us the C:\_ prompt and although DOS programs still run the way we remember, they are not running under DOS. They are running under a special provision in Windows that gives us the C:\_ Prompt.    As installed in my version of Windows XP, going to the C:\_ Prompt yielded a tiny little black	screen about three inches across and two inches deep. This is quite inadequate to view any programs that I wanted to run. In my previous incarnation of Windows XP I had a full screen when I wanted to use the C:\- Prompt. To get back to what I call "normal" I did a Google search to find out how to get a full screen with the C:\_ Prompt. Here's how to do it.    To obtain a full screen place the cursor in the upper left corner of the small black screen showing the C:\_ prompt and right click. A small menu will appear giving you several choices including changing the size of the cursor as well as selecting the full screen option. You can select the full screen for just one session or you can select for the full screen to come up every time you click the particular C:\_ icon that you started from.    Now I can use my old familiar programs with a full screen. I'm happy!
Number 300 - May 2008