In this chapter:
Just as there's more than one right way to organize your kitchen, there are
plenty of smart ways to organize your Windows desktop to make yourself more productive...
How you use your computer is a matter of personal preference, in much the same way
that cooking shows off your individual style. Do you lay out all the cast iron pots
and stainless steel mixing bowls before you start preparing that gourmet dinner?
Or do you clean and chop every ingredient first, then go looking for the utensils?
Or do you call Pizza Man to have a pizza delivered?
Everyone has a different style of working, and Windows is nothing if not flexible. In this chapter, I'll show you how to rearrange the programs you use most often and how to group your working documents into efficient folders. In short, how to organize things so you can find them with as little fuss as possible.
Where do you start? Well, it helps if you know how you prefer to work. Some folks tend to create a bunch of new documents, work with them for a few minutes or hours, then move on. Others work with the same set of documents for days or weeks at a time. It also helps to know how you can use Windows to keep your programs and documents close at hand.
How should you organize your work with Windows? Which techniques will make you most productive? That depends on whether you prefer to start with documents or with the programs that create them. Most people will actually do a little of both--sometimes double-clicking on document icons and other times launching programs from the Start menu. Windows responds a little differently in each case, depending on whether you start with a program icon or a document icon.
Every program on your hard disk has an executable file. When you double-click on this file (or when you double-click on a shortcut that points to that file), your program starts. When you work this way, your organizational challenge is to find the program, start it up, and then use the program's File menu to create a new document or look for one you've already used.
Plain English, please!An executable file is one that starts (or executes) a program when you double-click it. WordPad and Paint are executable files; so are Solitaire and Minesweeper. Contrast these files with simple containers, such as the My Computer window or any folder, and documents that require you to open a separate program to view or edit them.
Windows organizes your programs into cascading menus that appear when you click the Start button and choose Programs. Once you learn how these shortcuts work, you can reorganize the Start menu to make it easier to use. You can even create new shortcuts to your favorite programs and put them on the desktop for quick access.
What's in a document file? Well, all your data is there--words, numbers, pictures, and so on. The file has a name that, presumably, describes the contents. There's also information in the file that tells Windows about the program that created that data file. Once you find the document, you can usually double-click on it and let Windows figure out which program it needs to run. You may have to do some advance work to make sure that Windows knows which programs go with which documents, though.
When you double-click on a file, Windows has to make some fast decisions. What kind of file is it? Which program created it? Is that program running right now? If not, where is it?
To answer all those questions, Windows maintains a list of file types, with each entry containing three pieces of information: a friendly description, one or more file extensions that go with that file type, and the name of the program Windows should start up when you want to use that kind of file.
Let's look at what happens after you create a file with Notepad. (Make sure to give it a long file name like Important Notepad Document.) Open a folder window, right-click on the name of the file you just created, and inspect its properties. You'll see plenty of information about its file type. Just below its icon, after the word Type, you'll see the words Text Document. That's the friendly name.
Now look a few lines lower on the properties sheet, next to the entry for the MS-DOS name. You'll see a clipped-off version of your long file name that ends in a period followed by three letters. In this case, those three letters are TXT, which is the file extension that Windows tacks onto the end of every file classified as a Text Document.
Those little three-character stragglers are annoying and confusing most of the time, so Windows hides them from you by default. But it doesn't actually get rid of them because that's how it knows to use Notepad to open these files. To see where that association between the file type and program is stored, open a folder window, choose View, Options, and click on the File Types tab. Scroll through the list until you get to the entry called Text Document, then highlight that entry. You'll see a box like the one in Figure 14.1.
Fig. 14.1
When you double-click a file, Windows looks in this list to see what it's supposed to do next.
When you double-click a file in a folder, Windows checks its list of File Types to see what it's supposed to do next. If it knows how to handle that file type, it starts the program and loads the file. If it doesn't know how to handle the file type, it asks you what to do (see Fig. 14.2).
Fig. 14.2
When you double-click a file and Windows doesn't know what to do with it, Windows asks you for help. Just pick a program from the pop-up list, and you're in business.
