CONTENTS
The most basic building block of Windows is the icon. Every object you work with--including files and folders, drives and network servers, programs, printers, and shortcuts to web pages--has its own icon. Program icons are as distinctive as product logos; data files use standard icons that help you group related files easily; system objects use icons that are intended to illustrate their main function. And they're all organized into folders and subfolders in a strict hierarchy.
Most often when you view or manage icons and folders, you use a program called the Windows Explorer in one of its two views. Right-click a drive or folder icon, and shortcut menus let you choose between the two faces of Explorer: Click Open, and the contents of the drive or folder you selected appear in a simple window; choose Explore, and you see a more complex view, with one pane that shows all the resources available to you and another that displays the selected folder's contents. When you open the My Computer icon, you're using the simpler version of Explorer; when you choose Windows Explorer from the Start menu, you open the same program, with a handful of additional menus and some advanced options.
Once they learn how Explorer works, most Windows users incorporate both views into their working style.
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For a simple, uncluttered view of all the resources on your computer, find the My Computer icon on the desktop and open it. The resulting window looks something like the one shown in Figure 6.1.
FIG. 6.1 The My Computer window offers a simple way to view local resources, including drives, printers, and other hardware.
Microsoft's interface designers created My Computer as the primary file management interface for novice users, but even Windows experts will find it ideally suited for some file management tasks. Because the My Computer window displays the amount of free disk space, for example, it's a convenient way to see at a glance how much total storage is available on your system.
TIP: To see the maximum amount of information about drives in the My Computer window, choose View, Details. Click the Free Space heading to sort drives in order of available storage space.
Unlike the Windows Explorer, which shows you the outline-style hierarchy of all drives and folders on your system, starting with the My Computer window shows you the contents of one folder at a time. To view the contents of drives and folders from the My Computer window, open a drive icon, then a folder within that drive, then a folder within that folder. Keep drilling down in this fashion until you find the folder you're looking for.
The two easiest ways to go back up through the hierarchy of folders are to press the Backspace key and to click the Up button on the Standard toolbar. (If the toolbar is hidden, choose View, Toolbars, Standard Buttons to make it visible.)
What happens to the current folder window when you open a drive or folder icon from the My Computer window? If you've chosen the Web style interface, the contents of the folder you selected replace the contents of the current window, so you're always working with a single window. If you've selected the Classic style interface, on the other hand, the My Computer window remains open and a new drive or folder window appears. For each folder you open, you see a new folder window (see Figure 6.2).
FIG. 6.2 Opening a folder window shows this simple view of the folder's contents.
The multiple-window option (Classic style) creates unnecessary and confusing clutter when you delve several folders deep. But sometimes you want to open two or more windows at once so you can move or copy icons from one folder to another. Windows lets you specify whether each new folder will use the same window or will open in a separate window. To adjust the default behavior of folder windows, you use the Custom settings in the Windows Desktop Update.
The settings you choose in the Folder Options dialog box will determine whether new folder windows replace the current window or open a new one. You can also hold down the Ctrl key and double-click on a folder or drive icon to override the default setting at any time. If the default is the single-window option, this procedure will open a new window; if your default is to open a new window, this technique will replace the contents of the current window. Note that this option requires you to hold down Ctrl and double-click even if you've chosen the Web style single-click option.
NOTE: When you view the contents of a floppy disk, Windows does not automatically update the display when you change disks. Likewise, if another user adds, renames, or deletes files in a shared network folder, these changes do not automatically appear in an open window on your system. Under these conditions, you need to refresh the display to see the most up-to-date contents. In the Windows Explorer, point to the icon for the drive or folder and click to refresh the window. Alternatively, you can choose View, Refresh or press F5.
When you right-click on a drive or folder icon and choose Explore from the shortcut menu, Windows opens the two-paned view of Explorer, which comprises a tree-style All Folders pane on the left and a contents pane on the right. The title bar contains the word Exploring, followed by the currently selected drive or folder. As Figure 6.3 shows, the left pane includes every available resource, including local and network drives, system folders, and even Internet shortcuts.
TIP: Here are some common ways to open the Windows Explorer. Open the Start menu and choose Programs, Windows Explorer. Right-click on the Start button or the My Computer icon and choose Explore. Type Explorer in the Run dialog box or at an MS-DOS prompt. Create a shortcut on the desktop or on the Quick Launch bar.
As noted earlier, the two-paned Explorer uses the same program code as the single-pane folder window, adding only the All Folders pane. When you use the Explore command to open a new window, you can show or hide the All Folders pane by choosing View, Explorer Bar, All Folders. This technique lets you quickly switch between Internet pages, folder windows, and Explorer windows. Curiously, if you start with a folder window onscreen or if you start by opening an Internet shortcut, the All Folders pane is not available.
