-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Firefox vs IE

Sandi,
    Moving files around on a single or multiple hard drives is extremely 
easy, once you've gotten used to working within Explorer.

    If you use your left mouse button to drag & drop files or folders 
around, there are basically three rules you'll have to memorize in order to 
become a pro.  If you drag an item or group of items to a location on the 
same partition, it will Move those items.  If the location is on a different 
partition, it will Copy them.  If the location is one of several system 
locations (quick launch bar, Start Menu, etc.), it will create a shortcut to 
those items.

    The 'Send To' method you asked about will follow the same rules.  Since 
the Send To menu will never tell you that you're choosing a location will 
guarantee a Copy or Move procedure, I avoid it.  I find it much better to 
just do things manually so that I know for sure that they're being done 
exactly the way I want.

    Until you get to the point where these rules become second nature, 
you're better off using the right mouse button to do your dragging.  When 
you use the right button to drag, you'll be presented with a menu when you 
let go of the button.  This menu will provide you the option to Move, Copy 
or Create a Shortcut, so it won't matter whether the destination folder is 
on the same partition or not.


    If you're running XP or higher, the first thing you'll need to do is to 
set up Explorer so that it gives you full control over all of the files, 
folders and other options you'll need.  For instance, it's very important to 
turn off that blasted default setting that closes up previously opened 
folders the moment you click on something else.  I also make several other 
changes to how Windows presents &/or hides things from me so that I don't 
make any mistakes (such as deleting what I thought was an empty folder that 
actually had one or more hidden files still in it).

    To do this in WinXP (Vista is similar, but not exactly the same), open 
up Windows Explorer (Windows key + E is the easiest method).  Next, go to 
View > Status Bar and a small, but very helpful, information bar will appear 
at the very bottom of the Explorer window.  Go to View > Details and you'll 
see those big ugly icons change into much more informative lines that will 
show you not only th ename of each file, but also the date/time it was 
created, its size and the type of file it is.  you'll notice that each of 
these descriptions is showwithin a column that has a label at the very top 
of the column (the filenames are listed under the Name column, for 
instance).  If you click directly on the word Type at the top of one of 
these default columns, Explorer will rearrange all of the files in order of 
their filetype, starting just after a listing of any folders or subfolders 
in that location.  This is the view that I use 99.99999% of the time.

    Next, go to Tools > Folder Options.  On the General tab, select "Use 
Windows classic folders", "Open each folder in the same window" and "Double 
click to open an item".  Click on the View tab.  In the Advanced settings 
list, check everything you find in there and then be sure to uncheck the 
following.  Display simple folder view in Explorer's folder list, Display 
the full path in the title bar, Hide extensions for known file types and 
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).  The Hidden files and 
folders item should have the 'Show hidden files and folders' radio button 
selected.  If your system is not part of a network, you should uncheck the 
top item 'Automatically search for network folders and printers'. 
Unchecking this will slow down a non-networked computer, so only uncheck it 
if there are no other systems sharing your modem/router.  Also, if you have 
the need for more advanced security options, you may want to leave the 
bottom item 'Use simple file sharing (Recommended)' unchecked, too.  That 
one allows access to a Security tab that appears in the Property sheet for 
most files & folders.  This is not necessary (and a little dangerous) for 
those who don't need this access.  Once all of those items are set up 
correctly, click on Apply at the bottom of the Folder Options screen.  Next, 
click on the Apply to All Folders button near the top and then on the OK 
button at the bottom.  You will then be returned to Explorer where things 
may look quite different than they did before you started all of this.

    I'll mention again that you are now looking at the same view I see when 
I'm working within my own Windows Explorer.  It may not be very pretty, but 
it's highly functional and allows you to know at a glance exactly what you 
have stored in in any given location.  It also makes it much easier to work 
with your personal files and folders when you need to move things around or 
make other adjustments.  Since these modifications are now so much easier to 
do, I must also warn you to never modify, move or otherwise mess with the 
files you can now see within the Master "Windows" folder or any of the 
subfolders you find inside it.  Doing so could easily destroy your Windows 
installation and you might lose access to everything on the main Windows 
drive when trying to recover from that mess.  So, the simple rule here is to 
stay away from the C:\Windows folder and nobody gets hurt.    ;)


    Now, to handle your FEBE backups AND get some use out of your valuable 
external drive, I will suggest you do the following.