When you see this dialog box, scroll through the list of available programs and pick the one you want to use--Notepad and WordPad are good choices for text files. Make sure the type of data in the file is compatible with the program that you intend to use; it won't do you any good to try to open a graphics file with WordPad!
If you want Windows to always start the program you picked whenever it encounters a file of this type, check the box labeled "Always use this program to open this type of file." If the file has an extension (like .BAK), Windows will let you give the new file type a friendly description, like "Backup files."
Q&A: My program isn't in the list that Windows offered me. What do I do now?
Click the button labeled Other and find the icon for the program you want to use. Click Open to add that program to the list. Then click OK to associate it with the file you want to edit.
Instead of forcing you to search for programs and documents all over your hard disk, Windows lets you create shortcuts to both. A shortcut, as we saw in Chapter 9, is a special sort of icon containing instructions that tell Windows exactly where it can find a particular file. And because you can create more than one shortcut for any file, you can have the best of both worlds: Keep your hard disk organized the way you want it, then use shortcuts to temporarily pull together groups of programs and documents into one convenient location.
When you right-click a shortcut and choose Properties, you'll see a dialog box like the one in Figure 14.3. Notice that the name of the shortcut doesn't have to match the name of the file it points to. That makes it easy to label a shortcut with a descriptive name (like Working Copy of Sales Chart) without changing the original file name (Sales Chart).
Fig. 14.3
Shortcuts are incredibly useful tools for getting and staying organized.
You can use shortcuts just about anywhere in Windows. They're particularly useful in these places:
Fig. 14.4
Use the right mouse button to drag a file out of its folder and onto the desktop as a shortcut.
TIP: Shortcuts can come from anywhere, not just your hard drive. If you've found a noteworthy location on the Internet or on The Microsoft Network, you can create a shortcut to that location and put it on your desktop. You can also drag a file or folder from a shared folder on another networked computer or file server, and make a shortcut out of it. Don't worry--Windows can keep track of where everything came from.
All your programs should be available in the cascading menus that pop out from the Start menu. But for programs you use every day, that "click, wait, click, wait, click" routine can get pretty annoying. For those programs, why not create shortcuts at the top of the Start menu?
Putting your favorite icon at the top of the Start menu couldn't be easier. Just open the folder that contains the file you want to add, drag the icon out of the folder, and drop it right smack on top of the Start button. If you drag WordPad from the Accessories folder onto the Start button, for example, it creates an instant shortcut that shows up at the top of the Start menu, as shown in Figure 14.5.
Fig. 14.5
Drag icons out of any folder and drop them onto the Start button, but don't get carried away! Five is enough.
Over time, as you add new pieces of software to your system, the Programs section of your Start menu will start to get cluttered. It seems like every program insists on creating its own folder, even if it's only going to put one or two icons in it.
To cut through the clutter, put the programs you use every day at the top of your Start menu, while putting others you use regularly a click away inside the Programs folder. Finally, reorganize all those folders into a smaller number of folders, consolidating and renaming where appropriate. (I've put all my CD-ROM icons into a single folder, for example.) It's easy enough: Just right-click the taskbar, choose Properties, and then click the Start Menu Programs tab.
Fig. 14.6
To move a shortcut or folder, make sure the icon you want to move is visible in the right pane and the folder you want to move it to is visible in the left pane. Then drag the icon and drop it on the new location.
The Start menu is just another folder that's found several levels deep inside the Windows folder. (Each user on a given computer has a separate Start Menu folder.) To delete, rename, or move icons in the Start Menu folder, right-click on the Start button and choose Open; you can manage the shortcuts there just as you would those in any other folder. An even easier way to delete Start menu items is to right-click on the taskbar, choose Properties, and then click on the Start Menu Programs tab. The Remove button gets rid of unwanted shortcuts without any fuss.
