The path "c:\projects\my_app\.\Debug" is perfectly legal and is equivalent to "c:\projects\my_app\Debug".
Try the following commands:
cd c:\projects\my_app\.\Debug
and
cd c:\projects\my_app\Debug
You will see that they change working directory to the same place, if the path exists.
If you feel that "nothing is working", the reason is different.
—SA