    First, open up Winows Explorer and locate the external drive in the left 
pane of the window.  Right click on the drive and select Properties.  At the 
top of the General tab (shown by default), you'll see an area where you can 
change the name given to the drive.  I always rename mine to better reflect 
what I plan to store within it.  Under DOS/Win9x, we were limited to just 11 
characters and could not use any spaces (substituting a _ for a space as in 
DOS_GAMES).  If you only run NT based operating system(s) on your computer, 
you are not limited like that and can make your names longer as well as 
include spaces in them.  My main drive is named "WinXP Pro" and one of my 
external partitions is called "All Backups".  I even have one called "Game 
Intallations" on my 10,000 RPM Raptor drive in which I install any games I 
want to play (the ultra fast drive makes loading times much faster than 
normal).  So, take this opportunity to give your external a name that makes 
sense to you.  If it will be used only for holding backups, you might want 
to label it "Backups".  If you expect to use it to hold much more than that, 
perhaps the name "Storage" will fit the bill.  When you're done, click OK 
and you'll see the drive's name change to reflect what you just typed.  You 
can change the name at ANY time and it will not have any effect on the 
contents of the drive.

    Next, you'll need some method for keeping things organized within the 
external.  A well planned hierarchy of folders (both master and sub) will go 
a long way towards always making it easy to find whatever you're looking 
for.  Of course, right now it's empty so you can make it up as you go along. 
lol

    Start by left clicking directly on the external drive entry in the left 
pane.  This will show you the current contents of that drive in the right 
pane.  In that right pane, right click on a blank spot and select New > 
Folder from the menu.  Call this new Master folder "BACKUPS" (without the 
quotes) and press Enter to set it in stone.  I prefer to label my Master 
folders with ALL CAPS to make them easier to differentiate them from others 
(such as the FEBE folder that will eventually find its way to this new 
location).  Once the master BACKUPS folder is in place, double click on it 
to go inside it and create a new master subfolder called FIREFOX.  Once 
that's in place, go inside that one to expose its corresponding entry in the 
left pane of Explorer (double clicking on a folder in the right pane is the 
same thing as clicking on the plus sign in the left pane and then selecting 
that specific folder).

    Now that the FIREFOX folder is showing in the left pane, we can switch 
our focus to locating the FEBE folder you wish to move.  This is actually a 
two step process.  First, you'll physically move the FEBE folder to its new 
location.  Then, you'll need to let the FEBE extension know about the 
change.  In the left pane, locate your My Documents folder and click the 
plus sign in front of it.  This will allow you to see the subfolders within 
it.  If the FEBE folder is one of them, click directly on its parent folder 
(My Documents) so that you can see the FEBE folder in the right pane.  If 
you know the FEBE folder is buried a bit deeper, go ahead and find it and 
then select its parent folder in the left pane.  The bottom line here is 
that you want to be able to see the main FEBE folder in the right pane so 
you have to identify the parent folder that it's in and select that one in 
the left pane.  Once you've done that, move onto the next step below.

    If necessary, use your left mouse button to grab and drag the left 
pane's scroll bar up or down until you can see the new FIREFOX folder you 
created earlier.  If it's already showing, there's no reason for doing this 
other than to perhaps bring it up closer to the main FEBE folder in the 
right pane.  Now, you'll use the right mouse button to grab and drag the 
main FEBE folder form the right pane to the new FIREFOX folder in the left 
pane.  When you get there and hover over the FIREFOX folder, you'll see it 
highlight itself.  Let go of the mouse button and you'll be presented with 
the menu I mentioned earlier.  Select Move Here and you'll witness the 
folder move over to its new location.  If you make a mistake, you can 
usually reverse the change you just made by going to Edit > Undo ... (where 
... is the last file manipulating process taken by Windows).

    Once the FEBE folder is happily in its new home, fire up Firefox and 
open up FEBE's options window (Tools > FEBE > FEBE Options).  Click on the 
Directory tab at the top, click Browser and direct it to the new location. 
Once you click on the OK button to set it, double check the line that shows 
the new location to make sure it's exactly what you expect to see.  If 
everything looks good, click OK to close up that Options window.  You may 
even want to test it by running a backup and seeing if the results are saved 
properly.


    If you're not already familiar with working with files in Windows 
Explorer, I know there seems to be a lot here to learn.  It's actually VERY 
simple once you get the hang of it and that familiarity will only come with 
the experience of doing it numerous times.  Give it a shot and see what you 
think.  I believe the experience will be very empowering to those who do not 
already know that they have this much control over their own personal files 
& folders.  Just remember to stay away from any system files.     ;)

Have Phun!

Peace,
Gman
http://www.bornagainamerican.org

"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandi Beach" <sandib2@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:12 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Firefox vs IE


> Well then, since my Febe backup is in My Documents on my Windows XP C 
> drive
> I probably need to copy it to my Exterior hard drive F.
> I have had the exterior drive for quite a while but I have been afraid to
> use it!  So it sits there empty and just keeps humming along.  What is the
> easiest way to copy the Febe folder over to the F Drive?  I know this is
> pretty elementary stuff for most of you but I have never done it.  Maybe I
> am a wimp. :-)
> Sandi 

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