http://www.macalester.edu/~fines/batch_tricks.htm
Back in the bad old days of DOS ["When men were men, and computers knew their place"], just about the only way to do any repetitive and complex computer task was through batch files programming. While I even have a book on the subject, in fact, my batch file prowess was middling -- but you did have to do it. Even though batch-file programming may now seem as useful as shoeing a horse, there are still places where you might need it, and it does have some intrinsic interest. This site has a whole whack of batch file trickery to admire and adapt.
For those wishing to reach for a more powerful tool more appropriate to GUI interfaces, the following might be worth a look:
KiXtart (http://www.kixtart.org ) is a scripting tool specifically designed for writing logon scripts
Since I do not use it myself, I cannot tell if it promotes rust or not, but those whose bent aligns this way are competent to assess it for themselves.
Posted by jho at December 1, 2003 01:00 PM