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Use the tools you already have.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
How to find things on your computer, Part 1: Forget icons and use the 'Details' view


July 31, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   Are you wasting time trying to find files on your computer?
   Microsoft and Apple are each touting their own solution for the universal problem of locating stuff on personal computers. Apple has "Spotlight" in its latest Macintosh computers, which finds items as fast as you can type a search term, and Microsoft has its own super-fast indexing method in a new version of Windows coming out next year.
   But I've got a secret that will make the high-paid software gurus at Apple and Microsoft wish they'd taken up another vocation. Finding stuff on your Windows PC or Apple Macintosh doesn't have to be hard, and you don't have to buy Apple's new "Tiger" operating system or Microsoft's yet-to-come "Vista" version of Windows to steal a few minutes back from the tyranny of your file system.
   My method? Use the tools you already have. Both Microsoft and Apple gave you all you need to locate stuff on your computer. All you have to do is learn how to use what's in front of you.
   And that part's a no-brainer. This week and next, I'll show you ways to sort items so you can find them quickly, and I'll explain how a few simple housekeeping rules can keep your files and folders from ever getting cluttered up again.
   This week: Sorting everything the easy way.
   Most computer users never change how their file and folder windows look. They might add new curtains to the family room or put shutters on the dining room windows, but they never think of changing the windows on their computer.
   But that's all it takes to throw the first punch in the battle against encroaching doom. Here's why.
   Your computer, whether it's a Windows PC or one of Apple's OS X Macintoshes, comes from the factory with its file and folder windows adorned with fancy icons. They're pretty.
   But they're also pretty useless. They tell you almost nothing about what's lurking under the icons. Is that a letter to your mom? Is that the letter you just wrote, or the one that's been lurking in your folders for the last year and a half? You can be sure that the innocent-looking icon will be forever mum on the mom issue. It won't tell you a thing.
   But you can quickly banish all those don't-ask, don't-tell icons from your files and folders by replacing them with -- are you ready for this, world? -- real, honest-to-goodness information. It's so easy even a geek could do it. And, best of all, it works the same whether you're using Windows or a Mac.
   First, open a folder window by clicking or double clicking on it. Your documents folder is an ideal test case. In Windows, it's called My Documents. On an OS X Mac, it's called Documents.
   See all those big, bad icons? (If you don't see any, either no one has ever created a document on your computer or someone erased your files. Or maybe your kids have already switched icon viewing off, in which case you've already graduated from this week's course, and we'll see you next Sunday.)
   Click on the "View" menu at the top of the window. You'll see your choices for how items are displayed. The most useful display is the one that shows details for each item, especially when you find out the next big thing I'm going to tell you. (But don't get ahead of the rest of the class. There's something else you need to know first.)
   All you have to do is click the option that shows details. (It's usually called "Details," but software guys sometimes make you click "Start" in order to shut down, so maybe your computer calls it something else.)
   Ready for the big kahuna? At the top of the file window once you've switched it to "Details," you can take charge of your file-finding destiny by changing the way everything is sorted. All you do is click on the category, or header, over any of the columns. If you click on "Size," your list will be sorted by the size of the file. If you click on "Name," it will be sorted by the name of the file.
   If you just uttered the word "Cool," you're got something even cooler coming. If you click a second time on the header, you turn the sort order upside down. You reverse the sort, as the software folks say.
   Super cool. So to locate the last thing you wrote in your word processor, look in the folder where you store that sort of stuff and change the sort to see the latest things on top. (Click the category, or header, that shows the modification date.) To find that huge video you put in that folder a year ago, sort by size with the biggest on top.
   And so on. Didn't your life just get easier?
   Next: Organizing the stuff you need to save.