If you have been using a certain MS-DOS command for a long time, I guess you are familiar with that command now. There is a shorter way for beginners to go in order to shorten this time span. Read this article and you will find it.
You may be confused by a lost of switches and parameters in front of an MS-DOS help screen. This doesn't matter. Firstly, you should acquire an ability that can classify usual things and unusual things from a lot of things. If you have the ability, you can easily make out functions you don't know of an MS-DOS command. Based on this, you can try something you don't know about a command then master it. In order to make the true value of a command, you have to do so. For example, you will find that DIR command has a switch "/B", which means list files using bare format (without any additional information, only filenames) to list files. Then, with the command, you can easily make an MP3 playlist. Another example is that SCANDISK for Windows 9x (SCANDSKW.EXE) has a switch "/N", which means start checking automatically. This can eliminate user response time, so it is useful if you don't want to make more operations to the disk diagnostic utility but to let it do its work automatically.
See others' ways of working, especially computer gurus'. They may be using the commands in a way that is better than you do. To tell you the truth, I have been once finding my computer running more slowly than others' do. I thought I had got all my knowledge on optimizing a computer applied. In the end, I found the problem: I was using an anti-virus tool, but others weren't. So it is necessary to look at others' ways of doing work.
You are not the God. This means you cannot overcome all problems, so you should not think that all problems can be solved through your own knowledge.