PowerDesk Pro 6 manual by pcusers

Version 6

User Manual

COPYRIGHT NOTICE Both the PowerDesk program and the manual are proprietary copyrighted material, and no part of either may be reproduced, transmitted, stored or translated into any other computer or foreign language without the express prior written permission of V Communications, Inc. TRADEMARKS PowerDesk, Partition Commander and System Commander are registered trademarks of V Communications, Inc. Size Manager, Partition Wizard, BackStep Wizard, OS Wizard, BootFixer, SystemSuite and Web Easy are trademarks of V Communications, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. ”Fix-It” is used under license from Musick International, Inc. Other trademarks are trademarks of their respective companies. NOTICE The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. V Communications assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in supplied materials or programs. EDITION August 2004 Copyright © 2004 by V Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Part Number 4501-V0804 Printed in the United States PUBLISHED BY V COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 2290 North First Street, Suite 101 San Jose, CA 95131 Web Site: www.v-com.com

PowerDesk User Manual

Table of Contents Preface.......................................................................................................................... 6 Conventions and Icons used throughout this manual ......................................... 6 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8 Key Benefits......................................................................................................... 8 Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New in PowerDesk Pro 6?....................................................................... 9 2: Quick Installation .................................................................................................. 11 Basic Installation Requirements ........................................................................ 11 Installation.......................................................................................................... 11 Updating PowerDesk ......................................................................................... 12 Uninstalling PowerDesk..................................................................................... 12 3: Tour PowerDesk .................................................................................................... 13 PowerDesk......................................................................................................... 13 File Finder .......................................................................................................... 15 Folder Synchronizer........................................................................................... 16 Size Manager..................................................................................................... 18 Playlist Editor ..................................................................................................... 19 Dialog Helper ..................................................................................................... 20 4: Displaying Files and Folders in PowerDesk....................................................... 22 Getting comfortable with PowerDesk ................................................................ 22 The File Manager panes.................................................................................... 24 Using the tree pane ........................................................................................... 27 Using the file pane ............................................................................................. 30 Setting file pane preferences ............................................................................. 35 Changing display fonts ...................................................................................... 36 Displaying multiple PowerDesk panes .............................................................. 37 Using multiple PowerDesk windows .................................................................. 38 Using the Favorites menu.................................................................................. 39 5: Basic File Management with PowerDesk............................................................ 41 Selecting files and folders.................................................................................. 41 Copying and moving folders and files................................................................ 44 Comparing Folders ............................................................................................ 51 Printing files ....................................................................................................... 52 Emailing a file..................................................................................................... 53 UUEncoding email attachments ........................................................................ 53 Decoding email attachments ............................................................................. 55 File security........................................................................................................ 56 Associating file types ......................................................................................... 58 Opening files and starting applications.............................................................. 59 Running programs, opening URLS, and opening files or folders ...................... 61 Setting the date and time for a file ..................................................................... 62 Managing the Recycle Bin ................................................................................. 63 V Communications, Inc.

Disk operations .................................................................................................. 64 Network operations ............................................................................................ 65 Adding and removing programs......................................................................... 66 Using the Command Line .................................................................................. 67 Opening a Command Prompt window ............................................................... 67 6: Working with Compressed Files.......................................................................... 68 Understanding file compression......................................................................... 68 File Compression Primer ................................................................................... 68 Viewing archives ................................................................................................ 71 Finding files inside archives ............................................................................... 72 Creating a new Zip archive ................................................................................ 72 Adding Files to a Zip Archive ............................................................................. 75 Making a self-extracting archive ........................................................................ 76 Extracting files from an archive.......................................................................... 77 Editing Zip comments ........................................................................................ 79 Testing a Zip archiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s integrity ......................................................................... 80 Setting archive-related preferences ................................................................... 81 7: Synchronizing Folders.......................................................................................... 83 Folder Synchronizer window components ......................................................... 83 Synchronizing folders......................................................................................... 88 Setting filters ...................................................................................................... 89 Display Options in the file pane ......................................................................... 91 8: PowerDesk FTP...................................................................................................... 95 Setting up FTP sites........................................................................................... 96 Editing FTP site information............................................................................... 98 Connecting to an FTP site ................................................................................. 98 Uploading or downloading files and folders ....................................................... 99 Resuming interrupted downloads ...................................................................... 99 9: Finding Files and Folders................................................................................... 101 Finding files, folders and Computers ............................................................... 101 File Finder window components ...................................................................... 102 Searching for files ............................................................................................ 104 Setting up search criteria ................................................................................. 104 Running the search.......................................................................................... 107 Quick Search.................................................................................................... 107 After the search................................................................................................ 109 Using the Dialog Helper Folder Tracker .......................................................... 111 Using the Dialog Helper File Tracker ............................................................... 112 Adding an excluded application ....................................................................... 113 Viewing files in a dialog box............................................................................. 114 Automatically loading Dialog Helper at startup ................................................ 115 Unloading Dialog Helper .................................................................................. 115 10: Customizing Windows and PowerDesk .......................................................... 117 Setting file manager options and preferences ................................................. 117 The PowerDesk toolbar ................................................................................... 123 4

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The Launchbar................................................................................................. 125 Setting Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................. 127 Layout Manager............................................................................................... 128 Skins ................................................................................................................ 129 11: Working with Digital Audio and Images ......................................................... 135 Managing your digital images .......................................................................... 135 Viewing images and other files ........................................................................ 135 Displaying the viewer pane.............................................................................. 136 Using viewer pane menu commands .............................................................. 137 Working with digital audio ................................................................................ 142 Using the Playlist Editor................................................................................... 143 Editing Track Tags........................................................................................... 147 12: Getting System and File Information .............................................................. 149 Organizing your data with Size ManagerTM ................................................... 149 Scanning drives ............................................................................................... 151 Connecting to network drives .......................................................................... 152 Displaying folder details................................................................................... 153 Customizing Size Manager.............................................................................. 160 Getting information on your files and folders ................................................... 162 Appendix A: Technical Support............................................................................. 167 Appendix B: Toolbar Reference............................................................................. 168 Appendix C: VCOM Products................................................................................. 170 System Commander® ..................................................................................... 170 Fix-It Utilities™................................................................................................. 171 Partition Commander® .................................................................................... 171 SystemSuite™ ................................................................................................. 171 Web Easy Professional™ ................................................................................ 171 Index ......................................................................................................................... 173 License and Warranty Agreement ......................................................................... 179

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Preface This User Manual contains all the information you need to safely and quickly install PowerDesk Pro and begin using it. Each chapter in this manual has a distinct purpose. Chapter 1 gives you an introduction to PowerDesk and its features. Chapter 2 provides step-by-step instructions for installing the PowerDesk software on your system and system requirements. Chapter 3 gives you a Tour of the major tools and features of PowerDesk. Chapters 4 and 5 explain file management and various views of the PowerDesk file manager. Chapter 6 covers the file compression manager, built into PowerDesk. Chapter 7 helps you synchronize two different drives or folders. Chapter 8 explains the PowerDesk FTP system. Chapter 9 covers the powerful find features in PowerDesk. Chapter 10 shows you how to customize PowerDesk, including changing toolbar functions, skins, and layout manager. Chapter 11 explains how to work with images and audio files. Chapter 12 shows how to use the Size Manager and other tools to find out information about files and folders. The Appendices offer additional technical information, including contacting technical support (Appendix A), a toolbar reference (Appendix B) and other products from V Communications (Appendix C).

Conventions and Icons used throughout this manual Step by step instructions follow almost every process or procedure. These steps are noted by their order numerically. 6

PowerDesk User Manual

Menu commands and labeled buttons are noted in bold letters. Options, such as drop-down boxes and radio button choices appear in italics. The following symbols are used to indicate specific types of information. The applicable information follows each icon in indented paragraph format as shown below:

This icon is used identify important information and tips.

Warning information following this icon may help you avoid a problem.

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1: Introduction PowerDesk Pro is the ultimate desktop enhancement utility for Windows, providing the power and features you need to get more work done in less time. PowerDesk comprises a group of utilities that will immediately increase your productivity in Windows.

Key Benefits The PowerDesk file manager is a Windows Explorer-type file management and navigation utility. It includes many powerful tools such as a toolbar, drivebar, launchbar, Zip compression support and support for many other compression formats. The file manager features multiple display panes that you use to work between 8

PowerDesk User Manual

folders, and it also features a file viewer that can display and print the contents of hundreds of types of files. The interface, buttons and commands are similar to Windows Explorer, so you do not have to learn a totally new interface. FTP is available in an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface that lets you view FTP sites as though they were ordinary folders. Once you have set up your favorite FTP sites, connecting with them is one click away. File Finder gives you more power than the standard Windows file finder. File Finder features a customizable toolbar of file operations, a viewer pane to see the contents of most files, and superior search capabilities. Dialog Helper enhances Open dialog boxes and Save dialog boxes by adding a list selections for previously opened files and previously opened folders. It also provides a file viewer pane that supports over 150 file formats. Dialog helper further allows the resizing of these dialogs that are otherwise fixed in size. Folder Synchronizer can be used to compare and synchronize the contents of two folders. This is especially useful for those who work on files that are shared between two computers, but it is also useful for backing up files, and many other uses. Size ManagerTM is a powerful utility designed to show you where and how the space on each of your drives is being used. Using Size Manager makes it easy to efficiently manage storage space on your disk.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New in PowerDesk Pro 6? PowerDesk Pro has many exciting new features! Some of the major changes include: New compression formats handledâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; New! PowerDesk Pro doubles its already strong file compression handling from 16 formats to 32. Now users can easily compress and expand files from all popular compression formats. PowerDesk also allows users to see within many archives to see the entire list of files and selectively view the contents or extract with a simple drag and drop operation. Supported compression types include .arc, .ark, .arj, .as, .bin, .btoa, .bz2, .cab, .compact, .cpt, .dwc, .freeze, .gz, .hqx, .jar, .lha, .lzh, .mime, .pak, .pf, .rar, .sit, .sitx, .sco, .tar, .taz, .tgz, .uu, .ync, .z, .zip, .zoo.

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Updated XP Style is Customizable – New! The style of PowerDesk now matches the XP standards and goes beyond with the ability to select different style “skins”. It even includes multiple skins, and you can select from thousands of additional skin styles from the Internet. Sync Manager – Improved! New drop-down history automatically remembers previous synchronization operations so you can quickly repeat common actions. Configuration Export/Import – New! Save your entire configuration in one file. Includes styles, options, layouts and FTP sites. Makes it easy to use the same configuration on multiple locations. Layout Manager – New! PowerDesk Pro can save a current layout to a chosen icon. With one click, the layout is restored, including its multiple pane view, selected folders, filters and other options previously used. Users can save any number of layouts to save time and increase productivity. In addition, you can save any layout as a desktop shortcut. Thumbnails – Improved! Thumbnails now support over 150 file formats, including graphics, documents and much more! File Finder – Improved! New quick search buttons for some of the most popular searches, including choices for documents, photos, audio, movies, and files modified today. Basic Toolbar – New! This new larger toolbar has the most common functions including Back, Forward, File Finder, Favorites, Sync Manager, Size Manager and FTP. You can also disable this toolbar if preferred. Many Other Changes and Improvements Many new enhancements make operations even easier, faster and more intuitive. Some of these include the new keyboard shortcut manager, back and forward options similar to Internet Explorer, filter on indicator, handles UNC paths, improved built in file viewer, and much more!

PowerDesk User Manual

2: Quick Installation

Basic Installation Requirements • Pentium CPU or better • CD Drive (not needed for electronic download) • Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000/XP/2003 installed • 60 MB of free disk space for installation

Installation Before you install PowerDesk, do the following to ensure that the installation proceeds smoothly: • Close other applications. Follow these steps to install PowerDesk:

If you downloaded the program: In Windows Explorer: double-click on the executable file you downloaded, and follow the on-screen instructions to install. When you are prompted to choose an installation folder, we recommend that you choose the default path. You can install it elsewhere, but we recommend that you install it on the drive on which Windows is installed (which is usually C:).

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If you are installing from CD: Insert the PowerDesk CD into your CD drive. The installation program will start automatically. If the program installation does not automatically begin, click the Start menu and select Run. In the text box, type D:\setup.exe (where D: is the letter of your CD drive), and click OK. Follow the on-screen instructions. When you are prompted to choose an installation folder, we recommend that you choose the default path. You can install it elsewhere, but we highly recommend that you install it on the drive on which Windows is installed (which is usually C:).

If you decide not to install PowerDesk to the default folder, choose a folder other than \Windows or any of its subfolders.

After specifying an installation directory, the files are copied to your hard drive.

Updating PowerDesk EasyUpdate allows you to effortlessly update PowerDesk using the Internet. To do so, follow these steps: Select Help, EasyUpdate from the file manager window. You can also update by selecting the Windows Start, then Programs, PowerDesk 6, EasyUpdate. Click Next to have PowerDesk connect to the VCOM server to inform you of the latest updates to PowerDesk and other VCOM products you have on your system. It will notify you of any available updates and offer to download and install them for you.

Uninstalling PowerDesk Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, and then Add or Remove Programs. Select PowerDesk 6 from the list and then Remove.

PowerDesk User Manual

3: Tour PowerDesk This User Guide is primarily focused on demonstrating what you can do with the many PowerDesk features and tools. This chapter will show you the specific tools included in PowerDesk and preview the other chapters.

PowerDesk PowerDesk is an advanced file management utility, similar to Windows Explorer, but with many significant improvements and added applications. Like Windows Explorer, PowerDesk allows you to view your desktop, drives, folders, and files using a tree view and a file list.

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If you used Windows Explorer in the past, you will find that the powerful file manager in PowerDesk gives you greater control over your files and drives and makes file management and navigation easier and more intuitive. PowerDesk provides the following key features: • Optional dual panes to let you work in two folders at once • File compression and decompression for over 30 formats including zip • An integrated FTP client for easy file transfers across the Internet • An integrated file viewer. The viewer recognizes over 150 file formats • Advanced File Finder with instant search for popular file types • Folder Synchronization • A customizable toolbar of file commands • A drivebar that provides quick and easy access to all system drives • A customizable applications launchbar from which you can launch applications • A command line in the PowerDesk window

Starting PowerDesk To start PowerDesk: • Double-click on the PowerDesk desktop icon. • Select PowerDesk from the Windows Start menu. • Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk 6, PowerDesk 6. • Right-click on My Computer or the Start button on your desktop. Select PowerDesk from the context menu.

PowerDesk User Manual

File Finder

File Finder can find files based on any combination of the following criteria: • path (where a file is located on your system) • attributes • creation, modification and access dates • size • file type • contents You can then copy, move, delete, open or do any number of things with the files found in your search. Search results can be listed in different ways. You can print them out or save them for future reference. Use File Finder’s built-in viewer pane to see the contents of your found files. See Chapter 9, Finding Files and Folders, on page 101 for more information on what you can do with File Finder.

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Starting File Finder You can start File Finder in the following ways: • Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk 6, File Finder. File Finder will open with your last search settings. in the standard button bar or launchbar. File • From PowerDesk, click Finder will open with your last search settings. • From PowerDesk, select Tools, Find, File Finder. File Finder will open with the currently selected folder in the Search Path. • From PowerDesk, press F3. File Finder will open with the currently selected folder in the Search Path.

Folder Synchronizer Folder Synchronizer copies or moves one or more files between two different folders.

You can tailor file selection and then perform a batch operation, or move individual files. This utility is best suited to: • Share a single set of files between a laptop computer and a desktop computer, and update one or the other when the files become outdated. 16

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• Update local copies of files that normally reside on a network. • Back up selected files to a diskette or other external drive rather than using a dedicated backup utility. • Compare folders to determine if there are any duplicate or missing files.

Starting the Folder Synchronizer You can start Folder Synchronizer in two ways. The first way opens the main Folder Synchronizer window. The second method opens Folder Synchronizer positioned at specific folders. To open the main Folder Synchronizer window from the default starting point (usually the root of the C:\ drive), do either of the following: • Click the Folder Synchronizer button in the standard button bar or launchbar. The folders will default to the one or two folders selected in PowerDesk. -

or –

• From the Windows Start menu, go to Programs, PowerDesk 6, Folder Synchronizer. See Chapter 7, Synchronizing Folders, on page 83 for more information.

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Size Manager Size Manager is a utility to see how and where disk space is being used on your system. You can quickly locate the largest folders and files and remove or archive unneeded files.

Starting Size Manager You can start Size Manager in one of two ways: â&#x20AC;˘ Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk 6, Size Manager. â&#x20AC;˘ From the PowerDesk file manager, click

on the standard button bar.

PowerDesk User Manual

Playlist Editor

Manage MP3 music playlists with this tool. You can: • Create new playlists • Sort playlists by title, filename or just randomize! • Drag and drop songs around until the mix is just perfect • Copy the list (and the songs) to your portable player or other drives • Edit track tags • See “Using the Playlist Editor” on page 143 for more information.

Starting the Playlist Editor • Go to Start, Programs, PowerDesk 6, Playlist Editor. -

or –

• To start Playlist Editor with an existing laylist, right-click on the laylist file (it will have an .m3u or .pls extension). Select Open Playlist from the menu. V Communications, Inc. 19

To create a Editor:

laylist from a group of songs in the same folder, and then open Playlist

1. Select the songs you want in your

laylist in the PowerDesk file manager.