FIG. 6.3 The Windows Explorer provides these two panes in which you can quickly navigate through local, network, and Internet resources.
When you use the two-pane Explorer view, it's easy to see the organization of drives, folders, and system resources in the left-hand All Folders bar. If the Address bar is visible, you can see a compact version of the same tree in a folder window. Click the arrow at the right of the Address bar to see a drop-down list like the one shown in Figure 6.4.
FIG. 6.4 The Address bar lets you jump to different drives or system folders even when the All Folders pane is hidden.
If you've used MS-DOS or earlier versions of Windows, the hierarchy of a local drive is easy to understand: Each drive can contain one or more folders, starting with the root folder. Windows and Windows applications create folders to store program and data files, and you can create folders within folders to keep your files organized. In the case of data and program files, folders and subfolders are directly equivalent to MS-DOS directories and subdirectories.
But Windows also uses folders to display objects that do not correspond to directories on a hard disk. Look at the All Folders pane or the drop-down list in the Address bar, and you'll see that Explorer organizes available resources using a consistent hierarchy. The Desktop icon is always at the top of the list. It includes the following objects:
TIP: If you have set up custom profiles for individual users of your computer, you can create folders, files, and shortcuts that appear on the desktop or Start menu. You'll find the All Users folder within the Windows folder; any objects you create in the Desktop or Start Menu folders here will be visible to anyone who logs on to the computer.
When you browse files and folders using Explorer, you have access to a consistent set of menus and toolbar buttons. When you select system folders, additional menu choices and buttons appear to reflect special options available in those folders. For example, when you view the contents of the Subscriptions folder, two new toolbar buttons let you update subscriptions, and Briefcase folders add menu choices and toolbar buttons that let you synchronize files.
With the help of the Windows Explorer, it's easy to display the contents of any drive or folder. When you click on an icon in the All Folders pane, the contents of that folder appear in the right-hand pane.
By default, each branch of the tree-style listing in the All Folders pane is collapsed when you first open the two-pane Explorer view; all you see are the top-level icons for drives and system folders. A plus sign to the left of an icon means there are additional folders beneath it. Click the plus sign to expand that branch and see additional folders. When you expand the folder listing, the plus sign turns to a minus sign. Click the minus sign to collapse that branch again. Figure 6.5 shows a typical display, with the contents of the Accessories folder visible in the right-hand pane.
FIG. 6.5 Click the plus sign to expand a branch of the tree; click the minus sign to collapse the list again.
TROUBLESHOOTING: I see a plus sign to the left of a drive icon, but when I click the icon, the plus sign disappears. Windows is behaving exactly as designed. When you first open the two-pane Explorer view, Windows checks the contents of all local hard drives and adds the plus sign if it detects subfolders. However, it does not automatically check for subfolders on removable drives (such as floppy disks) or network connections because doing so might slow down the performance of your system. Instead, it places the plus sign next to each of those icons and waits until you select the icon to see whether there really are any subfolders. If there are none, it removes the plus sign, as you've seen.
I see a plus sign to the left of a drive icon, but when I click the icon, the plus sign disappears. Windows is behaving exactly as designed. When you first open the two-pane Explorer view, Windows checks the contents of all local hard drives and adds the plus sign if it detects subfolders. However, it does not automatically check for subfolders on removable drives (such as floppy disks) or network connections because doing so might slow down the performance of your system. Instead, it places the plus sign next to each of those icons and waits until you select the icon to see whether there really are any subfolders. If there are none, it removes the plus sign, as you've seen.
To display the contents of a different folder, select its icon in the All Folders pane. As you move from folder to folder, you can use the Back and Forward buttons to quickly return to folders you visited previously.
You can also use the keyboard to navigate through file and folder listings in Explorer. Here's a partial listing of useful keyboard shortcuts:
CAUTION: Be careful when using the * key shortcut! Pressing the * key when the Desktop or Network Neighborhood icon is selected might cause extremely long delays as Explorer checks the contents of every available network drive.
Display options let you control how icons appear in an Explorer window. You can choose the size, arrangement, and order of icons, and you can also specify whether Explorer should show or hide system files. All of the options described in this section work the same in folder windows or in the right-hand contents pane of Windows Explorer.
