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April 27, 2007
The New Windows Explorer: Go Spelunking
Dear Larry,
I’m trying to get my arms around the new Windows Explorer
in Vista. For example, what happened to the Folders button?
O. P.
Dear O. P.,
Windows Vista gave Microsoft the opportunity to make major
enhancements to many of the fundamental features found in its previous operating
system, Windows XP. One of the areas ripe for improvement was Windows Explorer,
the mechanism we use for viewing and organizing files, folders, and all the
icons that go with them.
Start by opening My Computer, for example. Note that the Menu
Bar is gone (but not forgotten). Simply tap the Alt key, and it will reappear
when needed.
The Address Bar now features “clickable breadcrumbs.” You can
click any of the items adjacent to an open bracket (>) and jump directly to that
folder. If you want to view the old Address Bar format (complete with
backslashes), say for purposes of copying and pasting, just click in the white
space on the far right of the Address Bar. Clicking the dropdown arrow on the
right edge of the Address Bar recalls a list of recently visited folders in much
the same way that the dropdown in Internet Explorer’s Address Bar displays a
list of recently visited websites.
The Search Box is now front and center to the right of the
Address Bar. Type a word in the Search Box and Windows will quickly produce a
list of only those files in the current folder (and all subfolders) that contain
the word in their file name or in the file itself.
Again, just like Internet Explorer, the left-hand pane
contains a list of Favorite places such as your Documents folder, Pictures,
Music, etc. If you frequent another folder, simply drag its icon to the list and
have it added as a favorite.
That missing Folders button that you were talking about can be
found at the bottom of the left-hand pane. Simply click on the word Folders and
your trusty folder list will fill in the remaining space of this pane. Click and
drag the separator bar to assign more room to the Favorites or to the Folders
list according to your liking.
The Views option in the toolbar now offers many more choices:
everything from file details to extra large icons. And here’s a handy trick:
Click on the white space of the folder, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard,
and roll your mouse wheel in either direction to select from among all the
different icon sizes and views. Even better, this same technique works on the
Windows desktop itself allowing you to change icon size at will.
The new Organize button makes available a list of common tasks
(cut, copy, delete, rename, etc.) as well as the ability to add additional panes
of information under the Layout option. Specifically, click the Details option
to have a pane appear at the bottom of the window filled with lots of info about
the currently highlighted file. Click the Preview pane to view a preview of the
highlighted file on the right side of the folder window.
Options abound!
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
