I am a math genius. Please tell me how to make Maxima work

I'm trying to get Maxima to work from the command line. I've searched the web and...  
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/pipermail/maxima.mbox/maxima.mbox (30MB)
http://maxima.sourceforge.net/docs/maximabook/maximabook-19-Sept-2004.pdf
http://starship.python.net/crew/mike/TixMaxima/macref.pdf
 
The only command line I have been able to see work is:
"C:\\Program Files\\Maxima-5.9.1\\bin\\maxima.bat" "-b" "C:\\txt.txt"
 
Shouldn't I be able to do a driect --batch-string:
"C:\\Program Files\\Maxima-5.9.1\\bin\\maxima.bat" "--batch-string=" "diff(cos(x),x);"
 
"C:\\Program Files\\Maxima-5.9.1\\bin\\maxima.bat" "-h"
gives me....
 
<!--StartFragment-->usage: maxima [options]
options:
    -h, --help: Display this usage message.
    -l <lisp>, --lisp=<lisp>: Use lisp implementation <lisp>.
    -u <version>, --use-version=<version>: Use maxima version <version>.
    --list-avail: List the installed version/lisp combinations.
    -b <file>, --batch=<file>: Process maxima file <file> in batch mode.
    --batch-lisp=<file>: Process lisp file <file> in batch mode.
    --batch-string=<string>: Process maxima command(s) <string> in batch mode.
    -r <string>, --run-string=<string>: Process maxima command(s) <string> in interactive mode.
    -p <lisp-file>, --preload-lisp=<lisp-file>: Preload <lisp-file>.
    --disable-readline:
    -s <port>, --server=<port>: Start maxima server on <port>.
    -d, --directories: Display maxima internal directory information.
    -g, --enable-lisp-debugger: Enable underlying lisp debugger.
    -v, --verbose: Display lisp invocation in maxima wrapper script.
    --version: Display the default installed version.
 
But I can't get -r <string>, (command line is not interactive?) or --batch-string
to work. If I use the batch mode, where is the session information getting
stored.
 
Some examples please, or point out where the example usage is presented.
What about working with maxima.exe direct, I tried to no avail...
 
"C:\Program Files\Maxima-5.9.1\lib\maxima\5.9.1\binary-gcl\maxima.exe" "-eval" "(user::run)" "diff(cos(x),x);"
 
It says in the pdf book that Maxima at heart a command line program. Why am I having such problems making it work, considering I am a maths genius, and a computer expert?   
 
Is there a simple way to to a TCL/Tk conversation from Windows Scripting Host? 
 
 
Can you post some example commands to the FAQ.
Thanks for giving this some time.