Weed through your files Part Two: Windows 7 Group By and Filter features

In last week’s blog, “Weed through Your Files with the Windows Explorer Arrange By Feature,” I showed you how to use the Arrange By feature in Windows 7’s Windows Explorer to gain a different perspective on the data files that you have stored on your hard disk. However, the Arrange By feature isn’t the only method that you can use to gain an interesting perspective on your data files. There are two other features that you can use to weed through your files: Group By and Filter. Read more.

Weed through your files with the Windows Explorer Arrange By feature

No matter how organized you are with your data files, chances are good that you don’t know where every document is located. Nor do you even remember every document that you have on your hard disk. While Microsoft Windows 7’s Search feature can help you out when you have an idea of what you are looking for, it really can’t help you when you are not sure what to look for. Fortunately, you can use Windows Explorer’s Arrange By feature to gain a different perspective on the data files that you have stored on your hard disk. Read more.

Add the Up button to the Explorer Command Bar in Windows 7

In last week’s blog post, “Why Breadcrumb Navigation Is Better than the Up Button,” I told you that if after reading that post you still were not convinced that the breadcrumb navigation system was better than the Up button, I would show you how to add the Up button to the Windows Explorer Command Bar in Windows 7. After spending some time researching the idea, I did indeed find a way to put the Up button on the Command Bar via a little-known keyboard shortcut, a short VBScript, and some registry edits. Read more.

Why breadcrumb navigation is better than the Up button

Almost as soon as last week’s blog, “Modify Windows Explorer Command Bar for All Folders,” hit the site, I was receiving emails from readers asking if the technique could be used to put the Up button on the Command Bar. After spending some time researching the idea, I did indeed find a way to put the Up button on Windows Explorer’s Command Bar in Microsoft Windows 7 via a little VBScript magic and some registry trickery. Read more.

Modify Windows Explorer Command Bar for all folders

In last week’s blog, “Use Special Codes to Add Commands to the Windows Explorer Command Bar,” I told you about special codes that exist in the registry that you can use to add commands to Microsoft Windows Explorer’s context-sensitive Command Bar. I also told you there is a key in the registry called Generic for all the other folders that do not appear in any of the Libraries. I then explained that to add commands to the Windows Explorer Command Bars for all the other folders that do not appear in any of the Libraries, you’ll have to do a bit more work. Read more.

Use special codes to add commands to the Windows Explorer Command Bar

I like having the Show the Preview pane button on the Command Bar in Windows Explorer, but when I use it, I want to hide the Navigation Pane and the Details Pane to give me more room for the preview, as shown in Figure A. However, to get there, I have to go to the Organize menu, access the Layout menu, and select the Details Pane toggle, and then I have to go back through all that again to select the Details Pane toggle. It is a real pain (pun intended). I have always wished that Microsoft had put buttons or commands on the Command Bar for those two options, just like they did for the Preview Pane button. Recently, I discovered a set of keys in the Registry, one for each type of Library, that are designed to configure the context-sensitive Command Bars that appear in Windows Explorer. Read more.

Remove Favorites from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

I recently showed you how to remove Libraries and HomeGroup from Windows 7’s Windows Explorer in the articles: “Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7” and “Remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7.” Soon after those articles were published, I was asked if there was a way to remove Favorites from Windows Explorer. Now personally, I can’t think of one good reason for removing such a timesaving feature from Windows Explorer, but some of you are adamant that you want to remove this feature. Therefore, I will acquiesce. Read more.

Remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

After last week’s blog post, “Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7,” several readers asked if there was a way to remove HomeGroup from Windows Explorer in Windows 7. Read more.

Remove Libraries from Windows Explorer in Windows 7

In the past, I covered eight techniques that you can use to get more out of Windows Explorer in Windows 7. One of the techniques that I shared was how to expand the navigation pane. A reader told me that while reconfiguring the navigation pane so that Libraries were not as prominent was a good trick, but what he really wanted to be able to do was to remove Libraries altogether. After a bit of investigation, I discovered that it is possible to remove Libraries from Windows Explorer with a couple of Registry tweaks. Read more.

