Using the MSI installer on Windows: Setting PATH and Setuptools

[cython at m.allo.ws]

Hello All,

I really hate Windows, and I have only intermittent access to Windows machines right now.

When I install Python 2.7 on Windows using the MSI installer, it definitely does not modify the PATH variable. So I modify the PATH variable myself as follows:

setx PATH %PATH%;C:\Python27\

Question 1: The command above requires a reboot in order to take effect, at least on Windows 8. How do I make it take effect immediately? Maybe if I repeat the same command again with 'set' instead of 'setx'? Does 'set' affect the whole machine, or only the current CMD.EXE session?

Question 2: python-guide.org suggests adding C:\Python27\Scripts\ to the PATH as well. When is that necessary or helpful? If I forget to do that and have problems later, how can I tell the cause of the problems?

Question 3: Does the Windows MSI installer from Python.org include Setuptools? python-guide.org implies that it does not include Setuptools, but I have never needed to manually install Setuptools, I am always able to use easy_install right away. Is my memory warped, or perhaps tainted by old Python installs on the same machine?

Question 4: If the Windows MSI installer indeed lacks Setuptools, what is the best way to install it from the command line in a future-proof manner (on Windows)? I am imagining something like this:

wget https://bitbucket.org/pypa/setuptools/raw/bootstrap/ez_setup.py
python ez_setup.py

However, (1) wget is not a Windows command. What is the Windows command? And (2) is that URL the best possible URL? Or will that URL only download an old version, and there is a better URL for new versions?

Thank you,

Zak