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Windows 7 Tricks: Windows Explorer tips
Eto naman ang Windows Explorer ang paglaruan natin...
Windows Explorer is the heart and soul of the Windows interface, and overall it works quite well. But you can make it better.
Use check boxes to select multiple files
In order to select multiple files for an operation such as copying, moving or deleting in Windows Explorer, you generally use the keyboard and the mouse, Ctrl-clicking every file you want to select.
Select multiple files with your mouse only. Don't like Ctrl-clicking to select multiple files in Explorer? You can use these nifty check boxes instead.
But if you're mouse-centric, there's a way to select multiple files in Windows 7 using only your mouse, via check boxes. To do it:
1. In Windows Explorer, click Organize, and then select "Folder and search options."
2. Click the View tab.
3. In Advanced Settings, scroll down and check the box next to "Use check boxes to select items." Click OK.
4. From now on, when you hover your mouse over a file in Windows Explorer, a check box will appear next to it; click it to select the file. Once a file is selected, the checked box remains next to it; if you uncheck it, the box will disappear when you move your mouse away.
Open a command prompt at any folder
Command prompt fans will welcome this tip. With it, when you're in Windows Explorer, you can open a command prompt to any folder. This tip does exactly what the Windows XP PowerToy "Open Command Window Here" does.
To use it, hold down the Shift key and right-click a folder, then choose "Open command window here" from the context menu that appears. (Note that this tip doesn't work in the Documents folder.)
Protect the privacy of your Explorer searches
Note: This tip relies on the Group Policy Editor, which isn't available in some versions of Windows 7. Thus, this tip will not work if you have the Home Premium, Starter, or Home Basic editions of Windows 7.
Protect the privacy of your Windows Explorer searches. Select "Enabled" to hide your recent searches using the Group Policy Editor.
When you search through your PC from Windows Explorer, you can see the most recent searches that have been performed. If you share a PC and don't want others to see what you've searched for, you can turn off the recent searches feature:
1. In the Start menu's Search box, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter to launch the Group Policy Editor.
2. Go to User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Explorer.
3. Double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box" and select Enabled from the screen that appears. Then click OK. The recent searches feature will now be turned off.
Set a new Windows Explorer launch folder
When you run Windows Explorer, it always opens to the Libraries folder. That's fine if you use Microsoft's default file organization, which designates Libraries as the overall container for your folders.
Set a new Explorer launch folder. Edit the Target field of this dialog box to change the folder that opens by default when you launch Windows Explorer.
But what if you don't? You might prefer to have Windows Explorer open to Computer or any other folder you choose. Here's how to do it:
1. Right-click the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar (it's the one that looks like a folder), and then right-click the Windows Explorer icon from the context menu that appears and select Properties. The Windows Explorer Properties dialog box appears.
2. You'll have to edit the Target field on the Shortcut tab of this dialog box in order to change the default location at which Explorer opens.
If you want Explorer to open to a specific folder, simply enter the name of the folder, substituting your folder name for Folder, below, like this:
%windir%\explorer.exe c:\Folder
So to open Explorer to the folder named Budget, you would type this in the Target field:
%windir%\explorer.exe c:\Budget
If you want Explorer to open to special, pre-set locations, such as Computer, you'll need to enter special syntax in the Target field. Following is a list of three common locations and the syntax to use, followed by the syntax for the Libraries folder in case you ever want to revert to the default.
Computer: %windir%\explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
My Documents:%windir%\explorer.exe ::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}
Network: %windir%\explorer.exe ::{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Libraries: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
3. After you've changed the Target field, click OK. Next time you launch Windows Explorer, it will open to the new location you've designated.
Show all your drives in Windows Explorer
Depending on your system settings, when you go to Computer in Windows Explorer, you may be in for a shock -- you may not see all your drives such as memory card readers if those drives are empty. If this disconcerts you, there's a simple way for you to see them even if there's nothing there:
1. Launch Windows Explorer and press the Alt button to reveal the top menu.
2. Select Tools --> Folder Options and click the View tab.
Show all your drives in Windows Explorer. Uncheck "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder" to have Explorer show you all your drives even if they're empty.
3. Under "Advanced settings," uncheck the box next to "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder." Click OK. The drives will now always be visible.
Build your own Internet Search Connector
Windows 7 has a very useful new feature called a Search Connector that lets you search through a Web site from right inside Windows Explorer. With it, you type in a search term and select the Search Connector for the site you want to search; Explorer searches the Web site without having to open Internet Explorer, and the results appear inside Windows Explorer. Click any of the results to head there using your default Web browser.
Normally, you'll need to get each Search Connector from the Web site through which you want to search, and very few Connectors are available. Sites normally need to adhere to OpenSearch standards in order for their Connectors to work.