Customize folder backgrounds in Windows Vista and Windows 7

If you used Microsoft Windows 98, chances are good that you remember that operating system’s Customize This Folder wizard, which allowed you to customize your folders by setting different backgrounds and choosing a text color. A friend of mine was reminiscing about that capability the other day and asked me why this feature wasn’t one of the many bells and whistles in Microsoft Windows 7.

He really liked to be able to customize certain folders back then, as it helped him to organize content. I told him about Windows 7’s Content view, which makes keeping track of multimedia files easier. He quickly replied that Content view wasn’t the same as the Windows 98 feature, and I knew he was right. Since I had no quick comeback, I sulked off.

Later, while doing a bit of researching on the Internet, I encountered a nice little program called the Windows 7 Folder Background Changer, which was developed for The Windows Club website by Krishna Bagaria. This neat little program runs as a standalone application and works in both Windows Vista and Windows 7. Read more.

Five tips for taking advantage of Windows 7 file management features

Microsoft made several basic file-management enhancements in Windows 7. Although some are fairly obvious, others can be a bit tricky to find and harness. Once you get used to using them, though, you’ll find them pretty handy. Read more.

Be a power user: Customize the file management features of Windows Explorer

While the new Libraries features is notably the biggest enhancement to Windows Explorer, Microsoft did indeed make many other standard file-management enhancements in Windows 7. Over the past couple of months I’ve uncovered and begun to use many of these to enhance my productivity. While some of them are obvious, many of them are a bit tricky to find and harness. Read more.

Exert your control with GodMode folders in Windows 7

Over the past week or so, I have read a lot about the so-called “GodMode” folders in Windows 7. Chances are that you have too. While the term originated in video games, such as Doom from id Software, where entering a special code makes a player’s character invincible, it has been applied to certain special, undocumented folders in Windows 7.

When playing a video game in GodMode, you are guaranteed to win because no matter how powerful the nemesis, you cannot be killed. So, you might wonder, does that mean that when working in a “GodMode” folder in Windows 7 you can do whatever you want without fear of crashing or locking up the operating system? Unfortunately, no, it does not.

All kidding aside, Windows 7’s GodMode folders are simply special folders that are hidden until you enter a special, secret code. The fact that you have to enter a secret code is more likely the source of these folders being called “GodMode” folders. Read more.

Simplify file management with the XCopy Tool

If you needed to copy hundreds of files from one local hard disk to another or from one system to another across a network, would you perform the operation from Windows Explorer? Possibly. However, if you wanted to do something fancy, such as copy only those files that have changed on or after a certain date or maybe copy only those files that have the archive bit set, performing the operation in Windows Explorer would be time consuming and difficult. So you’d probably shell out to a Command Prompt window and use the good old DOS-based XCopy command, along with its detailed set of switches.

Since XCopy is still a viable file management tool, I updated the XCopy Tool, an HTML application I created back in 2002. This updated version, which you can download for free, works in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Read more.

Tap into the power of Libraries in Windows 7

As you know, Microsoft Windows 7 is just right around the corner. On October 22nd, you’ll be able to finally get a copy of the new operating system and install it for yourself. When you do, you’ll be able to experience firsthand all of the new and enhanced productivity features that you have been hearing so much about, such as the XP Mode, Jump Lists, Taskbar, Aero (Peek, Shake, and Snap), Search or Location-Aware Printing just to name a few.

But there is another dramatic new feature that really hasn’t received as much notice as some of the others but it will definitely change, for the better, the way that you think about, access, and organize the data files on your computer — this new feature are the Libraries. Read more.

Some big changes are coming for Windows Explorer in Windows 7

As you may remember, when Microsoft redesigned the user interface in Windows Vista, there were many changes made to Windows Explorer. While most of these change were for the better, there was room for improvement, and the Windows 7 team has spent a great deal of time and effort on honing the user interface in Windows Explorer.

In this issue of the Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll take a look at some of the many changes you’ll find in Windows 7’s Windows Explorer.