2. Right-click in the selected area. 3. Select Create New Playlist from the PowerDesk context menu.

Dialog Helper The Dialog Helper enhances most of your standard Open and Save dialog boxes. You can use it to: • Display a history of previously accessed documents. • Display a history of previously accessed folders. • View the contents of files inside dialog boxes. • Resize a dialog box that fails to provide resize.

Dialog Helper Buttons Current Microsoft Office applications use non-standard open and save dialogs. Dialog Helper buttons will not appear when you use Word, Excel, and other Microsoft Office applications. Most other applications use standard dialogs.

Starting Dialog Helper You can start Dialog Helper by doing the following: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk 6, Dialog Helper. The Dialog Helper Properties dialog box appears:

PowerDesk User Manual

2. Click OK. This loads the Dialog Helper. When Dialog Helper is running, you can also open Dialog Helper properties by selecting Dialog Helper Properties from either the File Tracker menu or the Folder Tracker menu in a Save or Open dialog box.

Using Dialog Helper When you select Open, Save or Save-as dialogs, 2 or 3 additional icons appear in the titlebar.

Click on the document or folder icons to see a history of previously used documents or folders you have previously used with this application. Click on any item in a list, and that document or folder will be used. Click on the view icon to open an extra pane so you can view selected items before you choose them. The view icon will not appear in all situations, depending on the application.

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4: Displaying Files and Folders in PowerDesk Before you can do anything with your files and folders, you have to display them properly on your screen. While the default display selections are certainly enough to get you going, PowerDesk gives you the power to decide almost everything related to how the files and folders on your system will appear. This chapter is a guide to using that power.

Getting comfortable with PowerDesk When you start PowerDesk for the first time, you see the PowerDesk file manager. It looks a lot like Windows Explorer. The most obvious differences are the standard button bar, toolbar and drivebar located directly below the menu bar. The standard button bar and toolbar provides buttons that you can click to quickly access the PowerDesk features you use most often. The drivebar provides access to each of the drives available on the system. You can customize the file manager window, using the commands in the View and Options menus to enable/disable the various views and option bars. Menu bar Standard button bar Toolbar Drivebar Layout Manager

Launchbar

PowerDesk User Manual

The menus The menus provide access to most of PowerDesk’s features. Detailed descriptions of each of the menus and their commands are provided in the following chapters.

The standard button bar Some of the most common actions and applications appear in the standard button bar. Action buttons include both back and forward navigation buttons, History and Favorites. You can also go directly to PowerDesk’s File Finder, Synchronization Manager, Size Manager, or FTP applications.

The toolbar The toolbar provides easy one-click access to many of the most popular PowerDesk features and options. The toolbar is easily customizable. A full description of each icon appears in Appendix A on page 168.

The drivebar The drivebar displays an icon for each drive available on your system (diskette drives, local drives, CD drives, removable drives, and network drives). To view the contents of a drive in the file list, simply click its icon in the drivebar. To add or remove drives in the drivebar: 1. Go to Options, Preferences. 2. Click the Drives tab. 3. Check the drives you want displayed. Drives that are not checked will not display in the drivebar or the tree list. To “wrap” the drivebar if it is longer than the window: 1. Go to Options, Preferences. 2. Click the General Settings tab. 3. Select the Wrap Drivebar check box.

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The drivebar will now wrap to multiple rows, if necessary, to display all the drive icons. Otherwise, the drivebar is limited to a single line, and may cut-off the right-most drive buttons.

You cannot wrap the drivebar if you are using Resizable Toolbars. See “Changing The File Manager’s Appearance” on page 117 for more information on these settings.

The launchbar The launchbar provides quick access to your favorite programs and files. When you install PowerDesk, the launchbar is configured with a few launchbar buttons, but you can fully customize the launchbar. In addition the Layout manager icons appear here, so you save and restore the entire layout of panes, folders and more. For detailed information on the launchbar, see “The Launchbar” on page 125.

The File Manager panes The file manager window in the following illustration displays a number of possible component configurations.

Menu &Tool bars

Command line

Viewer pane (can be on the right, bottom or detached)

Status

Tree panes

File panes

PowerDesk User Manual

The tree pane The tree pane displays a graphical tree view, or hierarchy of resources that are available on your system down to the folder level. The root of the tree list is the Windows desktop (the large, background area you see when you first start Windows). For detailed information on the tree pane, see page 152. To display the tree pane: â&#x20AC;˘

Go to View, Show Folder List so that a check mark displays adjacent to the Show Folder List item.

The file pane The file pane displays the contents of the drive or folder that is selected in the tree pane. The contents of the file pane are also called the file list. The file pane typically contains a list of folders and files but may also contain desktop items (such as the Recycle Bin and My Computer), shortcuts to files, applications, and printers. You can sort the information in any column by clicking the name of the column. The triangle icon in the column name indicates whether the column is sorted in a descending or ascending order. From the file pane, you can drag and drop items (files, folders, shortcuts, etc.) for file and archive management, launch applications, rename files and folders, and much more. For detailed information on the file pane, see page 30.

The viewer pane The viewer pane displays the contents of the file that is selected in the file pane, without opening the application that was used to create the file. The file viewer supports over 150 formats, including graphics files, word processing files, and spreadsheet files. To display the viewer pane: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Viewer Pane so that a check mark displays adjacent to the Viewer Pane item.

- or â&#x20AC;˘

Click the Viewer Pane icon

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on the toolbar.

The viewer pane has a separate menu that you can open by clicking the arrow to the right of the viewer pane icon. You can select where the viewer appears.

For detailed information on the viewer pane and its menu, see “Viewing images and other files” on page 135.

The command line You can use the command line to enter typed commands from the PowerDesk application window or view a UNC style network folder. To open the command line: •

Select View, Toolbars, Command Line.

The status bar The status bar provides feedback about the current selection or operation. Usually, you will see the drive letter, the amount of free space, and the size of the drive on the left side. When one object is selected in the file pane, the status bar shows the file size, and the time and date stamp for the file in the center. When more than one objects are selected in the file pane, the status bar shows the number of selected objects, and their collective size in the center. The right pane displays the number of objects (files and subfolders) in the folder or drive selected in the tree pane, and their collective size. To display the status bar: •

Select View, Toolbars so that a check mark displays adjacent to the Status Bar item.

PowerDesk User Manual

Using the tree pane Navigation of folders is performed primarily in the tree pane. You can expand tree branches to view the hierarchy of folders and files and select folders to display their contents in the file pane. If you double-click a folder in the tree pane, it will both expand the tree and display the contents in the file pane. When you click the folderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s symbol, it will display the next level of folders, but it will not change the file list. Likewise, you can collapse an expanded folder by clicking the folderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s symbol without affecting the file list.

To expand branches or drives: 1. Select View, Expand Folder List. 2. Select one of the following commands: Expand One Level

Expands the folder that is selected in the tree pane by displaying its next level of subfolders.

Expand Branch

Expands the folder that is selected in the tree pane by displaying all subsequent levels of subfolders in the branch.

Expand Drive

Expands the entire drive that is selected in the tree pane, or the drive of the folder that is currently selected in the tree pane.

Expand All

Expands every folder on your computer. This can take some time.

To collapse folders: 1. Select View, Expand Folder List. 2. Select one of the following commands:

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Collapse Branch

Collapses the folder that is selected in the tree pane by hiding all of its subsequent levels of subfolders.

Collapse Drive

Collapses the entire drive that is selected in the tree pane, or the drive of the folder that is currently selected in the tree pane.

Collapse All

Collapses the folder that is selected in the tree pane by displaying only those folders or drives that are accessible from the desktop.

To navigate to previously displayed folders: 1. From the main PowerDesk menu, select the Go menu. 2. Select one of the following: Back

Displays the previously displayed folder.

Forward

Displays the next of a series of folders that you have viewed.

Up One Level

Moves the current directory one level up on the system hierarchy.

Go to

Displays the Go To Folder dialog, from which you can go directly to a specified folder.

Go to Drive

Displays the Select Drive dialog from which you can select a local or network drive. The contents of the selected drive are displayed in the file pane.

Printing the Tree Pane In addition to printing files, you can print the contents of the tree pane. 28

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1. Go to File, Print, Tree List. The Print Tree dialog box will appear. 2. Confirm the selected printer in the Printer section. You can also change the Printer properties by clicking the Properties button. 3. Select one of the following in the Print section of this dialog box: â&#x20AC;˘

Tree. Select this button to print the entire tree.

â&#x20AC;˘

Selected branch only. Select this button to only print the branch currently selected in the tree.

4. Select the number of copies in the Copies section. 5. Click OK.

Setting tree pane preferences To set tree pane preferences: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Click the Lists tab. 3. In the tree list section of the dialog box, select any of the following: Keep current folder visible when resizing window

Keeps the folder selected in the tree pane in view whenever you resize the PowerDesk window. Otherwise, PowerDesk makes no effort to keep the current folder in view during resizing operations.

Expand folder Automatically expands a folder in the tree pane when dragging when dragging an item over it. over it

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Using the file pane The file pane is where the contents of your tree pane are displayed. There are many ways to display and arrange the files, as described in the following sections.

Display views You can display the items in the file pane in five different ways. 1. Select the View menu. 2. Select one of the following:

Large Icons

Represents file pane items with large icons. Items are listed left to right and top to bottom.

Small Icons

Represents file pane items with small icons. Items are listed left to right and top to bottom.

List

Represents file pane items with small icons. Items are listed from top to bottom.

Details

Represents file pane items with small icons. Items are listed from top to bottom. Complete details (size, date, time, extension, etc.) are listed along with the items. To determine what Details appear in this view (and in what order), see the next section, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Organizing Details Viewâ&#x20AC;?.

Thumbnails

Files appear as a small image of the start of the file or a reduced size graphic image. Most file formats other than compression are supported as a thumbnail view. Depending on the number and format of the files, the display refresh may be slower than other views.

PowerDesk User Manual

Using generic icons You can use generic icons in the file pane for files and folders instead of the associated icons. This speeds up the display of folder contents. To use generic icons: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Show Generic Icons.

Show Generic Icons is now checked to show it is active.

Viewing true file names File names may be stored in a way that is different from how they are displayed in Windows. Windows is not case-sensitive, that is, the file name is the same whether the letters in the file name are in upper or lower case. Other operating systems, such as Linux, are case-sensitive. Here, knowing the exact case of a file name is important. Linux is often used on Web and FTP servers. Users who need to upload files to casesensitive systems such as Linux need to know the case of their files BEFORE proceeding with any FTP or file operation to these servers. The Show True Name feature in PowerDesk shows the file names with their exact case. To show the true case of file names: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Show True Names.

Show True Names is now checked to show it is active.

Organizing Details View You can determine what items appear in Details View, and drag and drop the columns so they are ordered the way you want them. To select the columns to display in Details View: 1. Go to Options, Preferences. 2. Click the Details View tab. 3. By default, Extension, Size, Type, Modified Date, Modified Time and Attribute are selected. Uncheck any box to make that column disappear from V Communications, Inc.

the PowerDesk display. Check any of the other boxes to display the Creation Date, Creation Time, File Info and Note columns. 4. Click OK to confirm your choices. To move a column to another spot, click the column heading and drag it to the column to the immediate left of where you want your column to be. When you release the mouse button, the column will appear to the other columnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right.

Changing the File Order by Sorting columns By default, files in each folder appear in alphabetical order by name. In Details View, you can change the file order by sorting the file list in a different way. The easiest way to do this is by clicking the name of the column. The triangle icon in the column name indicates whether the column is sorted in a descending or ascending order. Another way to do this is: 1. Select View, Arrange Icons. 2. Select one of the following: by Name

Arranges the file list alphabetically by name.

by Extension Arranges the file list alphabetically by extension. by Size

Arranges the file list by size in ascending order.

by Type

Arranges the file list alphabetically by type. Only files that have associations have a type.

by Date

Arranges the file list by date and time stamp from newest to oldest.

by Attributes Arranges the file list according to the file attributes.

Showing all files on a drive With a single command, you can open File Finder for a selected drive and display all the files on the drive. To display all the files on a drive: 32

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1. In the file pane, select the drive for which you want to display files. 2. Select File, Show All Files on Drive. File Finder opens and displays all the files on the drive.

Filters You can apply filters to display only certain file types in the file pane, such as TXT files or BMP files. To create and apply a filter: 1. Select View, Filters. The Filters dialog box appears.

2. Specify one or more name filters. You can use wildcards to search for files and/or folders. For instance, *.wav would display any files that have a wav extension—that is, all “wave” files. You can use the wildcard character anywhere in the name so that car*.*, *car*.*, and *car.* are all meaningful name filters. You can use multiple filters, but you must separate each of them with a semicolon. V Communications, Inc. 33

3. Select the Attribute filters. You can display files that have, or do not have the attributes listed the Attributes box. Attributes usually have a green square, indicating that the attribute is ignored when searching for files. A black check mark indicates that files must have the attribute to match. Finally, no check mark indicates that, to match, files must not have that attribute. 4. Select the option to Display Files or Folders. Choose whether to select Files Only, Folders Only, or Files and Folders by clicking the appropriate selection. 5. Set the Filters on reminder. Check the box Show “Filters On” reminder bitmap in the file list to have a background bitmap appear when any Filter is on. 6. Click OK. After this last step, only the files and/or folders that match the specified names and attributes will be displayed in the file pane.

Filters remain in place until you remove them, even if you leave PowerDesk.

Printing the file list To print the file list: 1. Select File, Print, File List. 2. Confirm the selected printer in the Printer section. You can also change the Printer properties by clicking the Properties button. 3. Select one of the following: •

All Files. Select this button to print the entire file list.

•

Selected Files Only. Select this button to print just a list of the selected files.

4. Select the number of copies in the Copies section. 5. Click OK. 34

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Setting file pane preferences To set preferences for the file pane: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Select the Lists tab. 3. In the File List section, select any of the following: Hide system files and system libraries

By default, PowerDesk shows all files and folders on your system. Checking this box will hide files and folders with the Hidden or System attribute.

Keep current selection visible when resizing window

Sometimes you will resize a window (or open a second pane) to prepare for some file management task. Having this box checked ensures that you can see the currently selected file(s) or folder(s) in the file pane after resizing the window.

Full row selection in Details view

This allows you to click anywhere on the Details line to select a file. If this box is not checked, you must click on the file name to select a file.

Show Up One level

At the top of all listings in the File Pane, you'll see a small blue arrow pointing up. Clicking this icon displays the next level up in the tree. For example, if you are in C:\My Documents\Personal, clicking the Up One Level icon will display the contents of C:\My Documents. Uncheck this box to remove this icon from the File Pane.

Single-click to open an item

When you click on a link on a World Wide Web page on the Internet, your Web browser opens the page connected to the link. Checking this box tells PowerDesk to open a file when you click on it. To select a file, just point your mouse on the file. Further checking the Underline selected item box will put a blue underline on a selected file.

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Point to Select

Checking this box lets you point your mouse at a file to select it. To select multiple files, hold down the Ctrl or Shift keys. If you already have Single-click to open an item active, this option is the standard behavior. See “One-Click Selection” on page 42 for more information.

Keep current folder visible when resizing window

Keeps the folder selected in the tree pane in view whenever you resize the PowerDesk window. Otherwise, PowerDesk makes no effort to keep the current folder in view during resizing operations.

Expand folder when dragging over it.

If you want to drag files or folders to a subfolder in the tree pane, having this box checked would open the subfolder when the parent folder is highlighted.

Changing display fonts You can change the font that is used in the tree and file panes. This does not change the font used by the printer. To change the display font: •

Select Options, Font. The Font dialog box will appear.

PowerDesk User Manual

1. Select a font 2. Select a font style 3. Select a font size. 4. Click Ok.

Displaying multiple PowerDesk panes File navigation is performed primarily with the tree and file panes. These panes can be displayed in several ways from the View, File Panes menu or buttons from the toolbar. You can use the following commands or buttons to change the way the panes are displayed: Show Folder List

Displays the tree pane that is normally hidden.

Single Pane

Displays one tree pane and one file pane.

Dual Pane Horizontal

Displays two pairs of tree and file panes, one pair on top of the other.

Dual Pane Vertical

Displays two pairs of tree and file panes side by side.

Swap Panes

Switches the positions of the pane pairs.

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Using multiple PowerDesk windows You can have multiple instances of PowerDeskâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, you can open the program multiple timesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and work between windows. You can open additional instances of PowerDesk manually, or you can use the New Window commands in the Window menu. The following commands can be used to open and arrange additional windows: New Window

Opens a new PowerDesk window.

New+Cascade Opens a new PowerDesk window, and covers the existing PowerDesk window(s). New+Tile Horizontally

Opens a new PowerDesk window, and then arranges all open PowerDesk windows top to bottom.

New+Tile Vertically

Opens a new PowerDesk window then arranges all open PowerDesk windows side-by-side.

The following commands manage windows that are already open:

Cascade

Cascades all open PowerDesk windows.

Tile Horizontally

Arranges all open PowerDesk windows top to bottom

Tile Vertically

Arranges all open PowerDesk windows side-by-side.

Close All

Closes all PowerDesk windows.

PowerDesk User Manual

Close All Others

Closes all PowerDesk windows with the exception of the active one.

Refresh

Refreshes the contents of the PowerDesk window.

Using the Favorites menu You can store all the programs and folders that you use often in the Favorites menu so that you can access them quickly.

