CUT AND PASTE FROM THE COMMAND PROMPT

If you came to Windows 98 from Windows 3.x and even DOS, you probably remember how to create a snapshot of the results of a command-line program by redirecting its output to a file. Lost already? Type dir *.* >dir.txt and you create a file in the current folder named dir.txt, which contains the list of files from the dir command as it would have appeared on the screen. For several years, this was the way to pass on this type of output to others; however, you can do it more easily now:

Open a command prompt window and make sure you have the toolbar open. To display the toolbar, click the MS-DOS icon for the Control menu at the top-left of the window. Then, click the Toolbar icon.

Click the Mark icon and then drag the mouse over the text contents of the window to highlight it.

Click Copy to copy the selection to the standard Windows clipboard. It's now ready for you to paste into any Windows application. This method is easier than first redirecting to a file.

Similarly, when you're viewing a text document in Notepad or Word, you can paste any commands that appear in the text into the command prompt, saving yourself the trouble of typing them.