Windows lets you choose from four icon arrangements when displaying the contents of a folder. Each view has advantages and disadvantages under given circumstances. To apply a new view to the folder currently displayed, choose View, and then select one of the following choices:
TIP: The Views button on the Standard toolbar lets you cycle through all four views for the current folder. Each time you click, the view changes to the next option. Alternatively, you can use the drop-down arrow at the right of the Views button to choose a view.
When you use either Large Icons or Small Icons view, Windows lets you move icons anywhere within the folder. You can cluster your favorite icons in one location and move the others to a far corner, for example, or just rearrange the order in which the icons appear. Two options let you control the arrangement of icons within a folder.
If you prefer to have all your icons lined up neatly at all times, choose View, Arrange Icons, Auto Arrange. A check mark appears next to this menu choice to indicate that it is in use with the current folder. You can still move icons into any order you want, but other icons will shift position to make room for the icons you move. When you resize a folder window with this option turned on, the rows of icons will automatically reposition so that you can see them properly within the window.
If you prefer to arrange icons yourself but you want them to snap into position along an imaginary grid, rearrange the icons and then choose View, Line Up Icons. This option allows you to leave empty spaces within the folder window. If you resize the window, some icons may no longer be visible; you'll need to use the scroll bars to view them.
CAUTION: These icon-arranging options apply to the Windows desktop as well. Right-click on any empty desktop area and choose Line Up Icons to straighten up the display of icons on the desktop. Avoid checking the Auto Arrange option on the Windows desktop, however. Most users prefer to position desktop icons in predictable locations; letting Windows automatically arrange desktop icons lines them up in columns, from top to bottom and left to right, without regard for wallpaper and Active Desktop items. That can make it difficult to work with desktop icons.
Windows lets you sort the contents of any folder using one of four menu choices. These options work the same in folder windows and in the contents pane of an Explorer window.
To sort files within a folder, follow these steps:
By Name. Sorts in ascending alphabetical order by filename, with folders grouped at the top of the list.
By Type. Sorts in ascending alphabetical order by file type (note that this does not sort by file extension; Windows uses the registered name of the File Type to determine sort order).
By Size. Sorts folders first in ascending alphabetical order by name, then arranges files by size, with smallest files at the top of the list.
By Date. Sorts folders by date in descending order, then sorts files the same way; in both cases, newest files appear at top of list. By far the easiest way to sort files and folders is to switch to Details view. When you click on the column headings in Details view, Windows sorts the folder's contents by the column you selected. Click again to sort in reverse order--something you cannot do in any other view.
When you use the two-pane Windows Explorer, the view options you choose apply to all folders you display in the contents pane. If you choose Large Icons view for one folder, all folders will be displayed in that view until you choose a different view.
When you use folder windows, however, Windows lets you save separate view options for each folder. As you move from folder to folder, the view changes to reflect the settings you last used. If you prefer to set all folder windows to a single view, follow these steps:
Note that using this option does not save the sort order for windows, nor does it save toolbar settings.
FIG. 6.6 Choose a view you want to use for all folder windows.
To restore folder windows to their default view settings, choose View, Folder Options, click the View tab, and click the button labeled Reset All Folders. This restores the My Computer, Control Panel, Fonts, and other system folders to their default, Large Icons view.
You can set four special attributes for all files and folders you create under MS-DOS or Windows. Using these settings, you can prevent inadvertent damage to important files. To see the assigned attributes for a given file or folder, select its icon and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Click the General tab to see the current settings for the following four attributes:
NOTE: Windows 98 sets the read-only attribute on a number of system folders, including the Windows and My Documents folders.
For the most part, Windows and Windows applications adjust file attributes automatically. The one reason you might want to manually adjust file attributes is to set a crucial workgroup file as read-only.
CAUTION: Setting the Read-only or System attribute for an object doesn't make it impossible to delete that file or folder; it only adds a warning dialog box to the process. If the file is truly important, make sure you have a backup copy stored in a safe location.
Windows hides a tremendous number of files by default. Why? To prevent accidental changes or deletions that can cause the system to stop working properly. Look at the left-hand side of the status bar in any Explorer window to see how many hidden files are in the current folder.
If you're confident that you can work with hidden and system files without causing your computer to crash, you can adjust Explorer's options to display those files. Follow these steps:
FIG. 6.7 Use this option to make hidden and system files visible.
If you choose to make hidden files visible, you'll be able to easily distinguish them in Explorer windows. In Explorer, they appear as grayed-out icons. (You might have to press F5 or choose View, Refresh to make these files appear.)
CAUTION: There's generally a good reason why Windows sets some files as hidden or system. If you need to change that attribute, just do it temporarily (to edit MSDOS.SYS, for example). Then be sure to change the attribute back when you're finished.
