File management
How to download a single file from a ZIP archive
On the Web, large numbers of files are often archived together in a single ZIP file. Generally, downloading the whole archive file is what you want; for example, that is how most programs are obtained. Sometimes, however, you only want one or two of the files and not the whole archive.
The Google Operating System [...]
Resolve to backup
I don’t put much stock in New Year’s resolutions but one resolution I urge you to make and keep is to back up your computer or at least to back up important personal data. I have had a lot of people tell me that they don’t need to back up because they keep nothing important [...]
What’s an ISO file?
A lot of useful things come packaged in a large file with the extension ISO. Unfortunately, neither Windows XP nor Windows Vista knows what to do with an ISO file. Neither do many home PC users. They download some application they want to try out and are then baffled by what to do next. Some [...]
Recovering deleted files
Personal files can be precious. If one gets accidentally deleted and you empty the Recycle Bin before you realize that the file is gone, what do you do? Because it’s not unusual for home PC users to ask me this question, periodically I mention software for recovering deleted files (for example, at this post). A [...]
How file compression works
Just about anyone using a computer will have encountered one of the compressed file formats, especially ZIP files. Have you ever wondered what is involved in compressing files so that they are smaller? Here’s a link to How Stuff Works that explains how it’s done.
More on opening email attachments
In a previous post I discussed some common file types and scenarios that cause average PC users to have trouble opening an email attachment. A file type that I didn’t mention is the Microsoft Works file WPS. This type of file is created by the word processor that Works used to have instead of Word. [...]
What to do when you can’t open an email attachment
(Because of rampant “borrowing” of posts by spam blogs, I am including the following: this post is originally from Vic Laurie at tips.vlaurie.com.)
Certain questions about using computers keep coming up. One of the recurring problems that home PC users seem to have is being unable to open certain email attachments. Now I could go [...]
Quick way to open “Documents and Settings” folder
In Windows XP, the “Documents and Settings” folder contains subfolders for each user account. In turn, these account folders contain a number of important folders with individual files and computer settings. Instead of going through “My Computer” to access this key folder, you can use a shortcut. Open the “Run” line in the “Start” menu, [...]
All about file systems
One of the more technical aspects of a computer is the file system. Most of the time, average PC users need not be concerned with what file system is on their computer. Sometimes, however, it is something that has to be considered, as when Microsoft started using NTFS instead of the various FAT systems. Thus, [...]
How to find out what a specific file extension means
I talk about file extensions a lot because understanding them is key to file management. Unfortunately, there are thousands of file extensions. Although most of us encounter only a few of the common ones, there are times when you might need to look up a particular file extension. Because file extensions are so important, the [...]
Very useful backup utility updated
Over the years I have mentioned a number of free utilities from Karen Kenworthy. Her backup program Replicator is one that I use a lot and it has just been updated. Here’s the description:
Automatically backup files, directories, even entire drives! Karen’s Replicator copies selected files from one drive/folder to another. Source and Destination folders can [...]