In case you missed it, the console host got a big update too, including features that matter to even casual users.

If you love the command line as much as I do, you’ll appreciate these updates.

Anything that runs in a command line is hosted by a shared console host program, so this works everywhere you use a text interface: the command prompt, PowerShell, and any other text-based UI program that uses the common console host (which is nearly anything that uses a text command line).

Windows 10 desktop with command prompts exercising new capabilities
Check out all the amazing things your command line programs can do in Windows 10.

The new features are as juicy as they are overdue: actual copy/paste with standard keyboard shortcuts, text selection by real lines, word-processor text editing, high-DPI awareness, fully adjustable transparency, smooth window resize with text wrapping, and more.

You can see a few of these in action above.  None of this you can do in the Windows console host until Windows 10. No, not even resizing the window. The Windows Team has a blog here that covers each new feature in depth, addresses top requests, and even lets you vote for your own ideas for the next improvements.

Bonus tip: the console now maximizes full-screen. If you like the old behavior of only maximizing vertically, press Win+Shift+UpArrow, or double-click the bottom resize border of the window.

Extra Bonus tip: Type your way to an Administrative Command Prompt (or PowerShell if you set the default) by typing Win+X,A,Alt-Y.

Enjoy, and #DoGreatThings.

 

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