Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 FILE MANAGEMENT File management varies on different versions of Window’s but once you f...
Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 FILE MANAGEMENT File management varies on different versions of Window’s but once you find the right tool you can create and move folders, organize your files do back-up’s and generally clean up your hard drive. On Windows 7 and earlier versions the Windows File Manager is also referred to as Windows Explorer, not to be confused with Internet Explorer, and is found under the Start Menu | All Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer. Alternatively, you can Right Click the Start Button and select Open Windows Explorer. On Windows 8 & 10 it is found under the Start Menu | All Programs| Windows Accessories | Windows System | File Explorer.
Win 10
Win 7 Once you have found the Explorer you can stick it on the desktop by Right Clicking it and using the [Send To Desktop (create shortcut)] option or you can use the [Pin to Taskbar] option to make it always visible at the bottom of the screen. Here’s a good example of opening the Explorer http://www.wikihow.com/Open-Windows-Explorer To make the Explorer user friendly, select a high level folder in the left pane usually [Local Disk C:] which is your primary hard drive. From the top menu bar or ribbon select View | Details to change the display in the right pane to show Name, Date, Type and Size. You can now sort by each of these categories when you click on its label (eg. Date) and a repeat click will reverse the sort. A small pointer in the top field indicates the active column. Finally, Not all files and information are shown so we need to make one more adjustment in Windows through the Control Panel.
Quinte Branch – OGS
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Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 In Windows 7, open the Control Panel | Appearance & Personalization | Folder Options and select the View Tab at the top.
In Windows 10
Uncheck (1) Hide empty drives in the computer folder, (2) Hide extensions for known file types and (3) Move the blue button to Show hidden files, folders, and drives. Doing this will allow you to see all the files on your hard drive and their full names and extensions. In Windows 10, open the File Explorer and select Options | Change folder and search options.
You will see the same Folder Options window as with Windows 7 and uncheck the same settings. Alternatively, you can enter “Folder Options” in the search box in either version of Windows. To organize your Folders and Files simply create new folders by selecting the folder and either picking New Folder from the top menu in Windows 7 or the right click menu in Windows 10. To move files, the safest way is to Copy and Paste them from one location to the other which will always leave a backup copy in the originating folder until you are sure you want to delete it. You can access Copy and Paste by right clicking on the folder or file. You won’t see the Paste option if you haven’t Copied something first.
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Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 If you enjoy working with your hard drive file system this way, there are a number of free, third-party programs that replace Windows Explorer / File Manager with more features and you can get them from these locations: Free Commander XE (for all versions of Windows) http://freecommander.com/en/downloads/ Q-Dir (for all versions of Windows) http://q-dir.en.softonic.com
Whenever you install a downloaded program, make sure you uncheck anything extra that you don’t want or need like browsers and malware scanners.
Old New Explorer (for Windows 8 & 10) http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/oldnewexplorer.html BACKING UP YOUR FILES There are two simple ways to back up your important files. This assumes that you keep your important stuff in the default folders like My Documents and My Pictures so adjust the procedure accordingly. (1) Use the [Send to] feature by right clicking on a specific folder to back up. Plug a large flash drive into a USB port. Open Explorer and scroll to Local Disk (C:) Users (Your Name) or primary folder name My Documents (“Right click” this last item)
Click on Send to in the menu that opens and click the Flash Drive. Your entire My Documents or other folder will be saved to the Flash Drive. When you repeat this process the following month you will be asked if you want to overwrite the existing folders and files which is OK. (2) You can automate the process by using a tool like Microsoft SyncToy which you can download from here https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=15155 Quinte Branch – OGS
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Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 This is available in both 32 bit and 64 bit formats and for all versions of Windows. If you don’t know which type of processor you have click Start | “Right click” Computer | Properties and your see your computer’s profile information.
Open Sync Toy Pick [Create New Folder Pair] Specify the Left and Right Folders by using the appropriate browse buttons. Left is the FROM location and Right is the TO location. If you need to make a new folder at the TO location use the button. Click Next and pick a type of transfer, ECHO makes a direct copy from one folder to the other. Click NEXT and give the group a name and FINISH. You are now ready to pick the Folder Group and run Preview to verify that you are moving the right files to the desired location. Click RUN and watch the transfer. IMPORTANT: If you are using a removable drive or flash card make sure it is plugged in before you start. FILE CLEANUP Running Disk Cleanup doesn’t totally remove unnecessary files. Windows Update files and other ones associated with upgrading Windows (eg from 7 to 10) will remain using up valuable space.
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Computer / Genealogy Special Interest Group – 02 November 2016 To make sure you get everything, choose the Systems Files button in the cleanup menu. To start, Open Explorer and “Right click” the Local Disk (C:) in the left pane view and then click Properties which will open the Properties window where you’ll find the Disk Cleanup button.
From the Properties windows click the Disk Cleanup button to get its window. This may take a while if you’ve never done this before. Leave the items in the top part checked and click the Clean up system files button. This will also take a while and will result in a new Disk Cleanup windows without the Clean up system files button which you should [OK] and then pick Delete Files in the next request. Again, this may take a while to process but once it’s complete you should have removed all unnecessary files from your system.