If you use the menus or the Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut to select all files in a folder that contains hidden files, you'll see a warning message like the one shown in Figure 6.8. There is no way to manage hidden files from Explorer unless you make them visible.
FIG. 6.8 Before you can select all the files in this folder, you must make hidden files visible.
You can use Explorer to change the Read-only, Hidden, and Archive attributes of a file or folder. To do so, right-click on the icon, choose Properties, and check or uncheck the appropriate box. Explorer will not allow you to change a file's System attribute, however. If you must perform that task, open an MS-DOS Prompt window and issue the command ATTRIB -S filename. For more information about the ATTRIB command, type ATTRIB /? at the MS-DOS prompt.
TIP: Do you want to see information about file attributes every time you switch to Details view? Open Explorer and choose View, Folder Options. Then click the View tab and scroll through the list of Advanced Settings. Check the option labeled Show File Attributes in Details View and click OK.
Under most circumstances, the View menu lets you choose from only four icon arrangements. If you want, however, you can choose to enable a fifth view option, which displays each file and folder in a box four times the size of the icons in Large Icons view. Within the boxes, you'll see thumbnail images of graphics files, HTML documents, and other compatible file types, as shown in Figure 6.9.
FIG. 6.9 Thumbnails view displays miniature images of compatible file types in an Explorer window. If the file type doesn't support thumbnails, you'll see the icon.
NOTE: Don't confuse Thumbnails view with the thumbnail viewer included in the default Web view template. In Web view, only one file at a time appears in the thumbnail viewer; Thumbnails view previews all the files in the current folder. Because Thumbnails view and Web view use the same program code to display miniature images, you cannot use the two views together.
Before you can choose this option from the pull-down View menu in an Explorer window, you must specifically enable Thumbnails view for that folder. Follow these steps:
CAUTION: It might be tempting to enable Thumbnails view for every folder, but resist the temptation unless you really need to use the feature. To display thumbnails, Windows must create an index file (called Thumbs.db) in each folder where you enable this option. These index files take up a lot of space--a megabyte or more in a folder filled with graphics. Not only will you incur a noticeable delay as Windows creates and updates the index files, you will also have to deal with performance delays.
The following file types will display as miniature images in Thumbnails view:
If you use Office 97, some (but not all) Office documents will also appear as miniature images in a folder where Thumbnails view is enabled. To see these files as thumbnails, you must first open the document in the Office program that created it and choose File, Properties. Then click the Summary tab and check the box labeled Save Preview Picture. For files that cannot be displayed in Thumbnails view, Windows displays the default icon.
Like most parts of Windows, Explorer contains a wide array of customization options.
To change the proportions of the two panes when using Windows Explorer, point to the vertical dividing line between the panes. When the pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, click and drag in either direction. Release the mouse button when the panes are the desired sizes.
In Details view, Windows uses columns to display information about files, folders, and system objects. To change the width of columns, point to the dividing line between column headings. When the pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, click and drag in either direction. You can also double-click on the dividing line to the right of a column heading to automatically resize that column to match the widest entry it contains.
TROUBLESHOOTING: One or more columns are missing when I switch to Details view. You might have resized a column to zero width, which makes it disappear from view. To restore the default column widths, click anywhere in the contents pane, hold down the Ctrl key, and press the + key on the numeric keypad.
One or more columns are missing when I switch to Details view. You might have resized a column to zero width, which makes it disappear from view. To restore the default column widths, click anywhere in the contents pane, hold down the Ctrl key, and press the + key on the numeric keypad.
The status bar shows important information about the number and size of objects in the current folder, and it works the same in folder windows and in the two-pane Explorer view. To show or hide this screen element, choose View, Status Bar. A check mark next to the menu choice means the status bar should appear at the bottom of the window.
By default, the Address bar and the Standard Buttons toolbar (with text labels) appear when you open the two-pane version of Explorer. You can use both screen elements with folder windows as well. To show or hide either element, choose View, Toolbars, and check or uncheck the Standard Buttons and Address Bar menu choices.
There's no way to customize the buttons on these toolbars, but if you want maximum room to work with files and folders, you can hide the text labels on the Standard Buttons toolbar. To do so, choose View, Toolbars, and then remove the check mark from the Text Labels menu choice. Figure 6.10 shows a screen in which the toolbar buttons' text labels are not displayed.
FIG. 6.10 To conserve Explorer space, hide the text labels that normally appear under the toolbar buttons.
