By Default your computer would use Baud Rate: 9600, Data Bits: 8, Stop Bits: 1, Parity: None, Flow Control: XON/XOFF.

To set values from a MS-DOS Prompt you can use the Mode Command; we have listed a few examples to give you a general idea how to use this command.

MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P - The below command would set Communications port COM1 to 9600 Baud, with no parity, 8 databits, 1 Stop Bit, and with XON/XOFF (These are the default settings). For those who are using Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP it is recommend not to configure your communication port this way and instead configure it the appropriate way depending upon the Operating System.

Click Start
Click Shutdown
Choose to restart the computer in MS-DOS mode and click ok.

Click File / Exit Windows. At the MS-DOS prompt type mem and press enter.

See our mem command page for additional information about this command.

There are actually two methods of automatically starting programs when booting into Windows.

First, create an icon for what you want to start, or just copy the icon of what you want to start, and place it in the startup group within program manager.  Anything within the startup group will automatically start up when Windows starts up each time.

Alternatively, from MS-DOS, when running windows by typing win you can add the program you wish to run after the command, such as win notepad would run windows and launch notepad automatically.