command prompt

[Guest]

i had a guest at my house the other day and he asked to use my computer to
"check his email". I went to make a drink and when I came back he had the
command prompt window open (supposedly to search for a photo he downloaded
from his email). I am not an expert on this, but it appeared that there were
hundreds of items listed in the window. when i type in "DIR" all i get is a
few short lines of programs on my computer. he then said he couldn't find
the photo file and went to the search for files program and typed in a bunch
of "%" signs and numbers. My computer seems to be running fine, but i am
wondering if anyone knows just what he may have been doing with my computer.
I would also like to know how i can look at all my files on the command
prompt screen as he had done, and should i be looking for anything in
particular.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

i had a guest at my house the other day and he asked to use my computer to
"check his email". I went to make a drink and when I came back he had the
command prompt window open (supposedly to search for a photo he downloaded
from his email). I am not an expert on this, but it appeared that there were
hundreds of items listed in the window. when i type in "DIR" all i get is a
few short lines of programs on my computer. he then said he couldn't find
the photo file and went to the search for files program and typed in a bunch
of "%" signs and numbers. My computer seems to be running fine, but i am
wondering if anyone knows just what he may have been doing with my computer.
I would also like to know how i can look at all my files on the command
prompt screen as he had done, and should i be looking for anything in
particular.

If you don't trust your guests then you should not leave them
in charge of your PC without you being present.

Most of the things that you do in a Command Prompt you can
also do through a GUI. Administrators use the Command Prompt
often because it lets them run any command very quickly - if they
remember its name and its syntax. In your case you should probably
use Explorer or My Computer to locate your files.

If you really want to see what's available in the Command Prompt,
have a look here: http://commandwindows.com/index.html

 

[Keith Willcocks]

i had a guest at my house the other day and he asked to use my computer to
"check his email". I went to make a drink and when I came back he had the
command prompt window open (supposedly to search for a photo he downloaded
from his email). I am not an expert on this, but it appeared that there
were
hundreds of items listed in the window. when i type in "DIR" all i get
is a
few short lines of programs on my computer. he then said he couldn't find
the photo file and went to the search for files program and typed in a
bunch
of "%" signs and numbers. My computer seems to be running fine, but i am
wondering if anyone knows just what he may have been doing with my
computer.
I would also like to know how i can look at all my files on the command
prompt screen as he had done, and should i be looking for anything in
particular.

At the command prompt type dir /? to see all uses of the dir command. Your
guest probably used dir /s which displays all files in the current folder
(directory) and all sub-folders. Using that command in the root will
display everything on the drive and take a long time.

 

[Ayush]

He can do almost anything that can harm your computer, from changing your password to
deleting critical files. It is very hard to tell what was he doing. For persons like
him, give them the access to guest account because it is made for this.

--

Ayush [ Be ''?'' Happy ]

For any query, search > www.Google.com
Want to know about a term > http://en.wikipedia.org

Replied To :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:i had a guest at my house the other day and he asked to use my computer to
: "check his email". I went to make a drink and when I came back he had the
: command prompt window open (supposedly to search for a photo he downloaded
: from his email). I am not an expert on this, but it appeared that there were
: hundreds of items listed in the window. when i type in "DIR" all i get is a
: few short lines of programs on my computer. he then said he couldn't find
: the photo file and went to the search for files program and typed in a bunch
: of "%" signs and numbers. My computer seems to be running fine, but i am
: wondering if anyone knows just what he may have been doing with my computer.
: I would also like to know how i can look at all my files on the command
: prompt screen as he had done, and should i be looking for anything in
: particular.

 

[Jon]

The reason I decided to write that, was mainly because "trying2learn"

i had a guest at my house the other day and he asked to use my computer to
"check his email". I went to make a drink and when I came back he had the
command prompt window open (supposedly to search for a photo he downloaded
from his email). I am not an expert on this, but it appeared that there
were
hundreds of items listed in the window. when i type in "DIR" all i get
is a
few short lines of programs on my computer. he then said he couldn't find
the photo file and went to the search for files program and typed in a
bunch
of "%" signs and numbers. My computer seems to be running fine, but i am
wondering if anyone knows just what he may have been doing with my
computer.
I would also like to know how i can look at all my files on the command
prompt screen as he had done, and should i be looking for anything in
particular.

Sounds like he was doing what he said he was doing -searching for the
downloaded photo.

The 'bunch
of "%" signs and numbers' were probably 'wildcards' that are often used when
searching for files.

What you get from the 'dir' command will depend on which directory your
command prompt opens up in (shown to the left of the '>' sign). Typing
dir /?
will tell you more about options you can use with it to search other
directories / sub-directories etc.

Probably best to get hold of an introductory book on computing which would
help you to understand these matters.