The full two-pane Explorer view can be overwhelming, particularly when you just want to reorganize files among a handful of subfolders in a single location. The solution is to create shortcuts for each task. It's possible to launch a copy of Explorer that opens at the location where you want to work. Even better is to restrict the display of objects in the left-hand pane so that it includes only the drives or folders with which you want to work.
If you create a shortcut with only the command explorer, you'll open the default two-pane Windows Explorer, with all resources visible in the All Folders pane. To reduce the clutter, you'll need to use command-line switches along with the Explorer command. Specifically, follow the command with the /e switch to force it to open in two-pane mode (use /n to specify a single-pane window instead). Normally, Explorer uses Desktop as the root of the All Folders pane, but you can specify any drive or folder to fill this role. When you do, the display becomes much less confusing. Use the /root, object switch to restrict the scope of the All Folders pane to the object you specify. In place of object, substitute the name of a network server (in UNC format), a local drive, or a folder.
ON THE WEB: For a detailed explanation of all the options you can use when creating an Explorer shortcut, read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article "Command-Line Switches for Windows Explorer." You'll find it at http://premium.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q130/5/10.asp
http://premium.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q130/5/10.asp
To open a two-pane Explorer window that includes only files and folders on drive C:, for example, follow these steps:
Although many Windows applications offer basic file management functions, Explorer is the tool you'll use most often to organize your files. Regardless of which view you choose, Explorer allows you to create new folders, copy and move files between folders, delete files, and rename files.
Before you can perform any action on an object, you must select the object. The procedures for selecting files, folders, and other icons vary, depending on the folder and desktop options you've chosen. If you've chosen the Classic style (double-click) interface, you click on an icon to select it. If you've chosen the Web style (single-click) interface, on the other hand, simply point to a file to select it. Objects change color to indicate that you've selected them.
TIP: Use the Display Properties dialog box to adjust the color of selected items.
To select multiple icons that are adjacent to one another in a folder window or on the desktop, select the first icon, hold down the Shift key, and then select the last icon. All the icons between the two will be selected as well. To select multiple icons that are not adjacent to one another, select the first one, hold down the Ctrl key, and select all additional icons. To deselect an icon, continue holding down the Ctrl key and select it again.
You can also use marquee selection to quickly select a group of adjacent files using the mouse. Using this technique, you draw an imaginary rectangle around the group of files (see Figure 6.11). Specifically, point to one corner of the rectangle, and then hold down the left mouse button and drag the selection to the opposite corner. This technique works regardless of which icon view you've selected.
FIG. 6.11 As you draw this rectangle around a group of icons, watch the dotted line. All icons within the box are selected.
You can also select multiple icons using the keyboard. In a two-pane Explorer window, press Tab to move the focus into the right-hand contents pane. Then use the arrow keys to move through the list to the first item you want to select. To select a group of adjacent icons, hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys to move through the list. To use the keyboard to select a group of icons that are not adjacent to one another, select the first file, and then hold down the Ctrl key and use the arrow keys to move through the list; press the Spacebar for each file you want to select.
To quickly select all the files in a folder, choose Edit, Select All (or press Ctrl+A). To deselect all current selections, click on any empty space or on another object in the folder window or on the desktop.
TIP: There's a lightning-fast way to select all but a few icons within a folder. This technique comes in handy when you want to archive or delete most of the files in a folder yet keep a small number of items. Select the objects you plan to keep, and then choose Edit, Invert Selection. You can now use any of the standard Windows techniques to move, copy, or delete the selected objects.
To rename a file or folder, first select its icon. Then use any of the following options to select the name for editing:
When the label text is selected, type the new name. To save the name you enter, press Enter or click on any empty space on the desktop or in a folder window.
There is no way to rename more than one file at a time using Explorer. To accomplish this task, you must open an MS-DOS Prompt window and use the REN (Rename) command.
To rename multiple files with long filenames, use this procedure:
05 Sales Forecast.xls 06 Sales Forecast.xls 07 Sales Forecast.xls 08 Sales Forecast.xls
05 Sales Forecast.xls
06 Sales Forecast.xls
07 Sales Forecast.xls 08 Sales Forecast.xls
05 Mrktg Forecast.xls 06 Mrktg Forecast.xls 07 Mrktg Forecast.xls 08 Mrktg Forecast.xls
05 Mrktg Forecast.xls
06 Mrktg Forecast.xls
07 Mrktg Forecast.xls 08 Mrktg Forecast.xls
To create a new folder, follow these steps:
NOTE: When naming folders, you must follow the same rules that govern long filenames.