Adding items to the Favorites menu You can add files, programs, or folders to the menu either by using the menu commands, or by directly altering the Favorites folder in which the contents of the Favorites menu reside. To add the current folder to the Favorites menu: â&#x20AC;˘

Select Favorites, Add, Current Folder.

To add a file or program to the Favorites menu: 1. Select Favorites, Add, New Item. In the Add New Item to Favorites dialog box, locate and select the item to add. 2. Click Add. You can also customize the contents of the Favorites menu by selecting Favorites, Open Favorites Folder. This displays the Favorites folder in the tree pane, and displays its contents in the file pane. The contents in the file pane are the contents of the Favorites menu. You can therefore customize the favorites menu by adding files, programs, their shortcuts, and sub-folders. You can always add, rename, and delete items, as you want.

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Selecting a Program or File From Favorites To select a previously saved favorite item: â&#x20AC;˘ - or â&#x20AC;˘

From the menu bar, select Favorites

From the Standard button bar, click on the

button.

Selecting a specific program or a file from Favorites launches the program or opens the file with its associated application. Selecting a folder from the Favorites menu displays the folder contents.

PowerDesk User Manual

5: Basic File Management with PowerDesk Most of the time, you will use PowerDesk to organize, access, copy, move, delete, view and modify files. This chapter will show you how to best take advantage of PowerDesk’s basic file-management tools.

Selecting files and folders Almost all operations begin by selecting one or more items (files, folders, shortcuts, etc.). You can select items in several different ways, depending on how many items that you want to select, and their location with respect to each other.

Selecting items with the mouse or keyboard To select a single item: •

Click the item in the tree pane or the file pane.

To select multiple adjacent items: •

In the file pane, click the first item, and then Shift-click the last item. All the items between the first and last item will be selected.

To select a block of files: •

Click the mouse button to the left or right of an item, and then drag the selection rectangle to surround the files you want to select. The option “full row selection in Details view” must be unchecked to use this feature (Options, Preferences, Lists tab).

To select adjacent files with the keyboard: 1. Use the PgUp, PgDn, the arrow, and Tab keys to move to the folder containing the files you want to select. V Communications, Inc.

2. Use the arrow keys to the first item to select. 3. Press and hold the Shift key. 4. Use the arrow keys to extend the selection to the last item to select. All items between and including the first and last item will be selected. To select multiple files and/or folders that are not listed together: â&#x20AC;˘

Ctrl-click each item.

One-Click Selection You can change the standard double-click file-open command to a single-click file open command. This way, rather than double-clicking on a file to open it in an application, you can single-click on the file. With this option, all you have to do to select a file (without opening it) is move the cursor over it and hold it there for a moment. You can even hold the CTRL key down to select multiple files. To set this up: 1. From the PowerDesk file manager, select Options, Preferences. Click on the Lists tab. 2. Check the box labeled Single-click to open an item. 3. You will notice that the Point to select box is automatically checked; this is necessary to retain the ability to select files. 4. If you want files underlined as well as selected, check the Underline selected item. 5. Click OK.

Selecting items with menu commands Go to the Edit menu for these select options: â&#x20AC;˘

Select: Displays a dialog box you can use to specify the file(s) that you want to select in the current directory (see the following section for details). PowerDesk User Manual

â&#x20AC;˘

Select All: Selects all of the items in the file list.

â&#x20AC;˘

Invert Selection: This command selects unselected items, and unselects selected items.

Select dialog box The Select dialog box locates files and folders that match one or more name and attribute criteria. To use the select dialog box: 1. Select Edit, Select. The Select dialog box appears.

2. Type one or more File(s) or Item(s). 3. You can either type a specific item name, or use wildcards, such as *.* or *.doc. 4. To include folders in the selection, select Include Folders. Otherwise, folders are excluded. 5. To select items that exactly match in letter case, select Case Sensitive. 6. Select the appropriate attributes. Attributes usually have a green dot, indicating that the attribute is ignored when searching for files. A black check mark indicates that files must have the attribute to match. No check mark indicates that files must not have that attribute to match. 7. Click Select. V Communications, Inc.

Copying and moving folders and files Folders and files can be copied or moved in three different ways in PowerDesk: •

Using the standard Windows Copy or Cut, and Paste commands.

•

Using the Copy To or Move To dialog box.

•

Dragging and dropping the item(s).

Using commands To use the menu commands to copy or move items, follow these steps: 1. Select one or more items to copy or move. 2. Select Edit, Copy to copy the item, or Edit, Cut to move the item. 3. Select or open the folder where you want to move or copy the item(s). 4. Select Edit, Paste.

Using the copy or move dialog boxes To use the Copy To or Move To dialog box, follow these steps: 1. Select one or more items to copy or move. 2. Select File, Copy to to copy the item(s), or File, Move to to move the item(s). This dialog box appears:

PowerDesk User Manual

3. In the right pane, navigate to the folder where you want to copy or move the item(s). 4. (Optional) Change the operation from Copy to Move or from Move to Copy by selecting the appropriate button in the Operation section. 5. Click OK.

Dragging and dropping You can use your mouse to move a folder or file to a different position in the same list or to a different window. To copy or move a file or folder using the drag-and-drop method: 1. Select one or more items. 2. Open the folder where you plan to drag the item(s). Make sure that both the item(s) to be moved and the destination are both visible on the screen. If multiple items are selected, only one of the items needs to be visible. 3. Move the mouse pointer to one of the selected items. 4. Press the mouse button and move the mouse to the destination folder. Windows handles copy and move operations with specific rules. If you drag a file to a folder on the same drive, it will be moved. If you drag it to a folder on another drive, it will be copied. If the file is an executable (with an .exe extension), a shortcut to the file will be placed in the other folder.

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If you want a little more control over what happens when you drag, you can press and hold down the right mouse button to display a menu letting you choose whether to copy or move the item(s) when you drop them. 5. Release the mouse button.

Copying a file path as text Sometimes there is a problem with your computer, and technical support wants to know where a file is located. If you have a Website, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need to include references to paths on your system so your graphics can be located. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to type these paths in yourself. PowerDesk lets you copy the full path of a file as text. You can then paste the path into another application, say, a text editor, email message or HTML authoring tool. This can save you the time of typing a long path, and possibly making errors in typing the path location. To copy a path as text: 1. Select the folder or file. 2. Select Edit, Copy Path as Text. 3. Move the mouse to the location where you want the path copied, click in the appropriate field or window, and press CTRL-V.

Copying a file name as text You can also use PowerDesk to copy the name of a file as text, and then paste the file name into another application. This can save you the time of retyping the file name, and possibly making errors in typing the name of the file. To copy a file name as text: 1. Select the folder or file. 2. Select Edit, Copy Name as Text. 3. Move the mouse to the location where you want the name copied, click in the appropriate field or window, and press CTRL-V.

PowerDesk User Manual

Creating new folders Your computer does a lot of calculations, but it is also a gigantic file cabinet. The basic way to organize data on your computer is by separating data files into folders. Creating a new folder in PowerDesk is just a few short steps. As usual, there are also several ways to do it, depending on what works for you. To create a new folder: 1. Open the folder, or select the drive where you want to make the new folder. 2. Go to File, Create Folder (or press the Insert key). 3. Type the name of the new folder in the New Folder text box. 4. If you want to place the folder into a folder that is different than the currently selected one, type a different path, including the name of the new folder, such as c:\documents\letters. Click Browse to locate and select the new folder location. 5. Click OK. -or1. Right-click in any empty space in the tree pane. 2. Select New, Folder from the context menu. 3. Type a name for the folder.

Deleting files or folders You will inevitably need to delete one or more files or folders from your system. You can delete items and send them to the Recycle Bin or perform a full Delete, which bypasses the Recycle Bin.

Using the Recycle Bin The Recycle Bin gives you a margin of safety against accidental deletion of important files. Normally a deleted item is moved to the Recycle Bin where it can later be recovered to its original state, or be permanently deleted. While in the Recycle Bin, an item still occupies disk space. The default for delete operations is to place deleted items in the Recycle Bin. V Communications, Inc.

To delete items to the Recycle Bin: 1. Select one or more items to dispose of from either the tree pane or the file pane. 2. Select File, Recycle. You can also press the Del key or click the Recycle icon in the toolbar. To later permanently delete the files: â&#x20AC;˘

Select Tools, Recycle Bin, Empty Recycle Bin.

Restoring items in the Recycle Bin To restore items: 1. Select the Recycle Bin in the tree list (or go to the C:\Recycled folder). 2. Move the items you want to recover from the Recycle Bin to their appropriate location. You can also right-click on an item in the Recycle Bin and select Restore from the context menu to return the item to its original location.

Permanently deleting items If you know you will never need a file back, you can bypass the Recycle Bin and delete files and folders directly. To permanently delete items: 1. Select the item(s) to delete. 2. Select File, Delete. You can also press Shift+Del

Be careful when using this option because the selected items will be deleted immediately, and cannot be recovered from the Recycle Bin. Fix-It Utilitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; File Undeleter may still be able to recover files deleted this way. 48

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You can also â&#x20AC;&#x153;destroyâ&#x20AC;? items, making them completely unrecoverable. The File, Destroy feature actually overwrites the file with a pattern of ones and zeros.

Renaming files or folders PowerDesk lets you easily rename single files and groups of files. To rename a single file or folder: 1. Click an item. 2. Select File, Rename. Or click the item, wait a second, then click the item a second time. Or rightclick and item and choose Rename from the context menu. 3. Type the new name, and then press Enter. There are two ways to rename groups of files:

Using Rename This option works much like the group rename function included in Windows XP (but works in all supported versions of Windows). 1. Select the files you want to rename. 2. Go to File, Rename (or click the Rename icon in the toolbar). 3. A dialog box will appear, identifying the selected files. Type the new file name in the box on the bottom. The first file in the list will be renamed to whatever you type. The other selected files will have the same name, with a number at the end. 4. Click OK to rename the files. Click Cancel to return to PowerDesk without renaming the files.

Using Group Rename 1. Select the folder containing the files you want to rename. V Communications, Inc.

2. Go to File, Group Rename. 3. The Enter a file find mask dialog box will appear. Using text and/or wildcards, define the files you want to rename. Use only these wildcards: ? represents one character * represents any number of characters See the Hints section below for ideas in how to use this. You can also use the drop-down menu to repeat an earlier search. Click OK to find matching files. 4. Group Rename will list all files matching the search criteria. Using text and wildcards, specify the new name of the files. See the Hints section below for ideas. You can also use the drop-down menu to repeat an earlier change. Click OK to rename the selected files. You can Undo renames individually by using the Edit, Undo command. Hints •

You can use multiple wildcards in both searches and in rename. To search for JPEG images with two specific characters and some specific text, enter this:

??Mom.jpg To then rename these files with "Mom" in front, enter this:

Mom??.jpg The two characters that were in front will move to the end of the file name.

•

Generally speaking, use the same number of wildcards in your search criteria as in your rename.

•

If you include any text in your search criteria that you do not wish to change, include the text in the final rename.

•

Changing the extension of a file does not change the format of the file, but might make it more difficult to open or edit. If you change the extension of a group of files, you may want to associate the new extension with the application you want to open the file. See page 58 for more information on this. PowerDesk User Manual

It is possible to Undo group renames, but Undo will only work one file at a time. So if you have renamed four files at once, click Undo four times (or press Ctrl-Z four times) to restore all four files.

Comparing Folders Folder Compare can be used to compare two folders to identify duplicate files you can delete, and locate unique files you want to back up. Following are a couple of examples of how to use it to better manage your files.

Example: Eliminate duplicate files If you download many files from the Internet, this has happened to you at least once: you spend some time downloading a large program with an obscure file name and an .exe extension into a Download folder, and when you run it, disaster strikes. Instead of simply installing itself, this self-extracting Zip archive puts a large number of files (including the setup file) into your Download folder, hogging space on your drive. You’re not sure what files belong to this program, so you don’t know what you can safely remove. Folder Compare can help. 1. In the PowerDesk file manager, move the downloaded file to a new folder (let’s call it Program\Temp\) and double-click on it to extract it again. 2. Select the Download folder. This is where the files you want to remove are. 3. Select Tools, Compare Folders. 4. Use the folder tree to select the folder with all the good files in it (Program\Temp). 5. Check the Duplicate box. 6. This identifies the files in the Download folder that you want to delete. 7. Click OK. All the duplicate files in the Download folder will be highlighted. Click on the Delete key to send those files to the Recycle Bin. If you are sure you won’t need these files, you can also click on the Trashcan button in the PowerDesk Toolbar to remove them completely.

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Backup checkup: Finding unique files If you use Zip archives to back up data to diskettes, PowerDesk can help you in two ways. Unlike most other zip programs, PowerDesk can show you the contents of a Zip archive, just as if it were another folder. Because of this, you can use Folder Compare to make sure the files you zipped up are all there. Here’s how: 1. Name the Zip archive A:\folderbackup.zip. Keep the folder on your hard drive highlighted after the zip process is finished. 2. Select Tools, Compare Folders. 3. Use the folder tree to locate the diskette drive A:\folderbackup.zip. 4. Select the Unique check box. 5. Click OK. Any files not included in the backup will be highlighted. Copy them to the diskette. Caution: This only works if they will fit on one disk. If you get a “disk full” message, you will have to re-zip the original folder.

Printing files You can print any file from PowerDesk that has an associated program. Windows uses associations to associate various types of files with applications. For example, text (TXT) files are usually associated with Notepad and Write (WRI) files are associated with WordPad. To do your own file associations, see page 58. To print a file that has an association: 1. Select the file you want to print from the file pane. 2. Select File, Print, File. 3. Click Print. Alternatively, you can right-click a file, and then select Print from the context menu. PowerDesk will then briefly launch the associated application and use the application’s Print command to print the file.

PowerDesk User Manual

Other Printing Tasks Do you want to print a list of files in a specific folder? See “Printing the file list” on page 34. To see how to print your tree pane (or a portion of it), see “Printing the Tree Pane” on page 28.

Emailing a file You can use PowerDesk to email a file if your system has a properly installed and configured email package.

The Send menu item is only available if your system contains a properly installed and configured MAPI-compliant electronic mail package.

To send a file, follow these steps: 1. Locate and select the file in the file pane. The file you want to send must have the focus as indicated by the dashed rectangle around the file name. 2. Select File, Email to or press Ctrl-M. The standard window for your email program will appear. 3. Use the email program to send your file.

Large files can take a long time to upload and download. You may want to use PowerDesk to zip up a large file before mailing it.

UUEncoding email attachments Data other than text must be converted to a text equivalent before it can be sent over email, which is a text medium. One means of converting or coding data is V Communications, Inc.

UUEncoding. Many email software packages UUEncode and decode file attachments automatically, but for those users whose email program does not, PowerDesk includes commands to both UUEncode and decode files. To UUEncode a file for sending over email: 1. Select a file to mail. 2. Select Archive, UUEncode file. The UUEncode file dialog box appears:

3. Select a folder in which to save the encoded file. You can either type a destination path in the Save in Folder box, or navigate to the folder using the tree pane, and then click a destination folder. 4. Select the appropriate options. Add cut line will add cut lines to the file. The benefit of this is that when the file appears in an email message that includes both the coded file and a real message, both the user and decoding software will have an obvious clue as to where each section begins and ends. Split size for encoded file will split large files into multiple, smaller blocks that are no larger than the size indicated in the KB box, which you can change. This option is especially useful for those whose mail servers have limits on the size of messages that are sent and received.

PowerDesk User Manual

5. Click OK. After you have UUEncoded the file, run your email program, begin a message to the intended recipient, add the UUEncoded file to the message, and then send the message.

Decoding email attachments PowerDesk can decode files encoded with UUEncode, MIME, XXEncode and BinHex. To decode an email attachment: 1. Save the email message that contains the attachment to your hard drive. 2. In PowerDesk, select the saved file. 3. Select Archive, Decode File. The Decode File dialog box appears:

4. On the left side of the dialog is a window that identifies the name of the coded file(s). This will, in nearly all cases, be different from the name of the saved attachment. On the right side is the Save in Folder box. This is where you specify the folder where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to put the decoded file(s). Type a path in the box, or navigate to the proper folder using the tree pane. 5. Click OK. The decoded file will then appear in the folder that you selected. V Communications, Inc.

File security For users who need to keep data secure, PowerDesk provides the means to encrypt and decrypt files, and to destroy files beyond recovery, much like a paper-shredder for electronic files.

Encrypting and decrypting files You can encrypt current files so that unauthorized users cannot read or execute them. Default encryption performs a standard encryption that provides adequate security for ordinary purposes. However, you can specify 56-bit DES encryption if your work requires full Department of Defense-standard file encryption. When you encrypt a file or folder, PowerDesk creates a new file with a *.pde extension. To encrypt or decrypt files: 1. Select the file(s) to encrypt or decrypt. 2. Select File, Encrypt/Decrypt. The Encrypt/Decrypt dialog box appears:

3. If you select a folder and want to include all the files and folders contained in the folder, select the Include subfolders radio button. 56

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4. If you want to specify a file different from the one selected, select the File(s) radio button, and type the file name. When selecting multiple files, separate each file name with a semicolon.

If you enter a file name in this box, you cannot use the Include subfolders option above. If, however, you use wildcards to search for files, you can use this to include subfolders in that search.

5. The To text box will identify the folder where the encrypted file (with a PDE extension) will be. By default, this is the current folder.

If you type a file name in this box, the PDE file will not be created. If you then try to open the file without decrypting it first, the encrypted file will open. You may confuse this with a corrupted file.

