Editing previous dos command

Windows XP. When at a dos prompt, I can use the F1 key to bring back the previous command one character at a time or use the F3 key to bring back the whole of the last command. What I cannot do is edit the command by inserting characters ie if I use F1 to get characters to where I want to insert a character, type in my new character, then press F1 again, I find I have overwritten a character rather than inserted a character.  Could you please explain how I can insert instead of overwriting.

That usually doesn't work in a DOS prompt, but try typing "doskey" press enter. THis will allow you to bring back hte previous command by pressing the up arrow, and the next command by pressing the down arrow, once you get to the command, try inserting characters as you would in a word proccesor.

I believe doskey is loaded by default when using MS-DOS under windows XP.

When you use F1 to get to the place you wish to insert the character(s), press INSERT before you type in the additional characters. Then press F3 to append the remainder of the previous command buffer.

I had tried pressing the INSERT key but it still did an overwrite of the characters rather than an insert. The only thing that seems to work is to bring up the whole command then edit that.