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March 16, 2007
Examining Your Computer – Virtually
Dear Larry,
I am a regular reader of your column and thanks to you feel
as if I’ve mastered the differences between files, folders, and shortcuts. But
now I’m hearing of yet another computer term, “virtual folders.” Is this
basically just another name for a folder or is it in fact something new and
different?
L. R.
Dear L. R.,
It’s brand new and quite exciting! So get ready to add this
new piece of lexicon to your PC dictionary. But first, as always, let’s start
with a weird analogy…
Imagine this. You’re a book lover, and your home is filled
with mysteries, historical fiction, autobiographies, you name it. Being the
expert organizer that you are, you arrange your bookshelves in an orderly
manner: Stephen King novels in this bookcase (i.e., folder), Robert Ludlum over
there in that folder, David McCullough tucked away in this folder, and so forth.
It so happens your friend from London is visiting and is
interested in seeing your books set in England. So you walk him over to your
magical bookcase and you utter the chant, “Show me my books set in England.” Lo
and behold, all of the books from your collection that have to do with England
magically appear in this bookcase. Furthermore, whenever you add a new book to
your collection elsewhere in your home having to do with England, it will also
appear in this magical “virtual folder.”
Virtual folders are new to Windows Vista, so for those of you
using Microsoft’s new operating system, read on to discover how you can create
your own virtual folders.
A virtual folder is simply the result of a search. To execute
a new search, click the Start button, then click Search. Keep things simple for
now by typing in a word that appears in several of your documents (e.g., your
name). Next, click the “Save Search” button to save this search as a virtual
folder. Assign the virtual folder a name and click Desktop to have it saved on
your Windows desktop.
If you close the search window and return to your desktop,
you’ll find a new icon there with an image of a magnifying glass. This icon
represents your new virtual folder. Whenever you click it, you’ll see a list of
items stored on your computer that reference your name. You can open, delete, or
rename these items in the usual fashion. (Of course, if you delete or rename an
item, you’re not affecting the item in the virtual folder—after all, it’s not a
real folder—but rather you’re affecting the item in its actual location. That’s
why Vista won’t allow you to explicitly save a new item in this virtual folder
since it’s only a looking glass that peers into the contents of other real files
and folders on your computer.
Like Alice in Wonderland, you, too, can create your own
magical looking glass and reveal what’s hidden away on your hard drive.
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