6. Enter a key in the Key text box. The key must be between 3 and 32 characters.

Be very careful when you assign a key to encrypt files because if you cannot remember the key, you cannot decrypt the file to make it usable again. The key is stronger than a simple password—it codes all your data.

7. Select appropriate options. •

DES encryption uses 56-bit encryption instead of the standard encryption. Keys are restricted to eight characters.

•

Delete and destroy the source file(s) will destroy the original files once they have been encrypted or decrypted. If you don’t check this box, an unencrypted copy of the file will remain.

•

Overwrite existing files will overwrite any older versions of the file that you specified in step 3.

8. Click Encrypt to encrypt files, or Decrypt to decrypt files. When encrypting, PowerDesk will add a PDE extension to the files. V Communications, Inc. 57

Destroying files You can securely delete files so that they can never be recovered. Destroy completely wipes the files by writing repeatedly over their assigned clusters on the disk with random zeros. This process takes considerably longer than using any of the other Delete methods. We recommend only using this option when you absolutely have to.

It is impossible to recover destroyed files.

To destroy a file: 1. Select one or more files. 2. Select File, Destroy. 3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Associating file types Associating a file type with a certain extension, such as EXE, TXT, or GIF, opens the file type with a particular application. Among other things, associating a file type makes it possible to open data files by double-clicking the file. To associate a file type: 1. Select a file of the type that you want to associate with an application. 2. Select File, Open With/Associate. A list of programs appears in a list:

PowerDesk User Manual

3. Select the application that you want to associate with this type of file. If the correct application is not in the list, click Other, select the application, and then click Open. 4. Check the option Always use this program to open this type of file. 5. Click OK.

Opening files and starting applications You can start an application directly from the file pane by double-clicking the item you want to open or run. You can also open a file using the Open command, using the Edit File command, or using the Open With/Associate command.

Using the Open command Using the Open command is the same as double-clicking a file: it starts the fileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s associated application, and then opens the file for editing. V Communications, Inc.

To start an application using the Open command: 1. Right-click a file. 2. Select Open.

Using the Edit File command The Edit File command is only used to open text files. To open a text file with a text editor: 1. Select a text file. 2. Although most text files are TXT files, many other types of files also contain text such as BAT files, CFG files, and COM files. 3. Select File, Edit File. To change the default text editor, do the following: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Click the File Viewer tab. 3. Type the name and path of your preferred text editor, or click your text editor. Double-click the executable to select it.

to locate

4. Click OK.

Using the Open With/Associate command This command opens the Open With dialog box. From this dialog box, you can select an application with which to open the selected file. To open a file with the Associate command: 1. Select a file. 2. Select File, Open With/Associate. 3. The Open With dialog box will appear. 4. Select the application you want to use to open the file. 60

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5. Make sure that the Always use this program to open this type of file is not checked. 6. If the option is checked, then that file type is always associated with the selected application. 7. Click OK.

Running programs, opening URLS, and opening files or folders You can open the Windows Run dialog box from PowerDesk. From this window, you can run a program, open a URL (the Uniform Resource Locator, or World Wide Web location), or open a folder or file. If you open a file, the associated application will open with the file loaded. To open the Run window: 1. Select File, Run. The Run dialog box will appear.

2. Type the name of the program you want to run, the URL you want to open, or the Folder or File you want to open. The drop-down list box displays the last 16 entries. You can select one of the entries instead of typing in a new one. 3. Click OK.

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Setting the date and time for a file You can set the date and time stamp of your files. This is usually the date and time the file was made. To change the date and time of a file: 1. Select a file or group of files. 2. Select File, Set File or Folder Date/Time. The Set Date and Time for Selected File(s) dialog box appears:

3. Set a date. You can either type numbers directly into the Month, Day, and Year text boxes, or you can use the spin buttons to increase or decrease the values. By default, the boxes will show the current date and time. Click the Show file's date button to put the original date and time information (of the first file in the set) in the boxes. 4. Set a time. You can either type numbers directly into the Hour, Minutes, and Seconds text boxes, or you can use the spin buttons to increase or decrease the values. Also specify whether the time is AM or PM. By default, the boxes will show the current date and time. Click the Show file's date button to put the original date and time information (of the first file in the set) in the boxes. 5. Click OK.

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Managing the Recycle Bin Your Windows Recycle Bin has several configuration options. The Recycle Bin is where deleted files are stored. To configure the Recycle Bin: 1. Select Tools, Recycle Bin, Properties. 2. Click the Global tab. 3. Select one of the following: •

Configure drives independently. Select this button if you want the Recycle Bin properties to be different for each drive. Then click the tab for each drive and make the appropriate settings.

•

Use one setting for all drives. Select this button if you want the Recycle Bin properties to be the same for each drive. The properties specified on the Global tab will be used for all drives.

4. If you want files immediately deleted and not moved to the Recycle Bin, select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin check box. 5. Move the slider bar to set the maximum size of the Recycle Bin. You can conserve space on your disk drive by reducing the size of the Recycle Bin. 6. If you want a confirmation message displayed when the files are deleted from the Recycle Bin, select the Display delete confirmation dialog box check box. This can help prevent you from accidentally deleting files that you want to keep. If the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin setting is selected, the setting cannot be changed. 7. Click OK.

To empty the Recycle Bin: •

Select Tools, Recycle Bin, Empty Recycle Bin.

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Disk operations Disk operations in PowerDesk include copying, labeling, formatting, and erasing disks. You can also create a Rescue/Startup disk.

Copying disks PowerDesk can be used to copy the contents of a removable disk to another disk. To copy a disk: 1. Select Tools, Copy Disk. 2. Select the disk you are copying from and the disk you are copying to. 3. Click the Start button.

Labeling disks The disk label is an identifying name for the drive. The disk label can be changed at any time. To label a disk: 1. Select Tools, Label Disk. 2. Select the disk you want to label and click OK. 3. In the Properties dialog box, type a label and then click OK.

Formatting disks PowerDesk can be used to format a removable disk for any of your drives. To format a disk: 1. Insert the disk into its drive. 2. Select Tools, Format Disk. 3. Select the disk you want to format, and click OK. 64

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4. Select the format type and enter a disk label. 5. Click Start.

Erasing disks PowerDesk can be used to erase all the files on the selected diskette. To erase files on a diskette: 1. Insert the diskette into its drive. 2. Select Tools, Erase Diskette. 3. Select the disk you want to erase, and click OK. 4. Click OK to confirm that you want the disk erased.

Network operations Network operations in PowerDesk include mapping a network drive and unmapping a network drive.

Mapping a network drive Mapping a network drive assigns a drive letter to a network computer or folder. To map a network drive: 1. Select Tools, Map Network Drive. 2. In the Drive text box, specify the drive letter that will be used to map to the network computer. Windows automatically selects the next available drive letter. To specify a different drive letter, type the letter or select one in the list. 3. In the Path text box, specify the path of the shared folder you want to connect to. In most cases, type the path in the following format: \\computername\foldername

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To select a shared folder that you connected to recently, select one from the drop-down list. 4. Click OK.

Unmapping a network drive Unmapping a network drive unmaps one or more network drive assignments for your computer. To disconnect from a network drive: 1. Select Tools, Unmap Network Drive. 2. In the Drive list box, select the resource with the drive letter assignment you want to remove. 3. Click OK.

Unmapping a network drive unmaps the drive letter, but does not log you off your server. You will still have access to your network drive(s) through Network Neighborhood.

Adding and removing programs You can use PowerDesk to run the Windows install and uninstall applications. The following instructions are for Windows XP/2003, but older Windows operate in a similar fashion. To add/remove programs: 1. Select Tools, Add/Remove Programs. The Add or Remove Programs dialog appears. 2. In the left column, select the action. For example, click on Change or Remove Programs and then: â&#x20AC;˘

Locate the program name and highlight the choice.

â&#x20AC;˘

Click on the Change or Remove button.

3. Follow the on-screen instructions. 66

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Using the Command Line Simply type the command in the command line box, and then press the Enter key. You can display and select the most recently executed commands by clicking the down arrow in the command line box.

Opening a Command Prompt window To open a DOS style command line based Window: â&#x20AC;˘

Select Tools, Open Command Prompt.

A DOS style command prompt window appears.

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6: Working with Compressed Files

Understanding file compression The first time you ever received a compressed or “zipped” file via email, or someone gave you a zipped file on a CD, you might have been completely confused. The file had a .zip extension, or an .exe extension, or it maybe had any of a host of other extensions (.arc, .arj, .lzh, .lha, or others). If you had never seen a file like that before, you probably had no idea what to do with it. As you may know, many people compress files before emailing them. Furthermore, almost all files you download from the Internet are compressed in one form or another. Otherwise, those downloads that take an hour might take 5 to 10 times longer. File compression is a common tool of the computer world, and particularly the Internet, so it’s critical to know how to compress and uncompress files. You can use PowerDesk to make, view, extract, and add to Zip archives. PowerDesk will also create self-extracting archives, which means you no longer have to worry about whether your recipient has a Zip program. This chapter describes these options.

In addition to Zip archive support, PowerDesk also displays and extracts files from the following archive types: .arc, .ark, .arj, .as, .bin, .btoa, .bz2, .cab, .compact, .cpt, .dwc, .freeze, .gz, .hqx, .jar, .lha, .lzh, .mime, .pak, .pf, .rar, .sit, .sitx, .sco, .tar, .taz, .tgz, .uu, .ync, .z, .zip, .zoo.

File Compression Primer This section is a primer for novices in the field of file compression. We’ll introduce the concept of file compression, the types of compressed files, the concept of decompressing files, and what self-extracting executables (sometimes known as selfextracting zips) are. Believe it or not, file compression has been around for over 20 years. In those days, the Internet was little known outside of academia, personal computers were the 68

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province of electronics hobbyists, and storage space on those personal computers was scarce and expensive. One thing many of those hobbyists did once they got modems was set up Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that allowed other hobbyists with modems to communicate with each other. In due time, BBS’s were places where programmers could share programs they’d written with other folks on the system. There were two problems with transferring programs from one computer to another via modem: First, programs usually contained more than one single file, and if any file didn’t make it intact to the other computer, the program wouldn’t run. Second, because modems were very slow—transferring a negligible 300 bits per second in the early days, compared to today’s fast broadband connections—it could take hours to get even a fairly small file by today’s standards. While not the first to develop a scheme to solve these problems, Phil Katz’s ZIP format became the favorite method of PC users in the early 1990s. The ZIP format allows you to put multiple files inside a single package (thus, an archive, or collection of files) and then compress those files so that it takes up the least disk space possible. ZIP compression was used mostly for archiving files on disk, or transferring or storing files to removable media like DVDs, CDs, USB drives and diskettes. For small media such as diskettes, you’re limited to about 1.4 megabytes. You couldn’t have any single file larger than that without archiving. Furthermore, if you had many large files to copy to the media, it could require spreading them across more than one media. Compressing the files often means using one CD instead of ten (or far fewer of the selected media)). The ZIP format even allows you to put large compressed files on a series of media. Incidentally, “Zip” disks are not really related to Zip archives (though you can certainly use PowerDesk to put a compressed archive on a Zip disk). Often, any file you download from the Internet is compressed in some way. This is to minimize download time and to easily transfer large numbers of files within one compressed file. It is inconvenient, risky, and time-consuming to try to transfer a group of files over the Internet. The more files you transfer, the longer it takes, the higher the chances of receiving a corrupted file, and the more potential you have for confusion. Putting all the files into one compressed file reduces that risk, reduces download time, and simplifies the process (one file is much easier to download than 200 files).

How does compression work? PowerDesk uses a compression algorithm, which is essentially a mathematical formula that scans the data in the file for compressible information. For example, any repeating pattern can be represented once. If you have a digitized picture in bitmap V Communications, Inc.

format (.bmp), it may have lots of solid colors. Since a solid color is essentially a bunch of same-color pixels, the compression program can represent any solid color with a few symbols that tell it what the color is and how many times it is represented in the patch of color.

Compressed File Almost any type of file can be compressed, even different types of files in the same compressed file

Similarly, text files are composed of repeating patterns of the same 26 letters, 10 digits, spaces and punctuation marks. If you have one symbol that represents however many instances of a given letter in that file, you should get pretty good compression. This is all accomplished without losing any information contained in the archive. If you have a picture that was 875,000 bytes large before you compressed it, it will be 875,000 bytes when you decompress (unzip) it laterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even if the picture was 100,000 bytes while it was compressed. A document that was 15 pages long before you zipped it will still be 15 pages long when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unzipped.

The first type: Standard Compressed Archives A standard compressed archive contains one or more files that were compressed into a single file. In order to decompress that file so you can use it, you need either the same program that compressed it, or another program that understands that particular compression format. There are many compressed file formats. The ZIP format is by far the most common compressed file format for the PC, but there are others such as ARJ, RAR, and PAK. PowerDesk can also decompress files created with the most popular compression formats for Mac, Unix and Linux computers (SIT, TAR, GZ and others).

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For standard compression, most of the compression programs work in basically the same way; some are just more efficient or faster than others. Any file you see with a .zip extension is most likely a compressed file in the ZIP format. When you hear someone talking about “zipping a file,” they mean that they are compressing a file into the ZIP format, thus creating a separate, smaller file with the .zip extension.

The second type: Self-Extracting Executables The main weakness of the standard compression formats is that you need a separate program (like PowerDesk) to be able to use zipped files. Wouldn’t it be great if zipped files would just unzip themselves when you double-clicked on them? Well, they can. Enter the self-extracting executable. Self-extracting executables, also called self-extracting zip files or archives, are a very useful type of compressed file. This type of file not only contains the compressed files—it can also extract those files itself. You don’t need any additional zip software to extract the compressed files—you just double-click on it as you would on any program. This is particularly useful if you are sending files to someone who may not have Zip software. A self-extracting executable throws in a small (56 kilobyte) program that automatically unzips the compressed files (usually in a temporary folder). This makes it a little larger than a standard archive, and it’s a little less flexible. PowerDesk Pro lets you create self-extracting archives from any file (or group of files) on your computer. If you plan to email files to other users, we recommend not making a self-extracting executable. Because many viruses have also been emailed to users in an executable file, some users and companies now refuse to open any executables, even ones that are safe! In these cases, sending the compressed file is best.

Viewing archives You can view Zip-compatible archives and a number of other archives in the PowerDesk tree and file panes. Because compressed archives contain files, similar to how folders contain files, PowerDesk treats archives in the same way it does folders. Thus, to display the contents of an archive, click once if the file appears in the tree list, or double-click it if the file appears in the file list, and its contents will appear in the file pane. Once you have opened a archive for viewing, for the zip format and a few others, you can add files to or extract files from the archive. V Communications, Inc.

Finding files inside archives File Finder will look for files matching your other search criteria inside archives. When defining a search, check the Search in Archives box under the Attributes tab. For more information, see â&#x20AC;&#x153;Setting up search criteriaâ&#x20AC;? on page 104.

Creating a new Zip archive To make a new Zip archive: 1. In PowerDesk, select one or more files or folders to compress. 2. Select Archive, Zip. The Zip dialog box appears:

3. Type the Destination Zip Archive name and path. You should always specify a .zip file extension for your archives. You can also use the Browse button to specify the folder for a new archive or to select an existing archive. If you want to place the file on diskette(s), type A:\filename.zip. If the Zip archive takes up more than 1.4MB, PowerDesk will prompt you to insert additional disk(s) if necessary. 4. Type a Password (optional). If you would like to encrypt the Zip archive so that only those people that have the password can access it, then enter a password in this text box. If you specify a password, be sure to remember it!

If you forget your password, you will not be able to extract files from the archive.

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5. Click OK. These steps are quick and easy and take advantage of the default values for most of the options in the Zip dialog.

Advanced Zip options The default values are optimal for the majority of users, but can be changed to take full advantage of the powerful Zip features provided in PowerDesk. To open the advanced options, click Options in the Zip dialog box. It appears as:

â&#x20AC;˘

Paths: If you are zipping files with (or in) subfolders, preserve the path structure with these options: Store relative paths will save the path up to the parent folder, so that if you zip a folder F:\My Music, the compressed files could be extracted to C:\My Documents\Music (or any other place on the computer). The same folder zipped with Store Full Paths would unzip only to F:\My Music. Store No Paths (the default) retains no path information, so the files (and any subfolders) in F:\My Music would unzip anywhere on the computer.

â&#x20AC;˘ Action. Specifies one of four actions when making the archive. V Communications, Inc.

Add will add the compressed files to a new or existing Zip. The original files are not deleted. Move will add the compressed file to the Zip, and then delete the original version, effectively “moving” the file into the Zip archive. Only compress if newer: If you are zipping to an existing archive, you can select this option to freshen the archive. That is, PowerDesk will compare the files in the archive with the original source files. If the source files match and are newer than the files in the archive, the newer files will be added to the archive. Only compress if newer or not in Zip file. If you select this option, PowerDesk will compare the files in the archive with the original source files. If the source files match and are newer than the files in the archive, the newer files will be added to the archive. If the source files are not in the Zip archive, then they will be added. •

Compression. When choosing a compression setting, you must decide the relative importance of effective compression and speed because the more effective the compression, the longer it takes to compress and decompress the file later. Likewise, the faster the compression and later decompression of the files, the larger the size of the Zip archive. Maximum results in the smallest files, but takes the longest to compress. Normal balances speed and efficiency. Fast yields fast compression, but lower compression efficiency. Super Fast results in the fastest compression, but in the lowest efficiency. None adds the file to an archive without compressing it.