Your system administrator has the option to install some programs and put them on the Start menu for every user. In addition, you (or the system administrator) can install programs that are intended only for you. The icons for the "All Users" programs appear at the bottom of the Start menu, with a line separating them from the programs that are just for you. Likewise, on the Start menu, any icons for All Users appear just above the Programs choice, and the programs you drag onto the Start menu appear above those icons, with a line separating the two groups.
Unless you have administrator-level privileges, you can't add, remove, or change any of the programs in the All Users category.
Now that you know how the Programs folder on the Start menu works, what should you do with it? Try these organizational strategies.
The Windows setup program puts all your programs into folders that you can access using the cascading menus that pop out from the Programs choice. For the programs you use every day, why go through that extra pointing and clicking? Pick the five programs you use most often, and drop them onto the Start menu to put them closer at hand. Why five? Well, OK, maybe six or seven, but any more than that and the top of the Start menu will run out of room at the top of the screen (unless you've set your display to run at a higher resolution).
Consolidate all those little groups into a handful of folders. For example, put all your Internet-related programs into a folder named "Internet," and put that folder inside the Programs folder. Take the programs you use once a week and move them straight into the Programs folder; that way they're only one cascading menu away instead of two.
TIP: Use lots of shortcuts! There's no law that says you can only have one shortcut for any program or document. If you have a favorite program, scatter shortcuts anyplace where you might want to get to it.
Do you constantly find yourself going to the same places and doing the same things? I have a few folders that fit that definition, so I've created a special folder filled with shortcuts for each of them. To create your own Favorites folder, right-click on the Start button, choose Open, and right-click any empty space. Choose New, Folder, and immediately type in the folder name you want to use, and then press Enter. Now, open a folder window for drive C: and right-drag the folder icons you use most often into the new folder. Choose the Create Shortcut(s) Here option, and you're done.
TIP: If you use other Microsoft software, you may already have folders where your favorite documents are stored. Internet Explorer, for example, keeps your World Wide Web shortcuts in a folder called Favorites. Microsoft Office creates a folder called My Documents. Why not add shortcuts to these folders to your Start menu?
For some reason, Windows insists on using big, clunky icons on the Start menu. That's fine until you start adding your own entries to the Start menu. Oops--once you hit five or so, they start bumping into the top of the screen! To streamline the Start menu, open the Taskbar Properties dialog box (right-click an empty space on the taskbar and select Properties), and put a check mark in the box labeled Show small icons in Start menu. See Figure 14.7 for a before-and-after comparison.
Fig. 14.7
With the default large icons, the Start menu rapidly runs out of room. Turn on the small icons option and it slims down in a hurry.
The most natural way to get work done with your PC is just to pick up a document and start typing. After all, the alternative--starting up a program--is a little like picking up a frying pan and then trying to decide what to cook. If you constantly find yourself working with the same documents, Windows gives you plenty of ways to quickly pick up where you left off before.
Whenever you create a new document or open one you saved previously, Windows adds an entry on its built-in document-tracking list. To open one of the 15 documents you've used most recently, just click the Start button and choose Documents. A list of names like the one in Figure 14.8 will cascade out from the Start menu.
Fig. 14.8
To resume working with one of the documents on this list, just click its choice on the menu. Windows will launch the program and load the file for you.
Q&A: I know I worked with a file this morning, but it's not on the Documents menu. What did I do wrong?
Nothing, probably. Windows can only keep track of files that are opened from a folder window, from the Windows Explorer, or from a program that was designed for Windows 95. If you use the File menu to open or save a document with an older Windows application, it won't be added to the Documents menu.
The Documents menu doesn't go on forever, of course. There's a limit of 15. After you've filled the list, Windows kicks the oldest one off to make room for any new entries.
TIP: To clear the Documents menu, open the taskbar Properties dialog box, and click on the Start Menu Programs tab. In the bottom half of the dialog box that pops up, you'll see a section devoted to the Documents menu. Click the Clear button to empty the list and start with a clean slate.
Some people like to whip up an angel food cake without Betty Crocker's help. And when it comes to computers, some people like to create new files without any help from application programs. If that's your style, Windows has a feature you'll love. As long as Windows knows how to create the file type you're looking for, a new document is just a few clicks away. All you have to do is use the New choice on the right-click shortcut menu in any folder--or even on the desktop.