Adding a new Search Connector.
However, there's a work-around that will let you easily build your own Search Connector for any site, using Windows Live Search as a kind of go-between. Don't worry, you don't need to know any code to write a Connector. Just follow these steps:
1. Copy the following text and paste it into Notepad. The text you'll need to change is in bold, all-caps text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:ms-ose="http://schemas.microsoft.com/opensearchext/2009/">
<ShortName>NAME YOUR SEARCH</ShortName>
<Description>DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH</Description>
<Url type="application/rss+xml" template="http://api.bing.com/rss.aspx?source=web&query={searchTerms} site:SITENAME.COM&web.count=50"/>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.bing.com/search?q={searchTerms}+site:SITENAME.COM"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>
2. In place of NAME YOUR SEARCH, type in the name of the search as you want it to appear. In our case, we're going to build a Search Connector for Computerworld, so we'll just type in Computerworld.
3. In place of DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH, type in a longer description of the search. In our instance, it will be Search through Computerworld.
4. In the two SITENAME.COM entries, enter the Web site's domain. Don't use the http:// or www -- just the domain name. In our instance it will be computerworld.com.
5. To the right of "count=", type in the number or results you want to appear. In our instance, we'll keep it at 50.
6. In our example, here's what the code should look like (no bold necessary):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:ms-ose="http://schemas.microsoft.com/opensearchext/2009/">
<ShortName>Computerworld</ShortName>
<Description>Search through Computerworld</Description>
<Url type="application/rss+xml" template="http://api.bing.com/rss.aspx?source=web&query={searchTerms} site:computerworld.com&web.count=50"/>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.bing.com/search?q={searchTerms}+site:computerworld.com"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>
7. Save the file in Notepad, choose UTF-8 from the Encoding drop-down box near the bottom of the Save As screen, and give it an .osdx extension. In our instance, we'll call the file Computerworld.osdx.
8. In Windows Explorer, right-click the .osdx file and select Create Search Connector. The Search Connector will be created.
9. You can now use the Search Connector. To get to it, in Windows Explorer go to YourName --> Searches --> Connector, where YourName is your account name, and Connector is the name of the Connector.
Build your own Internet Search Connector. Here's the Windows Explorer search results page after searching through Computerworld.com using a custom-built Search Connector.
Source: ComputerWorld.com
Source Link:
See my other Windows 7 Tricks threads...
Eto naman ang Windows Explorer ang paglaruan natin...
Windows Explorer is the heart and soul of the Windows interface, and overall it works quite well. But you can make it better.
Use check boxes to select multiple files
In order to select multiple files for an operation such as copying, moving or deleting in Windows Explorer, you generally use the keyboard and the mouse, Ctrl-clicking every file you want to select.
Select multiple files with your mouse only. Don't like Ctrl-clicking to select multiple files in Explorer? You can use these nifty check boxes instead.
But if you're mouse-centric, there's a way to select multiple files in Windows 7 using only your mouse, via check boxes. To do it:
1. In Windows Explorer, click Organize, and then select "Folder and search options."
2. Click the View tab.
3. In Advanced Settings, scroll down and check the box next to "Use check boxes to select items." Click OK.
4. From now on, when you hover your mouse over a file in Windows Explorer, a check box will appear next to it; click it to select the file. Once a file is selected, the checked box remains next to it; if you uncheck it, the box will disappear when you move your mouse away.
Open a command prompt at any folder
Command prompt fans will welcome this tip. With it, when you're in Windows Explorer, you can open a command prompt to any folder. This tip does exactly what the Windows XP PowerToy "Open Command Window Here" does.
To use it, hold down the Shift key and right-click a folder, then choose "Open command window here" from the context menu that appears. (Note that this tip doesn't work in the Documents folder.)
Protect the privacy of your Explorer searches
Note: This tip relies on the Group Policy Editor, which isn't available in some versions of Windows 7. Thus, this tip will not work if you have the Home Premium, Starter, or Home Basic editions of Windows 7.
Protect the privacy of your Windows Explorer searches. Select "Enabled" to hide your recent searches using the Group Policy Editor.
When you search through your PC from Windows Explorer, you can see the most recent searches that have been performed. If you share a PC and don't want others to see what you've searched for, you can turn off the recent searches feature:
1. In the Start menu's Search box, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter to launch the Group Policy Editor.
2. Go to User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Explorer.
3. Double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box" and select Enabled from the screen that appears. Then click OK. The recent searches feature will now be turned off.
Set a new Windows Explorer launch folder
When you run Windows Explorer, it always opens to the Libraries folder. That's fine if you use Microsoft's default file organization, which designates Libraries as the overall container for your folders.
