Getting to the Command Line in All Windows OS's

Ever need to run some command or batch file in Windows from the command line window, where you can see the response and enter still more commands? 

It's pretty easy to get to the command line window in Nt 4, Win2k, and XP. Use Start>Run (or Windows key+r) and type "cmd". That opens a new window in which you can both enter commands and view their results. 

But that approach doesn't work on Windows 95, 98, or ME. In those cases, you may feel you have to tell them to use Start>Programs>Command? or might it be MS-Dos Command? Who can keep track of these things, darn it. Take comfort. They can use the Start>Run approach.  Here's the solution on Win 95/98/ME: it's just that they need to type "command" rather than "cmd". 

Oh, and if you may be new to this stuff yourself, note that when you open the command window and are done, you can type "exit" to close the window. 

By the way, if you haven't used this command line window to run programs and might instead type the command name in on the start>run prompt, just be aware that doing that won't let you see the response from the command, and may even make some other aspects of working with the command challenging. Consider using the "cmd" or "command" approach instead. 

 It's easy to presume that everyone knows these things, but often they don't.