The RUN Command

The Run command in Windows is one of the most unused, yet powerful features (in terms of productivity) in the operating system.

Basic Run Command Information

It is accessible in one of two ways: through the start menu (Figure 1) and through the shortcut key Win+R. The dialog itself looks very unassuming, and quite user unfriendly if you ask me (Figure 2). Its main purpose, as you can see from the dialog information, is to open a program, folder, document, or Internet resource which Windows will then open.









Common Tasks with Run

Below are a list of commands you can type into the Run dialog:


Run Calculator calc
Run Command Prompt cmd
Run Firefox (if installed) firefox
Run Internet Explorer iexplore
Run Microsoft Word (if installed) winword
Run Microsoft Excel (if installed) excel
Run Microsoft Outlook (if installed) outlook
Run Notepad notepad
Run Wordpad wordpad
Open Control Panel control panel
Open Program Files folder %programfiles%
Shutdown Windows shutdown
Restart Windows shutdown -r
Log Off Windows logoff
Registry Editor regedit
Task Manager taskmgr
Windows Update Launches wupdmgr

Creating Your Own Run Commands

If you are like me, you will use a few programs very frequently. One way to make them start faster is to give them their own Run command:

1. Win+R to open the Run dialog
2. Enter %windir% to open the Windows directory
3. Alt+F W S to open the File menu, choose the New menu item, then the Shortcut menu item
4. Go through the wizard to create a shortcut to the desired program
5. The name you give the shortcut is what you type in the Run dialog to start the program


Infrequently Used Run Commands

Below are a list of commands you can type into the Run dialog, split into several categories: programs, control panels, computer administration tools, and special folders.

Programs

Character Map charmap
Check Disk Utility chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer clipbrd
Free Cell freecell
Hearts Card mshearts
Microsoft Chat winchat
Minesweeper winmine
On Screen Keyboard osk
Remote Desktop mstsc
Spider Solitare spider
Telnet Client telnet
Windows Magnifier magnify

[b]Control Panels[/b]

[quote]Accessibility Controls access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control admintools
Automatic Updates wuaucpl.cpl
Date and Time timedate.cpl
Display Properties desk.cpl
Folders Properties control folders
Fonts control fonts
Fonts Folder fonts
Game Controllers joy.cpl
Internet Properties inetcpl.cpl
Keyboard Properties control keyboard
Mouse Properties control mouse
Network Connections control netconnections
Network Setup Wizard netsetup.cpl
ODBC Data Source Administrator odbccp32.cpl
Password Properties password.cpl
Phone and Modem Options telephon.cpl
Power Configuration powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes control printers
Printers Folder printers
Regional Settings intl.cpl
Scanners and Cameras sticpl.cpl
Security Center wscui.cpl
Sounds and Audio mmsys.cpl
User Account Management nusrmgr.cpl
Windows Firewall firewall.cpl

Computer Administration Tools

Computer Management compmgmt.msc
Device Manager devmgmt.msc
Disk Cleanup Utility cleanmgr
Disk Defragment dfrg.msc
Disk Management diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager diskpart
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility verifier
Event Viewer eventvwr.msc
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) gpedit.msc
Local Security Settings secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups lusrmgr.msc
Performance Monitor perfmon
Resultant Set of Policy rsop.msc
Scheduled Tasks control schedtasks
Services services.msc
Shared Folders fsmgmt.msc
System Configuration Editor sysedit
System Configuration Utility msconfig
Utility Manager utilman
Windows System Security Tool syskey

Computer Administration Tools

Application Data Folder %appdata%
Home Directory Drive %homedrive%
Home Directory %homepath%
Shared Home Directory %homeshare%
Temporary Folder %temp%
Windows Root Drive %systemdrive%
Windows Root Directory %windir%

Using Run as a Command Prompt

One of the strengths of the Run command is its ability to do almost everything the command line can do. You should note, however, that if you're running a program that outputs something and exits, that the output will only show up for a few seconds and then disappear.