With Explorer, the easiest way to move and copy files is not always the surest. When you select one or more objects and drag them from one location to another, the results can vary dramatically. The exact effect depends on the location and the type of file. When you drag and drop files using Explorer, one of three things happens:
There are solid logical reasons for this default behavior, but the results can be confusing to novice users. Even experienced Windows users can sometimes stumble over these rules. For example, if you drag multiple program icons from a folder onto the desktop, Explorer will create a group of shortcuts, but if you select even one icon that isn't a program, Windows moves or copies instead.
The best way to predict what Explorer will do when you drag and drop icons is to examine the mouse pointer before you release the mouse button. If you see a plus sign just to the right of the pointer (see Figure 6.12), you can expect a copy; a small arrow next to the pointer means you'll get a shortcut; and a plain pointer means you're about to move the selected objects. If the pointer you see doesn't match the result you intended, press Esc before releasing the mouse button to abort the procedure.
FIG. 6.12 The small plus sign next to the mouse pointer means you're about to make a copy of this icon.
For maximum control over the results of drag-and-drop operations, select one or more objects and hold down the right mouse button as you drag. When you release the button, Windows pops up a shortcut menu like the one shown in Figure 6.13. The default action appears in bold type, but you can choose any of the three actions, or you can cancel the whole operation if you prefer.
FIG. 6.13 When you hold down the right mouse button while dragging files, Windows lets you choose the result you prefer from a shortcut menu like this.
Dragging and Dropping Files Between Folders
The easiest way to move or copy files between folders is to open two folder windows and arrange them side by side. Follow this procedure to let Windows position two folder windows automatically:
If you inadvertently left an extra window open on the desktop before attempting this procedure, right-click an empty space on the taskbar, choose Undo Tile, and try again.
To move or copy files from one folder window to another, select the icon or icons and drag them to any empty space in the destination folder.
TIP: To quickly copy one or more files to a floppy disk, select the icon(s) in an Explorer window, right-click, and choose Send To from the shortcut menu. Then choose the floppy drive from the submenu.
Dragging and Dropping Files in Explorer View
To move or copy files using the two-pane Explorer view, follow these steps:
Using Cut, Copy, and Paste
Explorer offers one final option for moving and copying files that doesn't involve dragging and dropping. Use the Windows Clipboard to cut, copy, and paste files between folders and drives in exactly the same way you copy text and graphics between documents. These techniques work equally well in Explorer windows, in folder windows, in email messages, and on the Windows desktop. To copy, move, or create shortcuts using the Clipboard, follow this procedure:
It's impractical to copy an entire hard disk or CD-ROM, but it's ridiculously easy to copy a floppy disk. Windows includes a utility that handles the whole process in two passes--one for the source (original) disk and the second for the destination (copy) disk.
To copy a floppy, make sure you have a formatted disk that's the same size as the original you plan to copy. Then follow these steps:
FIG. 6.14 Follow the prompts to duplicate a floppy disk.
CAUTION: Windows automatically erases any data on a destination disk without prompting you. That can be disastrous if the destination disk contains important data. If you store important files on floppy disks, always use the write-protect tab to prevent accidental erasure.
To delete one or more files or folders, select the icons and then use any of the following techniques:
Normally, when you delete one or more files or folders, Windows displays a Confirm File Delete dialog box. You can turn off the dialog box that asks whether you're sure you want to send the files to the Recycle Bin. However, when you bypass the Recycle Bin, you must deal with the dialog box shown in Figure 6.15.
FIG. 6.15 When you bypass the Recycle Bin, Windows forces you to deal with this dialog box.
CAUTION: When you delete a folder, you also delete all files and subfolders within that folder. Check the contents carefully before you trash an entire folder.
In Windows, you can undo the last three actions you perform when working with the Windows Explorer. If you inadvertently delete a file, move it to the wrong location, or make a mistake when renaming a file or folder, click the Undo button on the Standard Buttons toolbar or press Ctrl+Z.
It's not always easy to tell exactly what Undo will accomplish, and there's no Redo option to restore your original action, either. Within an Explorer window, look at the top of the Edit menu to see what Windows can undo. Likely choices include Undo Delete, Undo Move, and Undo Rename.
TIP: Although it's not obvious, the Undo shortcuts also work if you make a mistake on the Windows Desktop. If you inadvertently move or delete a desktop file by mistake, press Ctrl+Z immediately to recover.
The Windows Recycle Bin can't prevent every file management disaster, but it can help you recover if you accidentally delete a crucial file. When you delete a local file using the Windows Explorer, it doesn't actually disappear; instead, the Recycle Bin intercepts it and stores it. The file remains there until you empty the Recycle Bin or until it is displaced by a newer deleted file. As long as that file remains in the Recycle Bin, you can recover it intact.