Let's say you're talking with your best client on the phone. You've gotten past the pleasantries, and now it's time to get down to business, which means you need to take some notes. Right-click on any empty spot on the desktop, and choose New, Text Document. Windows instantly adds a new icon to your desktop, with the (boring) default name, New Text Document (see Fig. 14.9).
Just start typing to give the new document a new name; it's already highlighted for you. Press Enter to make the new name permanent. Press Enter again (or double-click) to start Notepad and load the new document. Now you can begin entering your notes.
When you're finished, save the document just as you normally would. You can leave it on the desktop if you like, or you can move it to another folder by using the right-click shortcut menus and the Cut and Paste commands.
Fig. 14.9
Right-click the desktop and click New to create a text document from scratch. Rename it now or wait until later.
If you've gotten into the habit of right-clicking on everything in Windows, you've probably already discovered that there are a pack of options for the taskbar as well. That's right--because the taskbar is just another Windows object, it has properties that you can inspect (and change) with a quick click.
Here's a sampling of what you can do.
Some people, especially those with smaller monitors, don't like having the taskbar take up any space at all at the bottom of the screen. If that's you, no problem--right-click the taskbar, choose Properties, and check the Auto hide box. From now on, the taskbar will turn to a thin gray line at the edge of the screen whenever you have one or more windows open.
To make it pop up again, just slide your mouse pointer to the edge of the screen where the taskbar normally appears. (That's usually the bottom, but if you've moved the taskbar to another side, as we'll talk about in a few pages, you'll have to adjust accordingly). As soon as the mouse pointer bumps the edge of the screen, the taskbar will pop up.
Normally, the taskbar is tall enough to hold one row of buttons--no more, no less. But if you regularly open lots of windows and don't mind losing a chunk of the screen, you can make it taller:
Fig. 14.10
Not enough room on the taskbar? Grab its upper edge and drag upward to make it bigger. This example has room for two rows of buttons, but you can keep dragging till it takes up more than half the screen.
Q&A: My taskbar disappeared, and the Auto hide option isn't checked. Where did it go?
You might have accidentally dragged the taskbar down instead of up, so that it's set to be zero buttons high. To put it back to normal, aim the mouse pointer at the very bottom of the screen (or to the side where you've moved the taskbar) until it turns to a two-headed arrow, then drag the pointer up slightly. The taskbar will pop back into position.
The taskbar is "sticky"--it fastens itself to the bottom of the screen like a refrigerator magnet. If you don't like it at the bottom of the screen, though, you can stick it to any of the other three edges of the screen. Just aim the mouse pointer at any empty spot on the taskbar, click, then drag it up to the top of the screen and watch it fasten itself there; your new taskbar will look like the one in Figure 14.11.
Fig. 14.11
Don't like the taskbar at the bottom of the screen? Drag it to either edge of the screen or to the top (as in this example), and it will "stick" to the nearest edge.
There are actually good reasons to leave the taskbar on the bottom of the screen. When it's positioned on either side, it's nearly impossible to read the labels on the buttons. And when it's fastened to the top edge, its menus end up where I expect my other program's pull-down menus to be. But it's your computer, and if you want your taskbar somewhere else, that's your privilege.
TIP: Some older Windows programs don't communicate well with the taskbar. The result? Part of a crucial screen or dialog box may be hidden behind the taskbar. If you use an application that behaves this way, try hiding the taskbar so it stays out of your way.
Windows puts a few things on the desktop, whether you want them there or not. My Computer, the Recycle Bin, and the Network Neighborhood, for example--you can't get them off the desktop with dynamite. But that still leaves plenty of room on the desktop for the things you use every day. When they're on the desktop, you can get to them with a click or two (see Fig. 14.12).
Fig. 14.12
The desktop makeover: You might not want to clutter your desktop with all these shortcuts, but a few are certain to fit comfortably into your working style.
