How to use Windows Terminal and what it’s useful for

Scratch the surface of Windows (and macOS), and you'll find a command line console underneath, a lingering remnant of how these operating systems started out: as user-friendly graphical wrappers built on top of text-based, monochrome interfaces.

If you're as old as I am, you might remember having to launch apps and games on a computer by typing out text commands, rather than pointing and clicking. The modern-day methods are much easier, of course, but the old ways are still available - and they're actually still useful for multiple tasks, as the list below shows.

To begin with, Windows kept the Command Prompt utility as a reminder of its MS-DOS roots. That was later joined by PowerShell (Command Prompt with extras), and in the latest versions of Windows 11, Command Prompt and PowerShell are now both wrapped up in a tool called Windows Terminal.

Windows Terminal supports all the original Command Prompt instructions, and you can launch it from the Start menu. It's simple: 

Search for Terminal.Right-click on the program icon and choose Run as administrator to make sure all of the features are available to you. 

Now that you've got the Windows Terminal open, here are some of the commands that might make it worth your while. To make use of them, type the text shown and then hit Enter.

1. Shut down your computer after a certain time