Opening a command window at a selected windows folder

Years ago I made software programs that operated under the DOS operating system. I used Turbo Pascal and Turbo C from Borland to make these programs. These programs still functioned under Windows and I still remain using DOS. Under Window 95 and 98 a DOS window was opened by executing 'Start' - 'Run' and then typing the text:

command

With the latest versions of Windows it's still possible to open a DOS (or console) window. These days they call it a 'command window'. A command window in Windows XP is opened by executing 'Start' - 'Run' and then typing the text:

cmd

Once in a command window it's sometimes difficult to navigate to the correct directory (other word for folder) using the DOS cd (change directory) command, especially when directories contain more than 8 characters or spaces. For example, when you have to change to the C:\Program Files directory from the C:\ directory, you have to type something like this:

cd progra~1 or
cd "program files"

This can be annoying or frustrating, however there's a solution for it. Microsoft offers Powertoys for XP, that includes a tool called 'Open Command Window Here'. You can use it from the Windows Explorer. Once installed, you can right click (via the context menu) on a folder in Windows Explorer and choose: Open Command Window Here. Next a command window will open and you are in the desired directory right away.

You can find this tool here, or by seaching on internet for: 'XP powertoys'.

In my opinion this tool is very useful in case you use the command window often. Another advantage is that once in the command window, it's easy to navigate to subfolders with the cd command. For example, once you type 'cd ' (without the quotes, and including a trailing space) and you press the TAB key once or multiple times, automatically subfolders in the current folder are displayed at the command-prompt.

In case you're interested in a list of DOS commands, how they work and examples, take a look at one of these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DOS_commands
http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/msdos/01_intro.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.windowsvistauserguide.com/vista_dos_commands.htm

The other powertoys are also worth investigating, especially TweakUI, the image resizer, the power calculator and the cleartype tuner.