Sorrentino's Notes (09/08)
Windows Explorer
The Keys To The Kingdom
by Phil Sorrentino
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
Windows Explorer is an
application that comes with the Windows Operating System and gives the
user incredible insight into his computer hardware and software. Like
all windows applications, Windows Explorer has a title bar, a menu bar,
and a command bar at the top of the window. But the real power is in the
two-pane presentation below. The panes are separated by a light vertical
line that can be moved with the mouse when a double-arrow is shown. The
left pane shows your desktop, computer, network, recycle bin, and
possibly other high level folders. When an item in the left pane is
selected, the contents will always be shown in the right pane. If an
item in the left pane has more detailed content, it has a plus sign (+)
next to it. Clicking on the plus sign will reveal the contents and
change the plus sign to a minus sign (-). (Clicking the minus sign will
close the item that is selected, again hiding the contents.) If any of
these revealed contents is selected, their contents will be shown in the
right pane. Successive clicking of plus signs in the left pane allows
the user to “drill down” into the computer’s organization to find a
particular folder or file. When a folder in the left pane is then
selected, the contents will be displayed in the right pane.
If viewing the contents of your computer was all that this application
could to, it would still be worthwhile. But this is just the beginning.
Windows Explorer lets you organize as well as view the contents of your
computer. Using the File menu, under File-New-Folder, you can create a
new folder under the item that is selected in the left pane. Doing this
repetitively, you can create many folders within a top folder or a
hierarchy of folders below a folder. (Always keep in mind that whatever
is selected in the left pane becomes the parent of the new folder, which
will be shown in the right pane, selected and ready for naming.) If you
create a folder in the wrong place, you can always delete it by
selecting it in the right or left pane and then right-clicking it, and
finally clicking delete in the menu that is presented. Now we have
control over the whole folder structure on any drive. Of course, you
probably want to be careful and not create or delete any folders in the
Operating System folders such as “Documents and Settings”, “Program
Files”, and “Windows”. But you can do just about anything in “My
Documents” in XP or “Documents” in Vista. As an example you could create
a “My Photos” or “Photos” folder and organize your pictures in a
chronological fashion. Under the Photos folder, create a folder for a
decade such as the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Then under the decade, 2000s
folder, create a folder for each year, 2000, 2001, 2002, etc. Then put
your pictures in the appropriate folder. You could even add folders in
each year for important events like vacations, visits, or milestones.
Now that we have been able to create a whole folder hierarchy, it would
be nice to be able to move items around this folder organization.
Fortunately, and typically, there are a few ways of accomplishing this
with Windows Explorer. Copy and Paste works well here. You can use the
commands in the Edit menu, or you can use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-C
(Copy), and Ctrl-V (Paste) to do the job. Just like text, you can copy
and paste files and complete folders. (Isn’t that Clipboard just
wonderful.) Also, you can move or copy files and folders graphically.
You do this with a “Drag and Drop” action. Just remember when you move
or copy items, you Drag and Drop them from the right pane into the left
pane. If an item is Dragged and Dropped from a folder on a drive to a
folder on a different drive it will be copied. If an item is Dragged and
Dropped from one folder on a drive to another folder on the same drive
it will be moved (not copied). If a copy is desired here, hold down the
Ctrl key during the Drag and Drop action.
As with many Windows applications, the View can be changed using the View
menu. First you can select the items to be shown on the Windows Explorer
window, Tool bars (check lock the Tool bars), Status bar (check this), and
Explorer bars (folders should be checked). Then you can determine how the
items in the right pane will be displayed. Details and List give you a text
description of the items. Thumbnails, Tiles, and Icons give you a graphical
icon along with some text. (Thumbnails view is very good for viewing picture
folders.) Finally, you can Arrange the items by Name, Size, Type, etc. and
you can choose the Details to be displayed. The Refresh choice is useful if
you have made a lot of changes and you want to get the latest view. With all
these capabilities and features, Windows Explorer is certainly an
application that you’ll want to get to know. The more you use your computer,
the more you’ll become attached to Windows Explorer. Put it in the “Quick
Launch” area on the taskbar so that it’s always available, and easy to open.
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Copyright 2009. This article is from the August 2009 issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
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