•

Options. Options include the following: Include Subfolders. If you choose to compress a folder, you will have to check this option to compress its subfolders as well. Store filenames in DOS format. When checked, the archive and its contents are stored in standard DOS 8.3 file names. You should use this option if you are planning to use this Zip archive in with old OSes such as DOS or Windows 3.x. Keep Zip file date. When checked, the original Zip archive date is not modified.

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Adding Files to a Zip Archive You can add files to existing Zip archives with the Zip to dialog box, but there is a tool dedicated to adding files to existing Zip archives. To add files to an existing Zip archive: 1. Locate and select the existing Zip archive in the tree pane. 2. Select Archive, Add Files to Zip. The Add to Zip dialog box will appear.

3. Using the navigation buttons, find the folder containing the files you want to add. 4. Select what types of files to display. You can narrow down what types of files are displayed in the file list by selecting one of the Files of Type options.

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5. Select the file(s) and/or folders that you want to add to the existing Zip archive. As in Explorer and My Computer, you can click, Ctrl-click, and or Shift-click selections. Selecting an item will automatically add its name to the File name text field. You can also type in a partial name to add all the files whose name matches the pattern. For instance, you can type, *.wav to add all the files in the folder whose extension is wav. You can use a combination of name patterns, specific names, and folders, remembering to separate all entries with a semicolon. 6. Choose the appropriate Paths, Action, Compression, Password, and miscellaneous Options. 7. Click OK. The selected files will be added to the archive. These steps take advantage of the default values for most of the options in the Add to Zip dialog box, which are optimal for the majority of users.

Making a self-extracting archive Making self-extracting .exe files is a cinch with PowerDesk. 1. Select the file(s) you want to compress and archive. 2. Go to Archive, Create Self-Extracting Zip. 3. Give the archive a name. PowerDesk will select a default name, but you can type an alternate name and path in the Destination Zip archive box. Be sure to include the .exe extension to the file. 4. (Optional) Select a password for added security for the archive. 5. (Optional) If you would like to add advanced information to your self-extracting file, click the Options button. 6. Click OK to make the archive.

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Advanced Options Clicking the Options button in the Self Extracting Zip dialog box gives you these choices for customizing the process of creating a self-extracting archive: •

Type: Enter the operating system of choice. Choose “All Windows” only if you need to support running on Windows 3.x.

•

Title: The heading that will be displayed in the extraction window when the files are extracted (unless you check Run Silent below).

•

Message: A message to describe the process. Add any special information here.

•

Default extract folder: The default location to extract the files. Type a period in the box to make the archive extract into the current folder.

•

Run when done: Enter the name of a setup or installation program if you would like to run it after the extraction. You can also show the readme or other text file. If you have Run Silent checked below, make sure you specify a file here.

•

Confirm Overwrites: Pop up a confirmation box so user can approve the extraction.

•

Run silent: Check this box to have the program extract without any user interface or input. The self-extracting Zip will simply extract to the default folder you set in the Folder tab. If you check this box, don’t set anything under the Title tab (below); the extraction window will not appear.

•

Chunk size: If you want to create the self-extracting executable in "chunks" enter the chunk size in KB here. For example, enter 640000 if you plan to save the zips to multiple CD-Rs (640 MB each).

Extracting files from an archive The process of decompressing a file and removing it from an archive is called extracting. You must extract a file from an archive before you can use it. With PowerDesk, you can extract files from any Zip-compatible archive as well as from .arc, .ark, .arj, .as, .bin, .btoa, .bz2, .cab, .compact, .cpt, .dwc, .freeze, .gz, .hqx, .jar, .lha, .lzh, .mime, .pak, .pf, .rar, .sit, .sitx, .sco, .tar, .taz, .tgz, .uu, .ync, .z, and .zoo archives. To extract a file from an archive: V Communications, Inc.

1. Locate and select the archive in the PowerDesk tree pane. 2. In the file pane, select the files that you want to extract. If you want to extract all the files in the archive, you do not have to make a selection. 3. Select Archive, Extract. The Extract dialog appears:

4. Choose a folder to Extract to. You can either type the destination path directly in the text box, or you can browse your files and folders in the tree pane of the Extract dialog box, and then click the folder that you will extract the archive to. 5. Enter any Decryption Password. If the archive is encrypted, you must specify the password to extract the files. If the archive is not encrypted, you may skip this step. 6. Click Extract. These steps take advantage of the default values for most options in the Extract To dialog box and can be used for the majority of extraction operations. You can manipulate the following options for more advanced extraction operations.

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Extract Options •

Files. All files in archive is the default selection. If you selected files in Step #2 above, the dialog box will select Selected file(s) only. If you didn’t select files earlier, but decide that you want only certain specific files extracted now, you can type in the filename(s) in the Files text box.

•

Action. Select the method of extraction. Extract extracts all the selected files to the destination folder. Only extract if newer extracts only those files whose name match a file in the destination folder, and that are newer than the match. Only extract if newer and not in dest. folder is similar to the previous option, but it also extracts files that have no match in the destination folder.

•

Include Original Path (if any) extracts files to their original locations if path information was stored when the files were compressed. If necessary, the folder structure is recreated on your computer when path information is stored. If no path information was stored, the files are extracted to the destination folder specified in Extract to folder.

•

Overwrite existing files extracts files to the selected destination folder, overwriting any existing files of the same name. No confirmations are provided when this option is checked.

•

Remove extracted files from Zip deletes the files from the archive after they are extracted, effectively “removing” them from the archive.

Editing Zip comments Each Zip archive can contain a comment that is simply a text message, such as a catalog of the archive, or a message to the recipient of the archive. To view and edit Zip comments: 1. Select the Zip archive. 2. Select Archive, Edit Zip Comments. 3. View or edit the comments. You can either read the comments, or edit them by clicking in the edit window, and then typing or deleting text. 4. Click Save or Cancel.

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If you read the comments without making changes, you can click either Save or Cancel to exit. If you edited the comments, then click Save to save the edited comments and exit.

You can add a comment/note to any file in PowerDesk. See “Adding notes to files” on page 163.

Testing a Zip archive’s integrity You can test a Zip archive to verify that its contents can be decompressed successfully—that is, to test its integrity. To test the integrity of a Zip archive: 1. Locate and select a Zip archive that you wish to test. 2. Select Archive, Test Zip Integrity. 3. Enter a Decryption Password if one exists. An encrypted Zip archive cannot be tested without supplying the decryption key. 4. Click Test. The test will then be performed, and the results will be displayed in a message window.

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Setting archive-related preferences To set Zip-related preferences: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Select the Zip/UnZip tab and select any of the following preferences: Confirm on delete

When checked, you are prompted to confirm each operation that results in the deletion of a file or folder in a Zip archive.

Beep after archive operations

When an archive operation has been completed, a beep sounds.

Calculate number of files in zip

If you have the FileInfo column enabled, use this option to show the number files in a zip in the FileInfo column. If there are many zip files in a directory, it may slow the display while it gathers this information.

Show compressed files as folders

Treats archives as folders, displaying them in the tree pane, and displaying their contents in the file pane. Otherwise, archives are treated as regular files.

Open compressed files from the File List

Treats archives as folders, displaying them in the tree pane, and displaying their contents in the file pane, all in the same window. Otherwise, archives are displayed in the tree and file panes of a new PowerDesk window.

Associate archives with PowerDesk. Associate Archive Files

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PowerDesk User Manual

7: Synchronizing Folders Folder Synchronizer copies or moves files between two different folders. When would you want to use Folder Synchronizer? Here are some ideas: •

You have files that you edit on both your laptop computer and your desktop computer. Both machines need the latest version of those files.

•

Your share of the network is backed up every night. Your PC is backed up when you get around to it. Synchronize local data with the network share.

•

Back up selected files to a diskette or other external drive rather than using a dedicated backup utility.

Folder Synchronizer window components The Folder Synchronizer window is very easy to use. Following is a brief description of each component of the Folder Synchronizer window. Menu Bar Toolbar & include filter Folders & operation selection

File pane

Status bar

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Menus The menus contain all of the File Synchronizer functions. The File menu has the command to synchronize folders and gives you the option to cancel confirmation of the synchronization. You can access the History dialog box and control whether to submit operations as a "batch," which is faster, or as individual operations, which allows you to continue synchronizing after an error (like "Access denied"). The Edit menu lets you set filters and fonts. You can also stop an operation from this menu. Customize the elements of your display and manually refresh the screen with the View menu. The Help menu gives you access to online help.

Toolbar and include filter The toolbar has shortcuts to some menu commands, the File Filter box and the Include Subfolders checkbox. In the File Filter box, you can specify the files to include in your synchronizing operations. To display the toolbar: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Toolbar from the Synchronizer menu. Point the mouse over each tool button to see what the tool does.

The History Line Whenever you synchronize two folders, the folders, filters and other settings for that operation are stored in the Windows registry. The last eight synchronizations are available. Use the Synchronizer history listbox, or go to File, History to see the dialog box. In the History dialog, choose one of the Actions and click OK to repeat that synchronization. You can delete a setting with the Delete button. If you want Folder Synchronizer to start with the most recent History item, check the Start using most recent History settings box.

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Folder boxes and operation box The folder boxes display the name of the folders being synchronized. From them, you can select different folders. The operation box displays the specific operation that will be performed during synchronization. From this box you can select a different operation.

File pane The file pane is the largest component of the Folder Synchronizer window. It displays all files in each folder that will be synchronized. The display changes depending on what you specify in the Include filter and in the View menu. Files currently scheduled to be moved or copied appear in bold face. The middle of the display uses icons to indicate how each file in both folders will be affected by synchronization. The icons, also called action arrows, are as follows: Icon

Meaning The file in the left side of the window will be copied to the folder on the right. At the end of the operation, both folders will have this file. The file in the right side of the window will be copied to the folder on the left. At the end of the operation, both folders will have this file. The file on the left side of the window will be moved to the folder on the right. At the end of the operation, only the folder on the right will have this file; it will be deleted from the folder on the left. The file on the right side of the window will be moved to the folder on the left. At the end of the operation, only the folder on the left will have this file; it will be deleted from the folder on the right.

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The files are in each folder and are equal (synchronized). You will see this icon in three separate circumstances: â&#x20AC;˘ When you start Folder Synchronizer with one folder selected. â&#x20AC;˘ When the unchanged file is already in the target folder. â&#x20AC;˘ After you synchronize, all files that have been synchronized should be equal. You specified a filter, and the file has been filtered out. This file will stay in its location and will not be moved or copied during synchronization. The item is a folder This icon identifies a problem with this file. Folder Synchronizer is uncertain whether the file should be moved or copied, and therefore the files will be ignored during synchronization. The uncertainty may arise because a file in one folder has the same name as a subfolder in the other folder. Another case that might cause this icon to appear is when files of the same name and modification date have different sizes. In this case, the file will not be moved or copied. You are using Duplicate. The file on the right side of the window will be copied to the folder on the left, overwriting any earlier versions. At the end of the operation, both folders will have this file. You are using Duplicate. The file on the left side of the window will be copied to the folder on the right, overwriting any earlier versions. At the end of the operation, both folders have this file. This icon shows up when the Duplicate operation is selected and a file or folder exists on the target but not on the source. It indicates that the file or folder will be deleted during synchronization.

PowerDesk User Manual

The Duplicate operation attempts to make the target identical to the source. That means older files from the source can overwrite newer files on the target, and that files on the target may be deleted.

Moving the mouse over the action icon between two folders or files shows a button. If pressed, the action will only occur on that file or folder.

Viewer Pane If you need to confirm what's inside a file before moving it, the Viewer Pane lets you see it without opening the associated application. This is also useful if Folder Synchronizer's Duplicate process has consigned a file to deletion. To open the Folder Synchronizer Viewer Pane: 1. Select the file you want to view. 2. Go to View, Viewer Pane. A checkmark will appear next to the menu item. 3. Resize the pane by dragging a corner of the Folder Synchronizer window and/or the top of the viewer pane.

Status bar The status bar has two information panes (one on each end). Each one indicates how many files in its respective folder will be updated and/or deleted. To display the status bar: â&#x20AC;˘

Go to View, Status Bar.

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Synchronizing folders To synchronize two folders: 1. Start the Folder Synchronizer. See page 17 for details. 2. If necessary, select two folders to synchronize using the folder boxes or the History dialog box. It really does not matter what folder is in what position, as you can use the Operation box to transfer files in either direction in Step 4 below.

Avoid synchronizing root directories and system directories such as C:\Windows or its subfolders. Also, avoid synchronizing system files. Updating some system files might render your computer unbootable.

3. Specify an Include filter, if you want. Filters help you identify certain files to INCLUDE in a synchronization. For example, say you only want to synch up the current version of your PowerPoint presentation between your desktop and laptop, and leave the document files in the same folder alone. Type *.ppt in the Include box. You can use the include text box in the toolbar, or the Edit, Set Filters command to specify what files to include. See the following section, “Setting filters” on page 89 for more information. 4. Tell Folder Synchronizer how you want the folders synchronized. From the operation box, you can select whether to a) copy or to move b) the newer or the older files c) from one folder to the other, or from either folder to the other folder. You can also Duplicate the source folder (where the arrow is pointing from) on the target folder (where the arrow points to). Using the same example as in #3 above, let’s say you always edit PowerPoint presentations on your laptop while on the road. You want to make sure that when you get back to the office, your desktop PC has the latest version. Choose Copy Newer in this box with the blue arrow pointing from your laptop to the desktop. 5. Synchronize one or all files. If you click Synchronize in the toolbar, press Alt-S or select File, Synchronize, then all the items with action arrows will have that action carried out. The first time you carry out a synchronization, you will be asked to 88

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confirm the operation. Click OK to confirm. If you do not wish to confirm each synchronization, check the Don't show me this dialog anymore box. You can also synchronize one file at a time. If you move your screen pointer to the action arrow, the arrow will become a button. Clicking the button will cause that individual item to be synchronized. After the file is synchronized, its status changes to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Equal.â&#x20AC;? If the action is Delete, the file will be deleted and removed from the list.

Setting filters You can specify what files to include in the synchronization, in one of two ways. One is to use the Include text box in the toolbar, which sets only a name filter. A second way is to set name, attribute, and date filters in the Set Filters dialog box. To use the Set Filters dialog box: 1. Select Tools, Synchronize Folders menu in PowerDesk. 2. Select Edit, Set Filters from the Synchronizer menu, or click Synchronizer toolbar. The dialog appears:

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3. Set the Files filter. You can use wildcards to specify which files are considered for synchronization. For instance, you can include all files by typing *.*, or all document files by typing *. doc, and so on. You can use multiple name filters by separating them with a semicolon. For example, *.doc;*.wav would include all document files and all wave files. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like Folder Synchronizer to apply this filter to files in subfolders, check the Include Subfolders box. 4. Set Attributes filter. Attributes usually have a green box, indicating that the attribute is ignored when searching for files. A black check mark indicates that files must have the attribute to match. Finally, no check mark indicates that, to match, files must not have that attribute. 5. Set the Date Filter. Normally the Include option is set to Ignore, meaning that files will be included regardless of their date. You can select After to include files that were made after the indicated date. You can also select Before to include files that were made before the indicated date. To change the date, type the new date directly into the text box. 6. Choose whether to compare files by size or by comparing them bit-by-bit (binary). Comparing by size is faster, but if you have two different files that share the same size, name and date, they will be shown as equal (and will not synch) unless you choose to use binary compare. 7. Select or deselect the Missing files filter. If you want files that are in only one of the folders to be in both folders, then select this option. Files will then appear with the appropriate action arrow. If you want to synchronize only those files that are common to both folders, then make sure the option is unchecked. Missing files will then appear with the filtered icon. 8. Click OK. The file name filter in step 2 is duplicated on the toolbar. Whatever you set in either the toolbar or the Filter dialog box will appear in the other. Unlike the dialog box, when you type a filter in the text box, Folder Synchronizer reads the filter text box as you type, and resets the contents of the file pane.

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Display Options in the file pane In the file pane you can select new folders, display or hide a variety of files, view file properties, and open or run files.

Selecting different folders to synchronize There are two ways to change the selected folders. One way is to click the folder icons in the file pane. Clicking Up one level will immediately select the parent folder, while double-clicking any subfolders in the file list will immediately make that subfolder the current folder. A second way to select different folders is to use the folder boxes. To change folders with the folder boxes: 1. Click the list box of the folder that you will change. 2. Navigate your folders and select a folder by clicking it. You can click a folder’s symbol to expand the folder to the next level of folders. Likewise, you can collapse an expanded folder by clicking the folder’s symbol.

Displaying and hiding files in the file pane You can choose which files and folders are displayed in the file pane. To display or hide files in the file pane: 1. Select View in the Synchronizer window. 2. Select any of the following: Equal

Display files that are the same. Equal files are identified by the icon.

Not Equal

Display files that are not the same—that is, files that should be synchronized. Not Equal files are identified by action arrow icons.

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Filtered

Displays items that do not meet the Include criteria. Such items appear in the file pane identified by the icon.

Folders

Display folders that are normally hidden. Folders are identified by the icon.

File pane items appear in alphabetical order.

Changing the file pane font You can change the font that is used to display items in the file pane. To change the font: 1. Select Edit, Set Font or click

on the Synchronizer toolbar.

