Command Prompt holds almost endless possibilities, and it’s doubtful many people know the full extent of what a few lines of code can accomplish. The next time you’re bored at your PC, try these fun Command Prompt tricks for yourself.
1 Customize How Command Prompt Looks
You may already know this one since Command Prompt can be a great tool for accessibility purposes. But, Command Prompt can be fully customized, from background and text color to font, opacity, and more.
To do so, right-click the Command Prompt icon at the top left corner of the window and select Properties from the menu.
The Font, Layout, and Colors tabs have more immediate options, such as changing text size and colors. Select the Terminal tab if you want to alter some elements of the text cursor.
You can make some pretty ridiculous command prompts this way or refine the window to meet your needs. The customization features are so extensive that I suggest looking into customizing Command Prompt if you’re interested in doing more.
2 Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt
Watching Star Wars in Command Prompt can lead to some curious looks from anyone who might not be privy to how Command Prompt works. To watch Star Wars in Command Prompt (and for one other item on this list), you’ll need to enable a service called Telnet.
To do that, press Win + Q, type telnet in the search box, and select Turn Windows features on or off in the search results. In the Windows Features window, scroll down, check the box next to Telnet Client, and click OK.
Now enter the command below in Command Prompt and hit the Enter key to connect to the Telehack website:
telnet telehack.com
Once connected, enter the following:
starwars
Lean back and enjoy a bizarre recreation of Star Wars right in your Command Prompt window.
3 More Telnet Fun: Command Prompt Aquarium
You may have noticed some other commands when Command Prompt connected to the Telehack website. These are worth playing around with to see what other fun things can happen.
The most notable one, besides the ASCII recreation of Star Wars, is the aquarium command. Input this command to be treated to an ASCII aquarium show. It’s so nice you’ll want to make it your screen saver.
4 Change the Window Title
Let’s move away from the weirdness of ASCII recreations and look at how to change the title of the Command Prompt window. To do that, you just need to enter the title command, followed by the word or phrase that will serve as the title.
Here is an example of what changing the title of the Command Prompt window looks like:
title something cool
As you can see, the title of the Command Prompt window has changed based on the command above.
This is handy for keeping track of Command Prompt windows when you open multiple of them. But just because it’s useful doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun naming the windows.
5 Generate Random Dad Jokes
Who doesn’t love a good dad joke? Command Prompt will ensure you always have one handy to lighten the mood.
Just enter the command below in Command Prompt and press the Enter key:
curl https://icanhazdadjoke.com
This will generate a random dad joke for you and make you seem like the funniest person around when you tell it to others.
6 Trace Where Your Data Goes
This one is as fun as it is interesting, and it has legitimate uses in networking and troubleshooting. The tracert command, followed by an IP address or website URL, will display a list demonstrating where your connection is bouncing to on the way to the desired address. It can be incredibly illuminating, if not just fascinating, to see all the stops your connection makes on its way to its destination.
Most home internet setups should route you through several addresses related to your ISP, and beyond that, who knows? Every website will take your data on a different journey depending on your website and where you’re connecting from.
Just for fun, enter the following command in Command Prompt and press the Enter key:
tracert google.com
You should definitely read more about how to use Traceroute, as it can be helpful in network troubleshooting as well.
Despite being one of the most plain-looking interfaces imaginable, you can still easily have some fun with the Command Prompt. The items listed here don’t even scratch the surface of the hacks and tricks you can pull off with Command Prompt.
Regardless, fun is important, and if you can find it in the most unlikely places, why not make the most of it?