Just try to count how many times you click the mouse button every day. A few hundred? Easily. If you keep up with that pace (which isn't all that frantic, really) your mouse fingers will click more than 50,000 times a year. Whew! Interested in a few finger-saving shortcuts? One unbeatable way to let your fingers do a little resting is to put a few strategically selected shortcuts on the desktop.
On my desktop, I have shortcuts that take me straight to two hard drives, a floppy drive, a CD-ROM reader, and a hard drive on another computer across the network. To copy a file, I drop it on the floppy drive icon. I can also poke around on any hard drive without having to detour through the My Computer folder.
It's easy to add these shortcuts to your desktop. Just open the My Computer window and drag one or more drive icons onto the desktop. Windows will protest. You cannot copy or move this item to this location, it will say. Do you want to create a shortcut to the item instead? Yep, that's exactly what you want to do. Say yes, and all you need to do is rearrange the icons to your liking.
Maybe you need this, maybe you don't. If your print jobs go halfway across the building to a popular networked printer, it's a must-have. With a shortcut to that printer on the desktop, you're never more than a double-click away from checking your document's place in the laser printer line.
There are a few programs that I use every single day, without exception. For those greatest hits, I want instant access, regardless of where I happen to click. I've created shortcuts to my top three programs so I can launch them with a double-click.
I don't know about you, but I tend to store most of my stuff in a few special places, and they're not all that easy to get to. My Letters folder, for example, is buried five folders beneath My Computer. I don't want to move those files, but I do want to get to them without 10 mouse clicks. The solution? I right-dragged the icon for the Letters folder onto the desktop and told Windows to create a shortcut. Now, when I want to look through Letters, I just double-click.
At any given time, I might be juggling work for three different clients. The files for all these projects are scattered on every corner of my hard drive. There's no need to move them around, though. Instead, I create a separate folder for each client, put it on the desktop, and fill it with shortcuts to the files I want to access when I'm working on a project for that client. I can have multiple shortcuts to the same document, too, which is a useful way to make sure I can always get to the master copy of documents I share across projects.
Here's a simple illustration of how you can use this technique to save time and energy. Let's say you have two big clients whose happiness is Priority One on your job description. You've got letters, memos, and e-mail about their business stored all over your hard disk. Your company also keeps an online price list stored on a network file server so everyone in the company can get to it quickly.
To make sure you don't lose track of any details, create a folder for each client right on the desktop. Then, make sure your price list is handy, no matter which folder you're using.
Do you hate the cascading menus that fly out of the Start menu every time you click on Programs? Do you miss the Windows Program Manager? Then you might appreciate this shortcut. It doesn't look or act exactly like the old Program Manager, but the large icons and labels are easier to see than those tiny ones on the Start menu. With the Programs folder open on the desktop, you can always get to it with one click on the taskbar.
When you first open up a folder, you get great big icons with nice readable labels. My Computer, for example, starts out this way. The default view is fine most of the time, but there are specific instances when you'll want to change the look of one or more folders.
The secret to quickly changing views is to turn on the toolbar in your folder window. Choose View, Toolbar, then look for the set of four buttons at the far right edge of the toolbar. Each of these buttons changes the icon view in your window. (You can also accomplish the same end by using the pull-down View menu and choosing one of the icon-related commands.)
CAUTION: If you've turned your desktop into a work of art, with every icon positioned exactly where you want it, DON'T use any of the Arrange Icons options that pop up when you right-click on the Desktop!
Try the Small Icons view or the List view. They're nearly identical; the only difference is that the Small Icon view arranges everything in rows, from left to right, while the List view arranges things in columns, from top to bottom. Who thinks of these things?
Then you'll want to use the Details view. The advantage here is you can quickly sort a list by clicking the label at the top of the column.
TIP: In Details view, you can sort by date or size with a single click. Just click the word Modified to sort by date. Click Size to reorder the files by size, from smallest to biggest.
Large icons are easier to see, and their labels are easier to read, too. For windows where you don't have a lot of objects, the Large Icons view is just fine.
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