2. Select a font. Scroll through the font list, and then click a font. 3. Select a Font Style. Scroll through the style list, and then click a font style. If you select a different font style, the file pane will lose its ability to use the bold face to differentiate old and newer files. 4. Select a Font Size. Scroll through the size list, and then click a size. 5. Click OK to confirm your choices.

Refreshing the file pane If you are working in Folder Synchronizer, then switch to a different program, and then back to Folder Synchronizer, you should consider performing a refresh. A refresh will scan the open folders and update the file pane to reflect any changes since you initially started Folder Synchronizer. To refresh the file pane: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Refresh or click

on the toolbar.

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Displaying file properties Moving the mouse to any fileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s icon will display the following file properties: modification date, attributes, and size. If you right-click on a file, you can select Properties from the context menu to see all the fileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s properties.

Starting applications and opening files Double-clicking a file will launch the fileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s associated application, and open the file. Double-clicking a program file will start the program.

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8: PowerDesk FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard method of downloading and uploading files between two computers across the Internet. It is generally more direct and faster than transferring files through your web browser. There are two types of FTP sites: anonymous, and user-specific. The public download sites on the Internet use anonymous FTP. Anyone is allowed to download files from these sites, if you know how. While anonymous FTP sites ask for a password, you normally just enter your email address. Other FTP sites require a specific user name and password that is recognizable to the FTP server. This is generally for making large or company-specific files available to a select group. If you have a personal website, odds are you have to enter a user name and password to upload your pages. Otherwise anyone could put pages on your site. With PowerDesk FTP, you can: •

Connect to FTP sites.

•

Drag-and-drop to download or upload files as though the FTP site were just another folder on your system.

•

Add your favorite FTP sites to PowerDesk so connecting with them is only a click away.

•

Edit the site information any time.

•

Easily upload or download files.

•

Reconnect and restart interrupted file transfers.

PowerDesk FTP is available on the standard button bar list of folders in the tree pane.

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or at the bottom of the

As soon as you click on an FTP site icon, PowerDesk attempts to connect to that site. Once connected, the contents of the site are displayed in the right pane, just like a normal directory listing.

Setting up FTP sites To add a site, you need the site name, plus the correct user name (or anonymous for public sites) and password. The Wizard will walk you through this process. Right click here to Add a new site

These are some sites the user has already created

1. Right-click on the PowerDesk FTP icon in the left PowerDesk pane. 2. Select Add new site from the menu. The dialog appears:

PowerDesk User Manual

3. Enter the Site Name. This can be any name you wish, preferably a descriptive one that tells you what site this is. Add any additional descriptive text on the second line. Click Next to continue. 4. The second dialog box asks for this information: Address: Enter the correct site address. This may be something like ftp.yourcompany.com. Port: If this site uses a port other than the standard Port 21, change that here. If you do not know the port this site uses, keep it at 21. Click Next to continue. 5. On this screen, enter this information: Login: Enter the login name, or you can enter anonymous for public sites. Password: For anonymous sites, entering your email address is traditional, but any password will do. For other sites you must have the correct password. Click Next to continue 6. The last screen has two more bits of information: Start directory: Leave this blank for the root directory of the ftp site, or you can enter a subdirectory name on the FTP site if you wish (example: \music ) Passive Mode: This mode is required by the firewalls protecting many public FTP sites. Unless you know this site does not work in passive mode, leave this box unchecked. 7. Click Finish to complete the addition.

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Editing FTP site information To edit the information about a site: 1. Right-click on the site in PowerDesk. 2. Select Edit site from the menu. 3. Change any of the fields and click Ok to continue. See previous section for a description of the fields.

Connecting to an FTP site Once you have added an FTP site to PowerDesk, you can connect to it. Just click once on the specific site name in PowerDesk; this immediately causes PowerDesk to connect to the site, submit the login information from the setup, and notify you whether the connection was successful or not. As itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s connecting, it displays a dialog showing the connect progress. You can modify some of the settings in this dialog as well:

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Uploading or downloading files and folders Once you have established a connection, you can navigate around the FTP site (to permitted folders) as you would navigate around standard Windows folders. The easiest way to upload or download files is to drag and drop them from and to the desired location, just as you would any other file on your hard drive. You may want to set PowerDesk to dual-pane view (See “Display views” on page 30) to simplify this. With PowerDesk, you can also transfer the complete contents of folders to and from your hard drive. The other options for transferring files and folders are described below.

To download a file or folder: 1. Select the file(s) or folder(s) on the FTP site to download. 2. Right-click in the highlighted area and select Download to… from the context menu. 3. At the Download From FTP Site dialog box, navigate to the directory you wish to download the file to and click Ok. 4. The file(s) are then copied from the FTP site to the location you have chosen.

To upload a file or folder: 1. Click on the site icon. 2. Go to File, FTP, Upload from the PowerDesk menu. 3. In the Upload Files to FTP Site dialog, navigate to the correct directory and select the file(s) to upload to the FTP site. 4. Click Ok.

Resuming interrupted downloads One of the facts of Internet life is that connections break. No matter what kind of Internet connection you have, someday it will likely drop off. This can be particularly V Communications, Inc.

aggravating if this happens after you have downloaded 60 megabytes of a 62 MB program update. With PowerDesk FTP, you can pick up where you left off when your connection is restored.

Most, but not all, FTP servers support resumable downloads.

To resume an interrupted download: 1. Reconnect to the FTP site 2. Download (or upload) to the same location you were downloading to when the connection broke. PowerDesk will check for the presence of the file and ask if you want to replace the (incomplete) file on the system. Click Yes. PowerDesk will then attempt to resume the download. You should see the progress bar resume from the earlier download. If your server does not support resume, PowerDesk will give you an error message, and restart the download from the beginning.

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9: Finding Files and Folders No matter how well organized our drives are, it can sometimes be a challenge to locate that one thing we need at this very moment. There are thousands of files sitting on these enormous hard drives. PowerDesk gives you several tools to keep track of those essential files: •

File Finder is the faster, more powerful way to find files on your system. It lets you define as many (or as few) characteristics about a file that will help you locate it swiftly and accurately.

•

Dialog Helper’s Folder Tracker and File Tracker tools work inside most applications’ Open and Save dialog boxes to let you pull up more recently used files.

This chapter helps you use these tools to quickly find a desired file or folder.

Finding files, folders and Computers You can use the PowerDesk file manager to locate files, folders, and other computers that are connected to your computer. To locate files, folders, and computers: 1. Select Tools, Find. 2. Select one of the following File Finder

Opens the PowerDesk File Finder. For detailed information on this utility, see page 104.

Find Files or Folders

Displays the standard Windows utility for finding files and folders.

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Find Computer

Displays the Find Computer dialog. This dialog box can be used to search for a network computer by name.

File Finder window components The following components, labeled in the figure below, make up the File Finder window.

Menu Bar Toolbar Tabs Bar Search Buttons

Status icon

Search Results

Status Bar

Menus The menus have all of the File Finder commands. Many of the more popular commands can be found on the toolbar.

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Toolbar The toolbar contains shortcuts to many menu commands. You can add or remove tools from the toolbar, as well as arrange their order, just as in PowerDesk. To do so, follow the directions in “Customizing the toolbar” on page 124.

If you are unsure of what a specific icon does, move the cursor over an icon to see the tooltip explanation. The toolbar is displayed by default. To turn off the toolbar: •

Select View, Toolbars, Toolbar. The check mark next to the item will disappear, as will the toolbar.

Tabs bar You can use the Tabs bar to move from one category of search criteria to the next while you are setting the search criteria.

Search buttons The Search buttons carry out and display the searches in different ways. For more information on these buttons, see page 107.

Search results The search results window shows you all the files and folders that match the criteria that File Finder used to carry out the search. Items can be selected and opened from the list.

Viewer pane The viewer pane displays the contents of the item selected in search results. For detailed information on the viewer pane, see “Viewing images and other files” on page 135 where it describes the identical PowerDesk viewer pane. To display the viewer pane: V Communications, Inc.

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â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Viewer Pane.

Status bar The status bar has two information panes. The left pane tells you how many matching files and folders File Finder found, and their combined size in bytes. If you then select items from the results, the right side of the status bar tells you how many items are selected, and their combined size in bytes. By default, the status bar is on. To turn off the status bar: â&#x20AC;˘

Select View, Toolbars, Status Bar. The check mark next to the item will disappear, as will the status bar.

Searching for files The basic process for searching for files is very simple: 1. Set the search criteria. You can do this either by setting the criteria manually, or by loading previously saved criteria. To set the criteria manually, click the tab of the category by which you will search for files, and then select specific options as described in the following section, Setting up search criteria. To load saved criteria, see page 110. 2. Activate the search using the appropriate search button. The search buttons are described in Running the search on page 107. - or Use one of the Quick Search buttons on the toolbar.

Setting up search criteria You can use five categories of criteria by which to search for files with File Finder: General, Attributes, Details, Contents, and File Types. In addition there are five Quick Search buttons that perform an instant search for specific pre-set categories.

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General Options With the General options you can select what file names to look for, and where to look for them. 1. To look for files of a particular name or file name extension, type the name in the Named text field. For example, to find files that have “micro” in the name, type micro. Or to find bitmap files, type *.bmp. File Finder also stores previous search names, which you can display and select by clicking the down arrow on the Named box. 2. To find files that are on a certain drive, click the Drive(s) button, and then select all the drives in which you want to search. 3. To find files that are in a certain folder, click the Path button, and then type the path of the folder in which you want to search. If you don’t know the exact path, you can select the path with the Browse dialog by clicking Browse. To search in the subfolders of the specified path, select Include subfolders before beginning the search. File Finder also stores previous search paths, which you can display and select by clicking the down arrow on the Path box.

Attributes Options The Attributes tab lets you search based on file attributes and within Zip archives. 1. To specify file attributes for which to search, make the appropriate selections in the Attributes section. By default, all attributes have a gray check mark in the Filter dialog box. This gray check tells the filter to ignore attributes when searching for files. If you want to see only files that have a certain attribute, click the box until a black check mark appears. If you only want to see files that do not have a certain attribute, click the box until it is empty (white space). 2. If you want to search for files within Zip archives, check the appropriate box. This will slow down the search a little, but may also find an elusive file.

Details Options The Details options concern dates, times, and file sizes. You can find files that were created, accessed, or modified on, before, or after a specific date, or between, or not between two specific dates. To do so, follow these steps:

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1. Click Date, Time, or Size box to find files based on that criterion. Select the relationship from the list box. 2. In the Date and Time list, you could select Before or After a certain date or time. In the Size list, you could select Larger Than a certain size in bytes, or +/- 25% of, which means “within 25% of the byte size that you specify”. 3. Type the appropriate detail in the text box. 4. In the Date text box, you could specify 4/23/2005. In the Time text box you could specify 13:05. In the Size text box you could specify 5000 bytes. 5. Select whether you want to search for files that were Created, Modified, or Accessed at this time, and at this size. 6. You can find files that are equal to, smaller than, larger than, within 25%, or within 50% of a specific byte size, or between two specific byte sizes. To do so, select the appropriate relation from the list box, then in the text box type the size in bytes.

Contents Options You can search for text files that contain a specified line or “string” of text. To do so, type the string in the text box. To ignore the case of the letters check the option, Ignore case during search. If you want to see the text that matches your search in the results window, check the Show matching text box. Your results window will then look like this, with matching text in red.

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Running the search After selecting the search criteria, you can click one of the following buttons, each of which applies the search criteria and displays the search results: Find Now

This button will apply the search criteria to the files on your system, and then displays only the results of that search.

Refine

This button will apply the search criteria to the results of the previous search results, and then displays only the results of that search.

Append

This button will apply the search criteria to the files on your system, and then display the results along with the results of the previous search.

New Search

This button will clear all the search criteria and clear the list of search results if any are being displayed.

You can abort a search in progress by clicking Stop.

Quick Search The tool bar includes five quick search buttons. With these buttons you can select to immediately search for documents, images and photos, music and audio files, movie files or files modified today.

Select the desired button and the search will immediately begin.

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Button Description

Searches forâ&#x20AC;Ś

Document files *.doc, *.rtf, and *.txt files Picture files

*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.gif, *.bmp, *.tif, and *.png files

Music files

*.mp3, *.wav, *.ra, and *.ogg files

Movie files

*.avi, *.mpg, *.mpeg, *.wmv, *.mov, *.ram, and *.qt files

Current files

All files that have been modified today

Customizing Quick Search Buttons Each QuickSearch button is linked to a File Finder Settings (.pds) file saved in the PowerDesk installation folder. You can edit the settings file to add or remove different search criteria. The associated .pds filenames are listed in the table below. Button Description

File Finder Settings file

Document files docsearch.pds Picture files

picsearch.pds

Music files

audiosearch.pds

Movie files

moviesearch.pds

Current files

newsearch.pds

To change the search criteria for any of these QuickSearch buttons, edit the appropriate .pds file (see Opening Search Criteria on page 111), change the options as you wish and then save your changes (see Saving Search Criteria on page 110). 108

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For example, you want to add .pdf files to the Document Files QuickSearch button. 1. From the File Finder File menu, select Open Search Settings. 2. Select the file docsearch.pds and click Open. This resides in the directory where PowerDesk is installed, typically C:\Program Files\VCOM\PowerDesk. 3. In the Named box, type a semicolon (;) and add the new wildcard file extension (*.pdf) that you'd like to search for. 4. From the File Finder File menu, select Save Search Settings. 5. Select the file docsearch.pds and click Save. 6. A message box will appear stating that the file already exists. Click Yes to replace the file.

After the search Once you have completed the search, there are several things you may want to do in following up.

File operations You can perform basic file operations (move, copy, recycle, delete, view, and print) on the search results. To perform file operations: 1. Generate a list of files by performing a search. This process is described in “Searching for files” on page 104. 2. Select one or more files on which you will perform one or more file operations. For detailed information on selecting files, see “Selecting files and folders” on page 41. 3. Perform the file operation. You can do this either with toolbar tools or by context menu commands. For detailed information on file operations, see Chapter 4, Basic File Management with PowerDesk Pro, on page 41. V Communications, Inc.

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To use a toolbar tool, simply click the appropriate icon. To determine what command each icon represents, move the pointer to the icon and wait for approximately one second. A tool tip will then display the icon’s command. You can also use file context menu commands exactly as you would in Windows Explorer. The following File commands are available from the toolbar: Move to, Copy to, Recycle, Delete. The first three commands are standard Windows commands while the Delete permanently removes files from your system. The following Print commands are available from the toolbar: Print File and Print List. These commands are described in the section below. The following Selection commands are available from the toolbar: Select All selects all the listed files. Deselect All deselects all the listed files. Invert Selection selects all the unselected files, and deselects all the selected files. The Select Files command opens a dialog box in which you can select or deselect files based on certain criteria (attributes, file name, etc.)

Printing from File Finder You can print the contents of files or the list of search results. •

To print the contents of files, select one or more files, and then click the Print Files icon. A dialog box will appear to confirm your selection of files to print. If the list is correct, then click Print. A program such as Notepad will appear only momentarily and then the file will be printed.

•

To print the list of search results, click the Print List icon. A standard Print window will appear. Select any options that you need to, and then click OK. The list will then be printed from the printer specified in the Print window.

•

To print the contents of the viewer pane, select Print from the viewer menu (right-click the contents of the viewer pane to display the menu). This opens the standard Print window from which you can select a printer, and its settings.

Saving search criteria You can save any set of search settings within File Finder, and load them again in future sessions. To save the current search settings: 110

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1. Select File, Save Search Settings. The Save Search Settings dialog box will appear. 2. Type a name for the settings and click Save.

Opening Saved search criteria To open previously saved search settings: 1. Select File, Open Search Settings. 2. Select the file and click Open. Search files have the extension .pds.

Using the Dialog Helper Folder Tracker You can display a folder history unique to each of your applications, through which you can quickly display and select a folder to access. Folder Tracker will work in the standard Open and Save dialog boxes of most applications.

Showing the folder histories Normally Dialog Helper is installed with Folder Tracker turned on as part of the PowerDesk installation. If it is not installed or is inactive, follow these steps to activate the Folder Histories feature in your Open and Save dialog boxes: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Select Folder Tracker. A check mark indicates that the feature is active. 3. Click OK.

Using Folder Tracker To take advantage of Folder Tracker, do the following: 1. Open the Open or Save dialog box in an application. V Communications, Inc.

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2. Click on the Folder Tracker button in the title bar.

3. A list of previously accessed folders will appear. 4. Click a folder in the list to make it the current folder in the dialog box.

Clearing the folder history To clear the folder history from an application: 1. Click on the Folder Tracker button 2. Select Clear Folder List near at the bottom.

Using the Dialog Helper File Tracker You can add a document history unique to each of your applications. You can quickly display and select a file to open or save. File Tracker will work in the standard Open and Save dialog boxes of most applications.

Showing the document histories Normally Dialog Helper is installed with File Tracker turned on as part of the PowerDesk installation. If it is not installed or is inactive, follow these steps to activate the File Tracker feature in your Open and Save dialog boxes: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Select File Tracker. A check mark indicates that the feature is active. 3. Click OK.

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Using File Tracker To take advantage of File Tracker, do the following: 1. In an application, open the Open or Save dialog box. 2. Click on the File Tracker button in the title bar.

3. A list of previously accessed files will appear. 4. Click a document in the list to immediately load or save the file.

