New Perspectives Classic Labs

DOS is an operating system used on millions of computers. Even if your computer has a graphical user interface, such as Microsoft Windows, understanding DOS commands helps you grasp the basic concepts of computer file management. In this Lab, you learn how to use basic DOS commands.  

1.  Click the Steps button to learn basic DOS commands. As you proceed through the Steps, answer all of the Quick Check questions that appear. After you complete the Steps, you will see a Quick Check Summary Report. Follow the instructions on the screen to print this report.  

2.  Go through the Steps for this Lab once again. This time, create a mini DOS manual by listing each DOS command and its function. For each command, you should also provide a sample of a valid command, for example:

DIR Provides a listing of all the files on a disk

 Example: DIR A:

3.  Click the Explore button and make a new disk. (You can copy over the disk you used for the Steps.) Do each of the following tasks and record the command you used:

 a. Display the directory for drive A.  

 b. Display only those files on drive A that begin with the letter "T."

 c. Erase all the files that have names beginning with "New."

 d. Create a directory called PAPERS.  

 e. Move all the files with .DOC extensions into the PAPERS directory.  

  f. Rename OPUS27.MID to SONG.MID.  

 g. Delete all the files with names that start with "Budget."

4.  In Explore, make a new disk. (You can copy over the disk you used for earlier Lab activities.) Do each of the following tasks, then give your disk to your instructor. Don't forget to put your name on the disk label.  

 a. Make two subdirectories on your disk: PICS and BUDGETS.  

 b. Move all the files with .BMP extensions into the PICS directory.  

 c. Move all the files with .WKS extensions into the BUDGETS directory.  

 d. Delete all the files except README.TXT from the root directory. (Do not delete the files from PICS or BUDGETS.)

 e. Rename the file README.TXT to READ.ME.  

5.  Use the TYPE command to view the contents of the START.BAT file. Describe the file contents. Use the TYPE command to view the contents of OPUS27.MID. Describe what you see. Explain the different results you obtained when you used the TYPE command with START.BAT and OPUS27.MID.