DOSSHELL

    Microsoft's first Graphical User Interface (GUI). Wow! MS-DOS version 5.0. It was 1992 and we no longer had to remember all the DOS commands and type them at the C:\> prompt. The Directory tree was now visible. Programs could be launched by double clicking the executable file. Files could be viewed and managed more easily.

    This was fine but hardly a ground breaking achievement. Apple's GUI was, well, more graphical. DOS Shell displayed not only the data and executables but everything else as well. Plenty of scope for confusion and damage. Similarly plenty of scope for file management.

   As a GUI it just did not make it but something similar appeared with Windows 3.0 and 3.1. This time it was called "File Manager". Windows 95 appeared to have an even more improved version. Complete with a new name, "Explorer".

   However going back to DOS the Shell only came with DOS 5.0. Upgrades would still include it but a clean install of DOS 6.0 or later would not.

   Definitely worth having in my mind. Especially when troubleshooting. Can be accessed from the DOS prompt by typing "DOSSHELL". You can then see your files and navigate to the offending Directory to discover the exact spelling of a file name for example. This without a lot of "DIR ing" with half remembered spellings.

   If you are already running DOS 6 or above, the best was to install it is to copy it from a machine that already has it to the DOS Directory. Just copy all the files of the "DOSSHELL.*" type.