Open the Command Prompt from the Right-Click Menu...

I began computing long after the days of DOS, and I still can't give up the command prompt. When it comes to doing down-and-dirty tasks like mass deleting or renaming of files, nothing beats it. I find myself frequently switching back and forth between Windows Explorer and the command prompt.

Often, when using Windows Explorer, I want to open the command prompt at the folder that's my current location. That takes too many steps:
opening a command prompt and then navigating to my current folder.

However, there's a quicker way:

you can add an option to the right-click context menu that will open a command prompt at your current folder.
For example, if you were to right-click the C:\My Stuff folder, you could then choose to open a command prompt at C:\My Stuff.

To add the option, run the Registry Editor, then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/Shell.

Create a new key called Command Prompt.

For the default value, enter whatever text you want to appear when you right-click a folderfor example, Open Command Prompt. Create a new key beneath the Command Prompt key called Command. Set the default value to Cmd.exe /k pushd %L.

That value will launch Cmd.exe, which is the XP command prompt. The /k switch puts the prompt into interactive mode.

That is, it lets you issue commands from the command prompt; the command prompt isn't being used to issue only a single command and then exit. The pushd command stores the name of the current directory, and %L uses that name to start the command prompt at it.

Exit the Registry. The new menu option will show up immediately. Note that it won't appear when you right-click a file; it shows up only when you right-click a folder.While many of us like fussing around with the Registry rather than doing things the easy way, there's also a way to add this option to your right-click context menu without editing the Registry.

Arun