Set a new Explorer launch folder. Edit the Target field of this dialog box to change the folder that opens by default when you launch Windows Explorer.
But what if you don't? You might prefer to have Windows Explorer open to Computer or any other folder you choose. Here's how to do it:
1. Right-click the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar (it's the one that looks like a folder), and then right-click the Windows Explorer icon from the context menu that appears and select Properties. The Windows Explorer Properties dialog box appears.
2. You'll have to edit the Target field on the Shortcut tab of this dialog box in order to change the default location at which Explorer opens.
If you want Explorer to open to a specific folder, simply enter the name of the folder, substituting your folder name for Folder, below, like this:
%windir%\explorer.exe c:\Folder
So to open Explorer to the folder named Budget, you would type this in the Target field:
%windir%\explorer.exe c:\Budget
If you want Explorer to open to special, pre-set locations, such as Computer, you'll need to enter special syntax in the Target field. Following is a list of three common locations and the syntax to use, followed by the syntax for the Libraries folder in case you ever want to revert to the default.
Computer: %windir%\explorer.exe ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
My Documents:%windir%\explorer.exe ::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}
Network: %windir%\explorer.exe ::{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Libraries: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
3. After you've changed the Target field, click OK. Next time you launch Windows Explorer, it will open to the new location you've designated.
Show all your drives in Windows Explorer
Depending on your system settings, when you go to Computer in Windows Explorer, you may be in for a shock -- you may not see all your drives such as memory card readers if those drives are empty. If this disconcerts you, there's a simple way for you to see them even if there's nothing there:
1. Launch Windows Explorer and press the Alt button to reveal the top menu.
2. Select Tools --> Folder Options and click the View tab.
Show all your drives in Windows Explorer. Uncheck "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder" to have Explorer show you all your drives even if they're empty.
3. Under "Advanced settings," uncheck the box next to "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder." Click OK. The drives will now always be visible.
Build your own Internet Search Connector
Windows 7 has a very useful new feature called a Search Connector that lets you search through a Web site from right inside Windows Explorer. With it, you type in a search term and select the Search Connector for the site you want to search; Explorer searches the Web site without having to open Internet Explorer, and the results appear inside Windows Explorer. Click any of the results to head there using your default Web browser.
Normally, you'll need to get each Search Connector from the Web site through which you want to search, and very few Connectors are available. Sites normally need to adhere to OpenSearch standards in order for their Connectors to work.
Adding a new Search Connector.
However, there's a work-around that will let you easily build your own Search Connector for any site, using Windows Live Search as a kind of go-between. Don't worry, you don't need to know any code to write a Connector. Just follow these steps:
1. Copy the following text and paste it into Notepad. The text you'll need to change is in bold, all-caps text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:ms-ose="http://schemas.microsoft.com/opensearchext/2009/">
<ShortName>NAME YOUR SEARCH</ShortName>
<Description>DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH</Description>
<Url type="application/rss+xml" template="http://api.bing.com/rss.aspx?source=web&query={searchTerms} site:SITENAME.COM&web.count=50"/>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.bing.com/search?q={searchTerms}+site:SITENAME.COM"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>
2. In place of NAME YOUR SEARCH, type in the name of the search as you want it to appear. In our case, we're going to build a Search Connector for Computerworld, so we'll just type in Computerworld.
3. In place of DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH, type in a longer description of the search. In our instance, it will be Search through Computerworld.
4. In the two SITENAME.COM entries, enter the Web site's domain. Don't use the http:// or www -- just the domain name. In our instance it will be computerworld.com.
5. To the right of "count=", type in the number or results you want to appear. In our instance, we'll keep it at 50.
6. In our example, here's what the code should look like (no bold necessary):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:ms-ose="http://schemas.microsoft.com/opensearchext/2009/">
<ShortName>Computerworld</ShortName>
<Description>Search through Computerworld</Description>
<Url type="application/rss+xml" template="http://api.bing.com/rss.aspx?source=web&query={searchTerms} site:computerworld.com&web.count=50"/>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://www.bing.com/search?q={searchTerms}+site:computerworld.com"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>
7. Save the file in Notepad, choose UTF-8 from the Encoding drop-down box near the bottom of the Save As screen, and give it an .osdx extension. In our instance, we'll call the file Computerworld.osdx.
8. In Windows Explorer, right-click the .osdx file and select Create Search Connector. The Search Connector will be created.
9. You can now use the Search Connector. To get to it, in Windows Explorer go to YourName --> Searches --> Connector, where YourName is your account name, and Connector is the name of the Connector.
Build your own Internet Search Connector. Here's the Windows Explorer search results page after searching through Computerworld.com using a custom-built Search Connector.
Source: ComputerWorld.com
Source Link:
See my other Windows 7 Tricks threads...