CAUTION: The Recycle Bin is far from perfect, and every Windows user should be aware of its limitations. If you use a network connection to delete files on another computer, or if you delete files on a floppy disk or other removable medium, those files are not saved in the Recycle Bin. Likewise, using the DEL command from an MS-DOS Prompt window removes the files permanently, without storing safe copies in the Recycle Bin. And if you overwrite a file with another file of the same name, the old file does not go into the Recycle Bin. If these limitations disturb you, check out Norton Utilities and other third-party programs, which can expand the capabilities of the Recycle Bin to cover some of these situations.
Recovering a Deleted File
To recover a deleted file, open the Recycle Bin (you'll find its icon on the desktop). Browse its contents until you find the file or files you're looking for. To return the file to its original location, right-click and choose Restore from the shortcut menu. To restore the file to another location, such as the Windows desktop, drag the icon or icons to the location where you want to restore them.
Changing the Size of the Recycle Bin
By default, the Recycle Bin sets aside 10 percent of the space on every local hard disk for storing deleted files. If your hard disk is nearly full, that may be too much; on the other hand, if you have ample disk space, you may want to reserve more space for the Recycle Bin. On systems with more than one drive, you can choose different Recycle Bin settings for each drive. To adjust the Recycle Bin's appetite, follow these steps:
FIG. 6.16 The default setting is to use 10% of hard disk space for storing deleted files. Use this dialog box to adjust this setting.
Emptying the Recycle Bin
Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't need to delete the Recycle Bin. When it fills up, Windows automatically deletes the oldest files to make room for new files you delete. If you run short of hard disk space--when installing a new program, for example--you may need to clear out the Recycle Bin to make room. To delete all files from the Recycle Bin, right-click on its icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin.
Even the most compulsive file-naming system can't tell you exactly what's in every file on your hard drive. Using Windows Explorer, you can examine a file's name, type, size, and the date it was last modified. But to see the contents of a file, you'll need to open it with its associated application--or use Windows' Quick View utility to peek inside.
To view the contents of a file, right-click on the file and choose Quick View. A Quick View window like the one shown in Figure 6.17 appears.
NOTE: Quick View isn't installed as part of the Typical Windows setup option. To install this utility, use the procedures described in Chapter 2.
Although Quick View is useful, it's far from perfect. It supports only a limited number of file types, for example, and you can't copy the file's contents to the Windows Clipboard or print the file. The version of Quick View included with Windows 98 lets you view simple text and graphics files and those created by some word processing programs; unlike its Windows 95 predecessor, it allows you to view files created by Office 97 applications.
FIG. 6.17 Use the Quick View utility to see the contents of a file without opening it.
The files you use most often are scattered across your hard disk in a number of folders. When you set up a new program, its files go in their own folders, and you organize data files using whatever system makes the most sense--by project, date, or department, for example. If you had to root through folders and subfolders every time you wanted to open a document or launch a program, you'd hardly have any time to get work done.
So how do you maintain an orderly filing system and still keep programs and documents close at hand? The solution is to use shortcuts. As the name implies, a shortcut is a pointer file that allows you to access a file without moving the file or creating a copy of it. You can create a shortcut for almost any object in Windows, including programs, data files, folders, drives, Dial-Up Networking connections, printers, and web pages. Windows uses shortcuts extensively: Every item in the Programs folder on your Start menu is a shortcut, for example, and every time you save a web address to your Favorites folder, you create an Internet shortcut. Learning how to create and manage shortcuts is a crucial step in mastering Windows.
Shortcuts are small files that contain all the information Windows needs to create a link to a target file. The shortcut uses the same icon as the target file, with one crucial difference: a small arrow in the lower-right corner that identifies the icon as a shortcut instead of an original.
When you right-click on a shortcut, the available menu choices are the same as if you had right-clicked on the target file. Opening the shortcut has the same effect as opening the target file.
Shortcuts are a tremendous productivity aid. If you have a document file stored six subfolders deep, for example, you can create a shortcut icon and store it on the desktop so it's always accessible. The target file remains in its original location.
You can create many shortcuts to the same file. For your favorite programs, you might create shortcuts on the desktop, on the Start menu, and on the Quick Launch bar. Each shortcut takes up a negligible amount of disk space (typically no more than 500 bytes), even if the original file occupies several megabytes of disk space.
What happens when you attempt to launch the target file using its shortcut icon? Windows is intelligent enough to re-establish the link to the target file even if you've moved or renamed the original; to do so, it follows these steps:
FIG. 6.18 If Windows can't locate the target file for a shortcut, it will suggest the closest matching file.
