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Q: For many of us older timers, DOS was great albeit with its obvious limitations compared to the current MS Office applications.  However one attribute I sorely miss from back-when is the ability to print hard copies of my directories.  It is now a constant aggravation to manage my files with all the various paths and duplications that happen so easily with later technology. I am trying to delete all the dupes to free up space and to make file location easier, but it is really tedious to do this on my monitor using Windows Explorer.  I know I’m not alone in my quest to scan a piece of paper with all my computer directories in order to “red-line” any changes I wish to make. 

– Ron R.
Shalimar, Fla

A:  Long before I became “The Geek”, back in the days before Dell and Gateway, when “Tandy” was still a player in the PC market, I was the SysOp of a BBS inColorado Springs named “SolutioNet.”  On there, I was known as “Dr. DOS” and I dispensed advice to the technology-impaired, much as I do now.  Suffice it to say I still have a pretty good background in the old DOS commands, which brings me to the answer to your question, Ron.  The good old DOS commands that you knew and loved aren’t gone – they’re merely hidden behind the graphical user interface of Windows.  Making yourself a hard-copy listing is as easy as opening a command prompt (hit WinKey+R and type “CMD”).  Then you can use the old “CD” or “CHDIR” command to navigate to whatever base directory you like, then use either the “TREE” command, or “DIR/S” to create your listing.  The trick is to redirect the output to a file of your choosing using the “>” symbol.  The command would look something like this: DIR/s > MyFile.txt.  Then you can open “MyFile.txt” using NotePad, WordPad, MS Word, or any text editor, and print away.  Now that your nostalgia has been satisfied, give some consideration to checking out one of the many duplicate file finder utilities that are available online.  I Googled “duplicate files” and got a bunch of hits that looked like they had potential, right on the first page.  Good luck! 

Q: A while ago I updated my Internet Explorer and since then every time it opens or a new window opens I get a popup box that says “JSDVWDK.DDL Cannot find this file.  Please verify that the correct path and file name are given.”  I can close the box and go ahead with what I’m doing with noproblem but it’s annoying to have to do this every time I open a new window.  How do I correct this problem?

– Robbie A.
Fort Walton Beach, Fla

A: That file is a leftover piece of an old fax printing program that you either used to have installed, or which is still installed, but has become corrupted.  Check your installed software list for names like HOTSEND and eFax, and if you no longer use the software, uninstall it.  If you want to keep it, you’ll probably need to either re-install it, or consider upgrading to a newer version.  

Fellow Geeks, this is my last column before Thanksgiving, so let me take the opportunity to wish each of you a most Happy Thanksgiving!  Don’t forget – it’s only one more week until the Geek Lights on the Corner come on!  I’ll provide more information and directions in next week’s column, but make your plans now to come and see the show some time between the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and New Year’s!