Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!westmark!dave
From: dave@westmark.UUCP (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Large number of files slows machine.
Message-ID: <737@westmark.UUCP>
Date: 24 Dec 88 14:12:51 GMT
References: <8545@j.cc.purdue.edu> <7192@chinet.chi.il.us> <7244@chinet.chi.il.us>
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA
Lines: 33

In article <7244@chinet.chi.il.us>, les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) writes:
> In article <10723@s.ms.uky.edu> simon@ms.uky.edu (Simon Gales) writes:
> 
> >DOS is having to search through a _lot_ of files
> >to find the one it wants to open.  If the directory is in your path,
> >it should at least be the last one.
> 
> Is there any way to avoid having DOS search your current directory
> (i.e. only look in the PATH) for programs?  This is especially a problem
> when working in large directories over a network.


The only way in standard MS-DOS is to use complete pathnames for
your executables.  For example, don't say:

DISKCOPY A: B:

but instead, if your dos commands are loaded, for example, in C:\DOS,
use the command:

C:\DOS\DISKCOPY A: B:

In this case, no search of the current directory or the PATH is
made.  This will speed things up if you use largs PATH values and of
your current directory is large, or on a slow (e.g. network) device.
It also makes you less likely to be hit by a trojan horse named
DISKCOPY that someone sneaks into your current directory!

-- 
Dave Levenson
Westmark, Inc.		The Man in the Mooney
Warren, NJ USA
{rutgers | att}!westmark!dave