As I delve further and further into how the PC works and I start to get involved in more technical projects, I am finding myself increasingly using the command prompt window. These days, the command prompt window is kind of made redundant by the fact that everything can be done by clicking on a link or icon. Let's face it, why type in C:\Program Files\Skype\Skype.exe in the command box when you can just go to the start menu and click on the link?

Saying that, there are a lot of people out there that use the command prompt box to run their own scripts and you also need the command prompt window to get into the Windows Registry. But once you start using the command prompt window more than a few times, it gets tiring going to the start menu, choosing "run" and then typing "cmd". Wouldn't it be better and faster to right-click on a hard-drive folder (or your desktop trash bin) and open a command prompt window from your right-click menu? I sure prefer it.

Before we go any further, I want to stress that the following process involves making some changes to your Windows registry. If you are unsure what you are doing, make a backup of your registry in case things go wrong!

1. Go to your start menu, choose "run" and then type in "regedit" and then press enter. Your Windows registry box will now come up on the screen.

2. In the left pane window, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/shell.

3. Make sure the shell folder is chosen, then in the right pane, right-click, choose new then key. Name it command prompt.

4. Select the new key in the left pane and in the right pane, click on the icon. This will open up a box where you type in open command prompt in the "value data" field. Press enter to save it.

5. In that same right-pane window, right-click, choose new then key. Type command in the box. Press enter.

6. Choose this key in the left pane and in the right pane window, click on the icon. In the value data field, type cmd.exe /k pushd %L. Press enter to save it.

7. Close Windows registry and refresh your Windows Explorer.

8. If you now right-click on a folder or on your desktop trash bin, you'll now see an option which says Open Command Prompt. Choosing that will open a command prompt window.