A time-saving tool is known as command completion, currently known as Tab Completion. If you type part of a file, command, or pathname and then press the [Tab? key, bash(1) will present you with either the remaining portion of the file/path, or a beep (if sound is enabled on your system). If you get a beep, just press [Tab? again to obtain a list of the files/paths that match what has been typed so far.

For example, if you forget the command updatedb, but remember a portion of the command, you can su to root, then at the shell prompt, type up, press the [Tab? key twice and you will see a list of possible completions, including updatedb and uptime. By typing the partial command upd and pressing [Tab? again, your command is completed for you.

You can enable this on Windows 2000 - see WindowsNotes. There might be more to see in BashNotes, too.