Clearing the document history To clear the document history from an application: 1. Click on the Folder Tracker button

. Select Clear Document List.

Adding an excluded application On rare occasions, the Open and Save dialog boxes of some applications will misbehave when Dialog Helper is installed. You can prevent Dialog Helper from seeing the application. To exclude an application: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Click Add an Excluded Application. 3. From the dialog box, click Add. 4. Find the application that is causing trouble, either from the Start Menu tree or by using the Browse button to search for the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main executable file. 5. Highlight the application so that it appears in the Application to Add box. 6. Click Add, then click Done. The application should now appear on the list. 7. Click Done. V Communications, Inc.

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Viewing files in a dialog box Have you ever wanted to see the contents of a file before opening it? Or when you were saving a file and found another file with the same name? For these situations, Dialog Helper now offers a file viewer inside a dialog box. The viewer behaves much the same as the viewer pane in PowerDesk, File Finder and File Synchronizer. See â&#x20AC;&#x153;Viewing images and other filesâ&#x20AC;? on page 135 for more information. You do not have to be running either the Folder Tracker or File Tracker to use the file viewer. You must, however, activate the viewer pane before you can use it.

Activating the file viewer To make the File Viewer available in your Open and Save dialog boxes: 1. Go to Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Check the File Viewer box. 3. Click OK. To open the Dialog Helper viewer pane: 1. Open the Open or Save dialog box in an application. 2. Locate and select the file you want to open and/or view. 3. Click the File Viewer button in the title bar.

4. The viewer pane will open on the right side of the dialog box. Resize the dialog box if necessary to see more of the file. You can view any file types supported by the PowerDesk viewer pane, not just files the application supports. Right-click in the viewer pane to access many display and action options. The file viewer will remain open for all dialog boxes inside that application until you close it. That is, if you open the file viewer in your text editor's Open dialog box, you will also see the viewer pane in the Save dialog box. The file viewer is application-specific. If you have it open in your text editor, it will not automatically be open in your HTML editor. You can, of course, turn it on in most standard Open or Save dialog box. 114

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To close the viewer pane, click the icon again.

Some applications do not use standard Open or Save dialogs. Nonstandard dialogs may prevent one or more dialog helper buttons in the title bar.

Automatically loading Dialog Helper at startup To set Dialog Helper to automatically load at startup: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Select Load Dialog Helper at Startup. A check mark indicates that Dialog Helper will load at startup. 3. Click OK.

Unloading Dialog Helper You can remove Dialog Helper by doing the following: 1. Select Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Dialog Helper. 2. Check Unload Dialog Helper Now. If you have Load Dialog Helper at Startup checked (see above), Dialog Helper automatically reloads when you restart Windows. Uncheck Load Dialog Helper at Startup if you want to remove all Dialog Helper components at startup. 3. Click OK.

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10: Customizing Windows and PowerDesk

PowerDesk gives you many options to improve and customize Windows to suit your own needs and preferences. PowerDesk is also endlessly configurable itself. This chapter will help you use the tools included in PowerDesk to do just that.

Setting file manager options and preferences You can customize PowerDesk using the Preferences dialog box.

Changing The File Managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Appearance The General Settings preferences set the file manager window appearance. To set General preferences, do the following: 1. Select Options, Preferences. The dialog appears:

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2. From the General Settings tab, select any of the following: Displays the full folder path of the currently Display the full folder path selected folder in the title bar of the PowerDesk in the title bar window.

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Display the path before PowerDesk in the title bar

Displays the name of the current directory before the “PowerDesk” title in PowerDesk’s title bar. Otherwise, the current directory is displayed after “PowerDesk” in the title bar.

Keep the file extension when renaming a file whose type is hidden

If Windows and PowerDesk are configured to hide registered file types, and you rename a file, PowerDesk will keep the original file extension for that file. So, if the .txt extension is hidden and you want to rename mydoc.txt to story.txt, you only have to type story.

Force refresh after file operation

Ordinarily, when you copy, move or delete a file, PowerDesk will automatically refresh the screen to reflect the change. Check this option to ensure that the screen refreshes each time you make changes. This may add a second or two to the operation.

Display compressed NTFS files and folders in alternate color

You can compress individual files and folders and still use them when using the NTFS file system under Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003. This option lets you display these compressed files and folders in a different color. Click the Set Color button to select the color.

Minimize to System Tray

Check this box to have PowerDesk minimize to a button in your system tray (in the lower right corner near the clock). This way, if you use PowerDesk frequently during your session, you can have easy access without PowerDesk taking up space on your taskbar.

Flat-style buttons

Buttons in the toolbar and launchbar start even with the rest of the display and press in when selected. PowerDesk User Manual

Resizable toolbars

Combines a toolbar, drivebar, launchbar, or command-line on one line to save screen space. If this is checked, you cannot wrap the toolbar or drivebar (and those options will be inactive).

Wrap toolbar

Wraps the toolbar to multiple rows, if necessary, to display all the tool buttons. Otherwise, the toolbar is limited to a single line, and may cut-off the rightmost buttons. This choice is not available if resizable toolbars is checked.

Wrap Drivebar

Wraps the drivebar to multiple rows, if necessary, to display all the drive buttons. Otherwise, the drivebar is limited to a single line, and may cut-off the right-most drive buttons. This choice is not available if resizable toolbars is checked.

Use PowerDesk to open My Computer and folders

When checked, PowerDesk will open My Computer or any folder. If Save Settings on Exit is also checked in the Options menu, PowerDesk will remember the settings of the folder being closed so that the next time, PowerDesk will open with the same settings.

Setting Viewer pane preferences Use the Viewer Pane preferences to identify and determine how the viewer pane deals with certain files. To set viewer pane preferences: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Click the File Viewer tab, and select any of the following:

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Text

The first two items here ask what the Viewer Pane should do when encountering a file it cannot view. By default, this button will be selected and the viewer pane will display the file’s contents using Text Mode. In Text Mode, the file’s data is displayed as decimal values.

Hex Dump

If you click this choice, when you select a file of a format that PowerDesk does not support, the viewer pane will display the file’s contents using Hex Mode. In Hex Mode, the file’s data is displayed as hexadecimal values.

Thumbnail size

This option defines the size of an image in Thumbnail view (see page 30). The default size is 120 pixels square. Use the scroll bar to make the thumbnail larger or smaller. You can set it at 40 pixels square to 300.

Enter the text editor you want to use when the File, Editor used when editing Edit File menu is selected. files Large File Viewing

Use this option to ignore viewing large files, which often take a long time to load.

Setting options for the PowerDesk context menus The Context Menu preferences affect the way PowerDesk right-click context menus appear, and what commands you can use from them. To set Context Menu preferences: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Click the Context Menus tab and select any of the following:

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Zip to, etc.

Check the menu commands that you want to include in your context menus.

Cascade Menus

When checked, the PowerDesk context menus are active, appearing grouped in a sub-menu.

Command Line You can set how the command line operates. 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Click the Command Line tab and select any of the following: Show current path in Command Line box

Make the current directory path appear in the command line box.

Delete to Recycle Bin

Send any item deleted with the command line to the Recycle Bin.

Prompt to confirm commands that result in Show Confirmation overwriting files Include folders in Copy

In Copy operations from the command line, include folders.

Saving Preferences To save the settings immediately: â&#x20AC;˘

Select Options, Save Settings Now.

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The current PowerDesk settings are immediately saved. This includes the current layout, preferences and toolbar/launchbar settings. To save the settings on exit: •

Select Options, Save Settings on Exit. When checked, PowerDesk will always start with the settings that it had before it was last exited. If unchecked, any changes made during a session will be lost when you quit PowerDesk (unless you use the Save Settings Now command).

Restoring Default settings Should you decide to put your columns back the way they were originally, clear your filters and just have one simple PowerDesk pane to look at, this is easily done. 3. Go to Options, Restore Default Settings. 4. A message will appear asking you to restart PowerDesk and commit the changes. Click OK. 5. Close PowerDesk. 6. When you restart PowerDesk: •

A single pane will appear.

•

Your Details View columns will be in their original, default order.

•

Any filters you had set will be cleared, and all your files will be visible.

Importing and Exporting Settings You can export your settings to a .stg file or import settings that were previously saved. Use this to provide a friend with your settings or perhaps implement a corporate standard. Two options are available: 1. Go to Options, Export Settings. 2. Specify where you wish to save the settings and the filename. - or -

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1. Go to Options, Import Settings. 2. Specify the filename and where you wish to get the settings.

The PowerDesk toolbar The PowerDesk toolbar provides quick access to most PowerDesk commands. When you install PowerDesk, the toolbar is configured for 22 tool buttons, although you can add or remove tools from the toolbar. To use a tool, simply click its button. To see the command a toolbar button represents, move your mouse over the button and a tool tip will display the command.

Setting toolbar preferences To set toolbar preferences: 1. Select Options, Preferences. 2. Select the General Settings tab. 3. In the Toolbars section, select any of the following: Flat-style buttons

Buttons in the toolbar and launchbar start even with the rest of the display and press in when selected, much like Microsoft Office toolbar buttons.

Resizable toolbars

Combines a toolbar, drivebar, launchbar, or command-line on one line to save screen space. If this is checked, you cannot wrap the toolbar or drivebar.

Wrap toolbar Wraps the toolbar to multiple rows, if necessary, to display all the tool buttons. Otherwise, the toolbar is limited to a single line, and may cut off the right-most buttons. This selection is not available if Resizable Toolbars is checked above.

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Customizing the toolbar You can customize the toolbar to include or exclude any of the available tools and you can rearrange the order in which the tools display. You can also customize File Finder and Size Manager toolbars the same way. To customize the toolbar: 1. Select Options, Customize Toolbar. The Customize Toolbar dialog box appears. The Available toolbar buttons list displays all the buttons that can be placed on the toolbar. The Current toolbar buttons list displays all the buttons currently on the toolbar.

2. To add or remove buttons, do the following: •

To add a button to the toolbar, select the button in the Available toolbar buttons list, and then click Add.

•

To remove a button from the toolbar, select the button in the Current Toolbar buttons list, and then click Remove.

Separators can also be added to or removed from the toolbar. Separators are short vertical lines that group buttons together. 3. To reorder the display of buttons and separators, do the following:

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•

To move an item up in the display order, select the button from the Current toolbar buttons list and click the Move Up button.

•

To move an item down in the display order, select the button from the Current toolbar buttons list and click the Move Down button. PowerDesk User Manual

The top-to-bottom order of the buttons in the Current toolbar buttons list reflects the left-to-right order the buttons will have in the actual toolbar. 4. Click Close. To reset the list to the default settings, click the Reset button in the Customize Toolbar dialog box.

The Launchbar The PowerDesk launchbar provides one-click access to your favorite programs and files. Clicking a file on the launchbar opens the file in the application that created it, and dragging a file from the file pane to a launchbar application opens the file in that application. When you install PowerDesk, the launchbar is configured with a few Launch buttons. You can, however, add programs to or remove programs from the launchbar. In addition, the Layout manager icons appear on the launchbar.

Customizing the launchbar To customize the PowerDesk launchbar: 1. Select Options, Customize Launchbar or right-click on the launchbar and click Customize Launchbar. The Customize Launchbar dialog appears:

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2. To remove unwanted files/programs, select the program/file in the Launch buttons window, and then click Delete. 3. To add a new file/program, click New Button. The dialog box provides all the necessary options to create a new QuickLaunch button. The options available are as follows: Command File

Specifies the path of the file, folder, application, or shortcut that you want to add to the QuickLaunch tool.

Start In

Specifies the working directory for the item named in Command File. The working directory typically contains application-specific files and data.

Optional Parameters

Lists any command line options that should be passed when opening the item in Command File.

Label

Specifies the label for the button. The QuickLaunch tool properties determine whether this label is displayed along with the button. The tool tip, also, displays the label.

Run

Indicates the type of window in which the item will open: a Normal window, a Minimized window, or Maximized window.

Icon

Displays the icon used to represent the item in the QuickLaunch tool. Click Select Icon to display a list of icons, one of which you can select to represent the QuickLaunch button.

You can also add a button to the launchbar by dragging and dropping a file onto the empty area of the launchbar.

Fill in the Launch Button properties. 4. To edit a button, select the program/file in the Launch buttons pane, and then click Edit. Then make your modifications. 126

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5. To reorder the launchbar buttons, select a button, and then drag it to its new position. The top-to-bottom order of the buttons in the Launch buttons list reflects the left-to-right order the buttons will have in the toolbar.

Setting Keyboard Shortcuts You can configure PowerDesk to add or change function shortcuts or emulate an older file manager. To set or change shortcuts: 1. Select Options, Customize Shortcuts. The dialog appears:

2. To change the shortcut assignment, select the category (like File), then the sub-function (like Move to). The current shortcut, if any, is shown. To delete the shortcut, select the desired current shortcut key, and click Delete. To add a new shortcut, click in the New shortcut key box and press the desired key. You can also change the entire set of keyboard shortcuts. Most users will prefer the PowerDesk (and Windows Explorer) default shortcuts. If you had been using Xtree Gold or Norton Commander, you can change PowerDeskâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shortcuts to match these applications. Use the Restore button to restore all the defaults.

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Layout Manager Layout manager lets you have instant selection to any number of different previously saved layouts. A saved layout includes: •

The currently selected folder(s).

•

The multi-pane settings: 1 or 2 pane mode and which pane is currently active.

•

The viewer pane, if active, including the location & size (when detached).

•

The current View settings for each pane (list, details, thumbnails, etc).

•

Any filters that are active for drives and files.

•

The columns currently shown and their widths, except if the current folder is a zip folder.

To save the current layout: 1. In the Lauchbar, click on the Layout Manager icon Layout Manager. The dialog appears:

, or go to Options,

2. Enter a name for the layout and select an icon. You can also use the Add Icon button to add more icon choices to the Icon list. Click Save. 128

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3. The Layout icons will appear on right side of the launchbar.

Layout Manager

Saved layouts

Hover the mouse over a saved layout icon to see the name you assigned it.

Click on one of the layout icons to restore its layout. In the Layout Manager you can also delete a previously saved layout or replace a saved layout with a new layout, name and/or icon. Use the Create Desktop shortcut button to use the selected icon and name as a shortcut on your desktop. You can make any number of desktop layout shortcuts that will open PowerDesk to the selected layout.

Skins PowerDesk includes a skin manager that dramatically changes the look and feel of PowerDesk. A number of skins are built into PowerDesk. In addition, there are thousands of different skin styles available for download on the Internet that are compatible with PowerDesk. To set or change a skin: 1. Select Options, Skin. The side menu appears:

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2. Select the desired skin, or select Off for the Windows default style. You can also download a skin from the Internet and load the skin. To do this: 1. Select Options, Skins, Download Skins. This will link to our web site with a list of popular skin sites and instructions. You can also search the Internet for other sites as well, but keep in mind that PowerDesk uses only WindowBlinds style skins. Once you download the skin (usually a zip file), extract all the files from the zip and place them on a folder on your system. For example, you might create a new folder under the directory: C:/Program Files/VCOM/PowerDesk/Skins

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The folder name MUST match the name of the skin ".uis" file within that folder, or the skin cannot be used. In some cases, a downloaded skin may not work correctly due to errors in its construction.

2. Once the download has been unzipped and saved to a directory, select Options, Skins, Load Skin, 3. In the Select a UIS file dialog, specify the .UIS skin file and click on Open.

Sample Skins These show the different skin styles included with PowerDesk.

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Intrastate

MozModern

Passive

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Tab

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11: Working with Digital Audio and Images

PowerDesk is the tool of choice to manage files of all types: programs and applications, documents and spreadsheets, compressed and encrypted files, along with digital music and photographs. Use this chapter to learn how to use PowerDesk with your images, photos and MP3 music files.

Managing your digital images PowerDesk has always been a friend to those with lots of digital images to manage. You can easily view and manage images and photos. You can: •

View images in the Viewer Pane, in Thumbnail View, in FileTips—even Open and Save dialogs!

•

Rename groups of images with descriptive names.

•

Add Notes (captions) to your images

•

Convert images from one format to another.

•

Send your images to your personal website with PowerDesk FTP.

Viewing images and other files With PowerDesk, you never have to open an application to simply see what’s in the file. While this is true for nearly every file on your system (the Viewer Pane supports well over 150 different file formats), this section will show you the special things you can do with images in the viewer pane. Feel free to experiment with other types of files. In addition to the PowerDesk file manager, there are Viewer Panes included nearly everywhere in PowerDesk: V Communications, Inc.

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•

File Finder

•

Folder Synchronizer

•

Dialog Helper

Some options described in this chapter may not be available outside of the PowerDesk file manager.

Displaying the viewer pane There are three ways to turn the viewer pane on and off in PowerDesk: 1. Select View, Viewer Pane 2. Click the Viewer Pane

button in the toolbar or press F9.

You can also turn the pane off from the Viewer Pane menu.

Aligning your viewer pane You can put the Viewer Pane anywhere on your desktop. By default, the Viewer Pane opens at the bottom of the PowerDesk window. You can move it to the right side of the window, or detach it completely from the PowerDesk window. When the viewer pane is detached, you can move it and place it anywhere on your desktop. To align the viewer pane: 1. Do one of the following: •

From the main PowerDesk window, go to View, Align Viewer Pane.

•

Click the arrow next to the Viewer Pane tool on the toolbar. Select Align Viewer Pane from the menu.

