It seems that every time I try to use a command that isn't dir or cd, I get a message like this.

C:\>tracert windows.com
'TRACERT' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\>pathping windows.com
'PATHPING' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Any help at all would be appreciated

Could be one of two things

1. Verify pathping and tracert are in C:\Windows\system32. You can either cd to the directory or just use Windows Explorer. If missing the best approach is running a Windows tool called System File Checker. Tell me which Windows version you're using.

2, Check your PATH variable. At the command prompt > type PATH. Hit enter. You should see a series of directories seperated by semicolons, One directory should be C:\Windows\system32

e.g. the result of PATH on my computer is
PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Bin\;C:\Program Files\ESTsoft\ALZip\;C:\Program Files\Tools\cmdTools\;C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tool

Thanks I will try those things.


Also, I'm running xp

if those files are missing (which would be odd in itself) you want to run System File Checker but it may ask you for your XP install disk. At the comand prompt enter sfc /scannow

see: Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker

this is the typical problem. for naive users, it's likely to be desirable to avoid this,
but it sure helps to have the tools from system32\* when trying to fix problems