Microsoft buries the command prompt for good reason.
The command prompt requires knowledge of commands, command line switches,
and hard drive location to use correctly. Execute a command with the
wrong switches or in the wrong location and you can cause major system
damage. Most of this damage is permanent. For example, the simple
act of erasing a file has no recovery option when working at the command
prompt. That’s right; your Recycle Bin remains empty when you erase
files at the command prompt.
There’s only one use of the command prompt that I recommend
novice users even attempt—locating all those files that Windows Explorer
tells you don’t exist. Use the instructions in the “Windows Explorer
Lies to You” section of Chapter 3 to perform this
task. Generally, you’ll find that the search features in Windows Explorer
work well for data files in locations that Microsoft expects you to
search, but doesn’t work especially well for other kinds of searches.