Take the ipconfig command for example. If you were to type that into Run, it would open a command prompt, run the ipconfig command, and then close because the command finished running! To fix this, type cmd into the Run dialog, and then type ipconfig into the command prompt.

cut-off your electricity bills by just changing your homepage.

most of us have yahoo, msn, or google.com as their homepages on their browsers. it has nothing wrong with it but we can cut-off our PC-related electricity bills by just changing our homepages to black ones. i think there is a similar thread about creating a black google for firefox but we will concentrate only on the homepage.

How?

choose from this wide choices of energy-efficient homepages:

1. BLACKLE http://www.blackle.com



blackle is the most popular customized black page that is been using by many end-users as their homepages.

the about page contains the article saying that by using blackle, 750 megawatts might be saved in our energy costs.

How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.
How can you help?

We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.

Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: "Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time".

Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy or you can follow Blackle on Twitter and we will keep you updated with simple energy saving tips.

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit one of the many great blogs dedicated to environmental awareness.

2. BLACKGOOGLE http://www.blackgoogle.eu




blackgoogle.eu said on their page that we can reduce eyestrain while using their pages on searching articles!

Blackgoogle.eu provide you with a Black Google Search Page to REDUCE EYE STRAIN and SAVE ENERGY. Blackgoogle is based on google search on black background. The 100% of searches made using this search engine, are send by the search engine Google. The results are therefore exactly the same as those obtained using Google. No other information and/or data is sent outside that normally used for research.

3. JABAGO http://www.jabago.com



jabago offers also a black page and a cool search bar that differs from other black google search websites. There is also a language translation on the page itself.

[quote]About the Jabago Black Google Custom Search Portal
Jabago.com is a black Google custom search portal designed to reduce eye strain and save energy (with CRT monitors) while conducting Google searches. All searches from this portal will take you directly to google.com with a black background and light text.[/quote]

4. BP LED http://www.bpled.com (redirects to this page: http://black-google.bpled.com/index.php)





bp led has a unique digital-designed LED page, in which, the impact of end-users will make a more "techie-related" searches.

About BPLED

Thank you for choosing the energy efficient bpled.

We are an eco friendly search engine powerd by google custom search.


The idea of BPLED

One day I was sitting in a dark room and I open google that hurt my eyes because off the monitor have too much contrast. it's too much work to change it every day.. one time I saw a website called blackle that's nice..or not.. the gray text is too dark so it's hard to read on my screen. so created a dark google variant called BPLED with some features I like including mouse over to focus the search bar, black images search (coming soon when it's done) the name means noting it's just a nice name some people call it "Black Power LED" but that's not true.

How can i help the environment?

You will greatly reduce the energy consumption of your monitor when you search with bpled.com set this your homepage to start saving your energy every day.

5. GOOBLACK (formerly known as blackgoogle.net) http://www.blackgoogle.net (redirects to http://www.gooblack.net/en/)




this is the page that i've been using recently. the mixture of google colors and the black page makes it easier for browsing and it is beautiful on the eyes Ü

Monitors displaying predominantly black colours use around 20% less energy than those displaying a predominantly white screen.
By using this special black search page instead of the default white service, you will be saving energy
and doing your bit for the environment every time you search the internet.

6. BLACKGOOGLE (site under construction) http://www.blackgoogle.com



on this site, it requires a flash plugin in order to see a globe with a printer port and its cable pin with the google logo beside it. you cannot search on this site. i think it is under maintenance.


7. BLACKGOOGLE 2 (from blogger.com) http://www.black-google.blogspot.com

A blogsite-based black google search engine!





8. BLACKGOOGLE 3 (also from blogger.com) http://google-black.blogspot.com/ Another blogsite-based black google search engine! the difference is just he included a widget on his blogsite and make the page black! :D He also offers black google chrome themes!



This is just some of many black based search engines on the world wide web. feel free to use it and you will save as much as 20% on your energy costs!