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I can’t recall a single month since I started using Windows when I haven’t encountered an issue. Whenever something goes wrong, I turn to the built-in Windows tool: Command Prompt. It may look daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes a powerful ally for resolving issues.
5Repair Corrupted System Files
When my computer starts crashing, showing the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), slowing down, or acting up in general, the first thing I do is check if corrupted system files are the cause. Fortunately, Command Prompt makes this process simple. I open the utility and typesfc /scannow, which scans for corrupted or missing files and attempts to fix them automatically.
Once the scan finishes, it generates a report detailing any issues it found with the system files and whether it successfully repaired them. If the issue persists, I turn to the DISM tool to repair the Windows image. I enterDISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, allow it to complete, and then runsfc /scannowonce more, which resolves the issue.
Theabove commands typically help me resolve most system issuesand are the ones I use most often in the Command Prompt app.
4Resolve Network Connectivity Issues
We’ve all experienced it—right when you’re trying to finish an urgent task or hit a deadline, the internet starts acting up. Maybe the Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting, the connection is painfully slow, or it drops out entirely. I run into this problem from time to time, and before pointing fingers at my ISP, I like to run a few Command Prompt checks to make sure the issue isn’t on my end.
Here are the commands I typically use and what they do:
These are just the basic commands I rely on, and they usually solve most connectivity issues. However, you can also use advanced commands for deeper network troubleshooting.
3Scan and Diagnose Hard Drive Errors
Windows offers abuilt-in utility called Check Disk, which has been part of my regular system maintenance for years. This tool scans your drive’s file system and physical sectors to detect and fix issues like corrupted files, bad sectors, lost clusters, and directory errors. Left unchecked, these issues can cause file corruption, system freezes, and more.
To run it, open Command Prompt and typechkdsk C: /f /r. Here,C:is the drive you want to scan,/ftells the tool to fix any detected errors, and/rinstructs it to locate bad sectors and recover readable data.
If hard drive errors happen often, I also use thewmic diskdrive get statuscommand to check the drive’s health. If the output shows “OK,” the drive is healthy. But if it says “Pred Fail” or “Unknown,” it’s a warning that the drive could be failing, so when I notice that, I back up my important data.
2Force Quit Unresponsive Apps
When an app or task becomes unresponsive, we turn to Task Manager to force it to close. But what if Task Manager fails to do the job? In that case, Iuse the taskkill command in Command Prompt, which forcefully ends stubborn processes. you may shut down a process using its name or Process ID (PID), but using the name is simpler since it doesn’t require looking up the PID.
To terminate a specific app or process, open Command Prompt and typetaskkill /IM processname.exe /F. Replace “processname” with the actual name of the process. For example, to close Notepad, you’d use:taskkill /IM notepad.exe /F. Here,/IMstands for Image Name, and/F forces the termination of the process.
You can also close multiple processes at once by separating them with additional/IMflags, like this:taskkill /IM app1.exe /IM app2.exe /F.Just add the appropriate process names.
1Troubleshoot Microsoft Store & App Glitches
I often use apps from the Microsoft Store, but sometimes they act up. They refuse to open, fail to update, or cause the Store itself to crash or slow down. So, whenever the Microsoft Store acts up, I clear its cache, which usually resolves the issue.
To do this, open Command Prompt and typewsreset.exe. This opens a blank Command Prompt window for a few seconds, and then the Microsoft Store launches automatically.
If that doesn’t work, you canre-register the Microsoft Store appsfor all users to help resolve persistent issues.
The Command Prompt isn’t some outdated relic; I still use it regularly to troubleshoot Windows problems. Now you know how you can tackle Windows issues without relying on any flashy interface. So, the next time you run into any of the problems mentioned above, give this simple black window a try — chances are, it’ll get the job done.