The easiest way to create a new shortcut is with the help of the Create Shortcut Wizard. Follow these steps:
FIG. 6.19 Creating a new shortcut is a two-step process with this wizard.
You can also create a shortcut from an icon. Select the icon in an Explorer window, hold down the right mouse button, and drag the icon to the desktop or another folder. Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the pop-up menu.
To modify the name that appears under a shortcut icon, right-click the icon and choose Rename. (This technique works with shortcuts on the Programs menu and Quick Launch folder as well.) The pointer changes to an I-beam and the entire name becomes selected. Begin typing to completely replace the name, or click to position the insertion point where you want to add or change text. After you edit the name, press Enter or click on an empty portion of the desktop or taskbar to register the change. Note that changing the name of a shortcut does not affect the target file.
To delete a shortcut, use any of the techniques described earlier in this chapter. When you delete a shortcut, you remove only the link to the target file. The target file itself remains intact in its original location.
To change the appearance and behavior of a shortcut icon, right-click on the shortcut icon and choose Properties. The General tab of the properties sheet includes basic information, such as the shortcut's name and when it was created. Click the Shortcut tab to change the link between the shortcut and its target file. Using the options on the Shortcut tab (see Figure 6.20), you can make the following adjustments:
CAUTION: Shortcut keys you create take precedence over other access keys in Windows. Be careful that you don't inadvertently redefine a system-wide key combination or one that you use in other Windows applications.
FIG. 6.20 The shortcut's properties sheet lets you change the target file, startup folder, shortcut key, and icon used by a shortcut.
An important caution applies whenever you create a shortcut that points to a resource on a mapped network drive. If you later change the drive or computer to which the mapped drive letter refers, your shortcut might fail to work; worse, it could access the original file or folder and create a new drive mapping to a different letter without warning you. This problem is an unintended consequence of a Windows feature that existed in Windows 95 and continues to plague users in Windows 98.
Here's how the problem might affect your organization. Say you've mapped the drive letter S: to a shared folder called Data on a server called Research. When you create a shortcut that points to S:\, opening that shortcut opens the folder \\Research\Data, just as you would expect.
Now imagine that your work moves out of the research labs and into production. As a result, you move your old files to a shared folder called Files on a server named Production. Because you don't want to change all the shortcuts or retrain the workers in your department, you decide to change the network mapping so that the drive letter S: now points to \\Production\Files.
If you open a Windows application and type the letter S: in a File Open dialog box, it correctly displays the contents of the shared Files folder. Likewise, if you select S: from the drop-down drive list in an Explorer window, you'll see the correct file listing. But if you open the shortcut that refers to S:, it will open the shared resource that S: referred to when the shortcut was created--in this case, \\Research\Data. And it will spontaneously create a new drive mapping (to an arbitrary letter such as J: or Q:).
The problem arises because Windows stores the UNC name of the resource along with the original shortcut and uses that information instead of the current drive mapping. The solution? Don't use mapped drive letters with Windows shortcuts. If your organization insists on using shortcuts that refer to mapped drive letters, create DOS batch files to open the shared resources. A one-line batch file containing the command Start S:, for example, will always open the resource currently mapped to S:.
TIP: When you create a shortcut that runs an MS-DOS batch file, Windows opens a command window every time the batch file runs. You need to adjust the shortcut's settings to close this window automatically. To do so, right-click the shortcut icon, choose Properties, click the Program tab, and check the box labeled Close on Exit.
You can also choose to modify individual shortcuts using a tool called Shortcut.exe, which removes UNC path information from each shortcut. For more information about this utility, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for article Q150215, "Disabling Automatic Network Shortcut Resolution."
When is a folder not a folder? Windows 98 includes a variety of virtual folders that behave like ordinary folders but have a few crucial differences. Virtual folders--including My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking, and Printers--aren't actually storage locations on a disk. Instead, they represent data that's stored in the Windows Registry. You can't move files into a virtual folder, but you can create shortcuts to icons within a virtual folder.
When you right-click an icon in a virtual folder, you'll see Create Shortcut on the menu. If you choose that option, however, you'll see the error message shown in Figure 6.21. Click OK to create a shortcut on the desktop. That shortcut will work just as you would expect it to, and you can move it to the Start menu, the Quick Launch toolbar, or another file folder.
FIG. 6.21 If you try to create a shortcut within a virtual folder, Windows displays this error message. Click OK to create a shortcut on the desktop, and then you can move it to any location.