Run Commands

How do I run an application on my computer without knowing where it is located?
By accessing the Run Command window, you can enter the  original file name and it will execute the application.

Try it Out! – Let’s open the calculator

Steps:
1.  On keyboard first enter press down on the Windows key and then while holding, also press the R key.  [Windows + R]
2. Type “calc” into the open dialog box and select the “Ok” button. See Figure 1

Figure 1

3. The calculator on your computer should now populate.

Additional Resources:
If you would like to find other applications that exist, you can do this very quickly by entering “system32” in the Run Command.  To see the results, see Figure 2 below.  Notice the “calc” name is provided for you as you typed above.

This is extremely helpful if you need to quickly locate an application on a computer other than your own if you do customer support.  A few others that I use on a regular basis include; notepad [NotePad];  iexplore [IE], winword [MS Word], excel [MS Excel], mstsc [Remote Desktop Connection].

Lastly, once you enter these names into the Run Command, they will stay there and can be reused by using the drop down arrow to the right of the dialog box.

Figure 2

If you right mouse click on the “calc”, select Properties and Details, you will get the original file name as well.