Over time, the need to fire up the Command Prompt has waned—but a handful of its commands remain easier to use than Windows 10's graphical equivalents.

Sudo for Windows is a command line tool that works a lot like its Linux counterpart, allowing users to run commands that require elevated permissions on a case-by-case basis.

Everyone should be able to use basic Windows 10 network commands entered from the command prompt to troubleshoot network connection problems.

Microsoft now allows users of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to run commands automatically on WSL distribution startup.

That's why I find myself relying increasingly on Windows' Run dialog and command line to open programs.

Power users of Windows 11 may want to access their applications quicker by bypassing the Start Menu. The Shell command and some insider knowledge makes that possible.

You can open the Command Prompt on a PC by right-clicking the Start icon, by searching for it, or by opening the Windows System folder.