•

If the Viewer Pane is already open, go to the Viewer Pane menu. Select Align Viewer Pane.

2. Select one of the following: •

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Bottom positions the pane below the tree and file panes, spanning the width of the window. PowerDesk User Manual

â&#x20AC;˘

Right positions the viewer pane to the right side of the window, spanning the height of the window.

â&#x20AC;˘

Detached moves it outside the PowerDesk window.

If the Viewer Pane is detached, you can switch the focus between the viewer pane and PowerDesk using the Tab key, or by pressing Ctrl+F9.

Using viewer pane menu commands The viewer menu unlocks much of the power included in the PowerDesk Viewer. Right-click anywhere in the viewer pane to bring up this menu. The menu options available will vary depending on the file type being viewed. Below is the viewer menu that appears with an image file:

This section describes the commands available in the Viewer menu.

To magnify images to fill your entire screen: 1. Right-click the image. 2. From the Viewer menu, select Show Full Screen. To return the screen to its normal display, right click the screen, and then select Restore Screen.

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Displaying files at different magnifications There are many ways to display files at different sizes: 1. Open the Viewer menu. Select Size. 2. Select one of the following: •

Full Size displays the file at 100% magnification.

•

Fit to Window displays the entire page in whatever space is available to the viewer pane.

•

Fit to Window Height displays the file large enough for it to occupy the entire height of the viewer pane, regardless of how it fits horizontally.

•

Fit to Window Width displays the file large enough for it to occupy the entire width of the viewer pane, regardless of how it fits vertically.

To enlarge an image by zooming in: •

From the Viewer menu, select Zoom, In.

To shrink an image by zooming out: •

From the Viewer menu, select Zoom, Out.

To set the image to its original size: •

From the Viewer menu, select Zoom, Reset.

Rotating images To rotate images at right angles: 1. From the Viewer menu, select Rotation. 2. Select 90°, 180°, or 270°.

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Converting Graphics Graphics can be converted from one format to another using the viewer. To convert graphics: 1. From the Viewer menu, select Convert Picture, or select File, Convert Picture Format from the main PowerDesk menu. The dialog appears:

2. Select a format to convert to. Click the To list box to display the list of supported formats that you can convert to. Scroll through the list and select a format. 3. Select a destination path and file name. PowerDesk will offer a default file path, but you can change it by typing a new destination path directly into the Save As text box. You can also click

(the Browse button) to locate a destination file.

4. Click Options to display and select additional options. One or more or the options may not be available, depending on the format you chose in step 2. •

Subfile Type. For some types of graphic files, you can select a subtype for the file. For example, for .bmp files, subtypes include Windows bitmap, OS/2 bitmap 1.x, OS/2 bitmap 2.x, and Window bitmap (RLE compressed).

•

Color Depth. Higher color depth produces a file that appears “smoother,” but the file will be larger.

•

Compression Rate. Unlike “lossless” compression, graphics compression reduces a file’s size by reducing its detail, in effect, producing an approximation of the image. Thus, high compression produces a small

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file, but it also results in poor image quality. Conversely, low compression results in higher image quality, but a larger file. 5. Click OK.

Using Edit-like commands When a document type file is being displayed in the viewer pane, you can select text in the following ways: •

Highlighting the text.

•

Select all the text by selecting Select All from the Viewer menu. You can copy text to the clipboard by selecting Copy from the Viewer menu.

Printing a file in the viewer pane To print the contents of the viewer pane: •

From the Viewer menu, select Print.

Doing this opens the standard print dialog box from which you can select a printer and its settings. Note that you cannot print .avi movie files.

Displaying files You can display files in the viewer pane in three different ways. 1. From the Viewer menu, select View. 2.

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Select one of the following: •

Draft displays the file, ignoring graphics and some text formatting so that more of the file is visible, and so that the file can be displayed faster.

•

Normal displays files a little more slowly, but it displays all the correct formatting and graphics.

•

Preview displays the file as it will appear if printed. PowerDesk User Manual

Searching for text To search for strings of text in files that are being displayed: 1. From the Viewer menu, select Find. The Find dialog appears.

2. Type the text in the Text to Find box, select any appropriate options, and then click Find. To find the next occurrence of the same string, select Find Next from the Viewer menu; to find the previous occurrence, select Find Previous.

Displaying file data To display file data: 1. From the Viewer menu, select View As. 2. Select one of the following: •

Native Format displays the file as it would appear in its associated application.

•

ANSI Text displays the raw data in the file, using the ANSI character set.

•

Hexadecimal displays the data in the file both as hexadecimal characters, and as their text equivalents.

Opening a file for editing To open a file in its associated application: •

From the Viewer menu, select Open File.

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Working with digital audio The digital audio revolution has created hard drives bulging with hundreds of MP3 files crying out for organization. PowerDesk 6 has several ways to enhance your digital music collection.

Playing MP3s in the PowerDesk Viewer Pane If you have an MP3 file, but no other software to play it, open the PowerDesk viewer pane. Click Play to listen to the song. You have to keep the file selected for the song to play. Changing focus will stop the playback.

You need Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or later installed on your system to use this feature.

Creating and Editing Playlists Full-featured MP3 player software like WinAmp, MusicMatch Jukebox, and RealOne has the ability to create "playlists": collections of different music tracks that you organize. PowerDesk's Playlist Editor lets you create and reorganize these playlists outside your player.

Editing MP3 Track Tags For some of us, the endless misspellings and misidentifications of song titles, artists and other track information included in MP3 files are endlessly annoying. For others, getting our digital music files organized by genre is of critical importance. PowerDesk gives you a quick and easy way to edit those track tags, and get them exactly the way you want them.

Finding Music Files based on Tag Information File Finderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s File Type search can make organizing your music files much easier. When searching for MP3s or other Media file types, you can search based on Artist, Song Title, Album Title, Genre, Year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even clip length! 142

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Take the results, drag them into Playlist Editor and Save. Play that set anytime you like!

Using the Playlist Editor The PowerDesk Playlist Editor makes it easy to manage your MP3 playlists.

Creating a New Playlist To create a new playlist from your collection: 1. Start the Playlist Editor by selecting Start, Programs, PowerDesk, Playlist Editor. 2. Go to File, New (or click the New icon). The editor window will be empty. 3. Click the Add Files button (or go to Edit, Add Files). Browse to the appropriate folder, if necessary. Select the tracks for your playlist. Hold down the Ctrl key while selecting non-contiguous tracks or the Shift key to select multiple files listed next to each other (often by the same artist). Click Open when you've selected everything you want. V Communications, Inc.

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To pull the contents of an entire folder into a playlist, click the Add Directory button (or go to Edit, Add Directory). Browse to the appropriate folder and click OK to add the directory. 4. Playlist Editor shows the tracks included in the playlist in the window on the left. The status bar at the bottom shows you the number of songs in the playlist, how large the playlist is (in megabytes) and the total running time of this playlist. It will also show you if any changes have been made to the playlist in this session. Click on any track in the playlist and see additional information on that track in the small information pane at the bottom. 5. Click Save Playlist to save the list to your computer. To create a playlist from a group of songs in the same folder, and then open Playlist Editor: 1. Select the songs you want in your playlist in the PowerDesk file manager. 2. Right-click in the selected area. 3. Select Create New Playlist from the PowerDesk context menu.

Opening a Playlist There are two ways to open an existing playlist for editing: â&#x20AC;˘

In the Playlist Editor, go to File, Open (or click the Open toolbar icon). Browse, if necessary, to the folder holding the playlist you want to open.

â&#x20AC;˘

In PowerDesk, locate the playlist file (it will have an .m3u or .pls extension) you want to open. Right-click on the file and select Open Playlist from the menu.

Go to File, Recent Playlists to re-edit a playlist you worked on recently. Playlist Editor shows the tracks included in the playlist in the window on the left. You will see the location of the playlist file in the titlebar. The editor's status bar at the bottom shows you the number of songs in the playlist, how large the playlist is (in megabytes) and the total running time of this playlist. It will also show you if any changes have been made to the playlist in this session.

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Click on any track in the playlist and see additional information on that track in the small information pane at the bottom. Now edit your playlist!

Sorting a Playlist Once you've loaded a playlist, there are three ways to sort the tracks on your playlist. Click the appropriate button (or use the Edit menu) to sort accordingly: •

Sort by File Name: This will sort the tracks alphabetically by file name. Because of the standard MP3 naming convention, this will often have the effect of sorting by Artist. Multiple songs by the same artist will appear in alphabetical order as well.

•

Sort by Title: This will sort by the song title. Sorting by title or file name makes it easier to locate tracks to remove.

•

Randomize: Choosing this button is like choosing the Shuffle option on your CD player. It puts the tracks in a random order.

•

Move Up and Move Down: You can also manually drag and drop tracks in the editor window to set the order you want.

Adding and Removing Tracks To add tracks to an existing playlist: 1. With a playlist open, click the Add button. 2. Browse to the appropriate folder, if necessary. 3. Select the tracks for your playlist. Hold down the Ctrl key while selecting noncontiguous tracks or the Shift key to select multiple files listed next to each other (often by the same artist). Click Open when you've selected everything you want. 4. The track(s) will be added to the end of the playlist. The playlist information area will show the new number of songs and the total running time of the playlist. 5. Click Save Playlist to save the edited list to your computer. To remove a track from the playlist: V Communications, Inc.

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6. Select a track to remove. 7. Click the Remove button (or go to Edit, Remove). 8. Click Save Playlist to save the edited list to your computer.

Saving Playlists Once you have created or edited your playlist, you should save the playlist to your hard drive so your player can access them. To save your playlist for the first time: 1. Click the Save Playlist button (or go to File, Save Playlist). 2. Browse to the folder you want to save your playlist to. 3. (optional) By default, Playlist Editor will use the M3U format. This format is standard for MP3 playlists and works in all major players. You can change this to the PLS format in the Save as Type box if you wish. 4. Choose a name for your playlist, and click Save. After saving the playlist the first time, clicking the Save Playlist button will automatically update the existing playlist. You can also save a copy of your edited playlist with a different name or a different format using the Save As option. This is useful if you have an existing playlist that is good, but you want a shorter version, for example. To do this: 1. Open the playlist you want to modify. 2. Click the Save As button (or go to File, Save As). This will ensure that any changes you make will not affect the original playlist. 3. By default, Playlist Editor will save the new playlist to the same folder, but you can change this if you like. As in Step 3 above, you can also change the format in the Save as Type box. 4. Choose a name for your new playlist, and click Save. The new playlist name should now appear in the playlist information area. 5. Edit the playlist, then click the Save Playlist button to confirm the changes.

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Copying Playlists to Another Location Playlist Editor will let you copy your playlists to any location your computer can access. These include: •

Another folder on your hard drive

•

A folder on a network drive (whether it is mapped or through My Network Places)

•

A diskette or removable drive

• A portable MP3 player (if it connects to Windows as a drive) You can use the Save As button to copy a playlist with pointers to the songs on your hard drive. The Copy To button copies both the playlist file and the songs to the target device. To do this: 1. Open the playlist you want to copy. 2. (optional) Make any changes you want to the playlist. 3. Click the Copy To button (or go to File, Copy To). 4. Browse to the folder you want to copy the playlist to. Click OK. 5. Playlist Editor will copy all the files in the playlist to the folder. This may take some time. If the songs on the playlist take up too much room on the (diskette or other removable) disk, it will ask you to put another disk in the drive.

Editing Track Tags For some of us, the endless misspellings and misidentifications of song titles, artists and other track information included in MP3 files are endlessly annoying. For others, getting our digital music files organized by genre is of critical importance. PowerDesk gives you a quick and easy way to edit those track tags, and get them exactly the way you want them. There are two ways to open the PowerDesk Tag Editor: •

In the PowerDesk file manager, right-click on the MP3 file you want to edit. Select Edit ID3 Tags from the PowerDesk context menu.

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â&#x20AC;˘

In the Playlist Editor, select the file you want to edit. Go to Edit, Edit ID3 Tags.

If you select multiple files before opening the Tag Editor, you can make the same changes to each of the selected files. You cannot change the song title or erase any tag without entering new data. The Tag Editor saves the tag in ID3 version 2 format, which offers a great deal more information than ID3 version 1. You have the option to save your changes in both formats. Check the Also save in ID3v1 tag box. For more information on the different tag formats, go to http://www.id3.org/. You can type information into any of the available field boxes. You can select a genre from the drop-down menu of default genres, or type in your own custom genre.

File Finder uses information from these tags when doing a file type search on MP3 files. Click OK to save your changes, or Cancel to leave the Tag Editor without making changes.

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12: Getting System and File Information

Knowledge is power, they say. PowerDesk gives you the information on your system and files to maximize your control over your computer. In this chapter, you will learn more about PowerDeskâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information-gathering tools.

Organizing your data with Size Manager

The PowerDesk Size Manager offers a graphic look at what folders are taking up the most space on your hard drives. Use this information to back up, archive or relocate your files.

Size Manager window components Menu bar Toolbar Tabs bar

Tree pane

File pane

Status bar

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You will notice when you open it (see “Starting Size Manager” on page 18) that the Size Manager window shares many of the same features of the Windows Explorer window, such as the menu, the pane, the toolbar, and the status bar, so you don’t have to learn an entirely new interface. The Size Manager window shown in the preceding illustration is configured to display all possible components.

The menus The menus provide access to most of Size Manager’s features. Each of the menu commands is described in this chapter.

The toolbar The toolbar provides quick access to many of the most popular features and options. The toolbar is also easily customizable. To display the toolbar: •

Select View, Show/Hide, Toolbar.

The toolbar in Size Manager works identically to the toolbar in PowerDesk, except that you open the Customize Toolbar dialog box by selecting View, Preferences, Customize Toolbar. For detailed information on using and customizing the toolbar, see “The PowerDesk toolbar” on page 123.

The tabs bar By clicking tabs on the tabs bar, you can make the tree pane display either the normal view of all your system folders, or you can display the results of your last folder search. These tabs are shortcuts to commands in the View menu.

The tree pane The tree pane displays a tree list, or hierarchy of resources that are available on your system down to the folder level. The root of the tree list is the Windows desktop (the large, background area you see when you first start Windows). The Size Manager tree pane works the same as the PowerDesk file manager tree pane. For detailed information on the tree pane, see “Using the tree pane” on page 152. 150

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The file pane The file pane displays the contents of the drive or folder selected in the tree pane. The contents of the file pane are also called the file list. The file pane typically contains a list of folders and files but may also contain desktop items (such as the Recycle Bin, My Computer, etc.) and shortcuts to files, applications, and printers. To display the file pane: •

Select View, Show/Hide, File Pane.

From the file pane, you can drag and drop items (files, folders, shortcuts, etc.) for file and archive management, launch applications, rename files and folders, and much more. The Size Manager file pane works the same as the PowerDesk file manager file pane. For detailed information on the file pane, see “Using the file pane” on page 30.

The status bar The status bar provides feedback about the current selection or operation. The information displayed in the status bar depends on the selection or current operation. To display the status bar: •

Select View, Show/Hide, Status Bar.

Scanning drives To display a size graph for the folders on your computer, Size Manager scans your drives. This is done when you first start Size Manager, but if you stopped the startup scan, or if your folders changed since the startup scan, you can begin another scan. To set the drives that are scanned, see “Customizing Size Manager” on page 160. To start a scan: 1. Do one of the following: •

If you want to scan a folder, select the folder. Proceed to step 2.

•

If you only have one hard drive, proceed to step 2.

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•

If you have more than one hard drive, select the drive you wish to scan and proceed to step 2.

2. Select File, Scan Drive. 3. Do one of the following: •

If you selected a drive, proceed to step 4.

•

If you selected a folder, select the Current Folder button. If you want all the subfolders in the folder scanned, select the Include all subfolders check box.

4. Click Scan. To stop a scan: •

Select File, Stop Scanning.

Connecting to network drives Size Manager automatically determines the cluster size of network drives, but in rare cases this may be incorrect, making it difficult to calculate accurate folder sizes on a network drive. A manual override for the cluster size is available should you run into this rare situation. To do this, select the drive in the main windows, and select File, Set Cluster size. Enter the cluster size and click OK. You may have to consult your system administrator for the cluster size.

Using the tree pane There are many different ways to display folder information in the tree pane.

Displaying file sizes The byte is the basic unit of storage size. Files have a certain size in bytes, and their size is normally reported in bytes, kilobytes (1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,024 kilobytes), or gigabytes (1,024 megabytes)—whichever is the most appropriate. By default, Size Manager selects the most appropriate unit. To display file sizes: • 152

Select View, Sizes, Reported Size. PowerDesk User Manual

When this option is selected, Size Manager computes file size based on the amount of data stored in the file. Because of the way data is stored on a disk drive, files actually take up a different amount of disk space, usually more. To display how much disk space files actually occupy: •

Select View, Sizes, Actual Size on Disk.

When this option is selected, Size Manager computes file size based on the amount of space on the disk used by the file. To display file sizes in bytes: •

Select View, Sizes, Sizes in Bytes.

When this option is selected, Size Manager shows the precise size of the folder or file instead of rounding it off to the nearest unit.

Displaying folder details The Tree pane can be customized to display different combinations of details about folders. To customize the Tree pane: 1. Select View, Preferences, Folder Details. 2. Click the Organize Details tab. 3. Select the details that you want to include in the details view of the Tree pane. To rearrange the order in which details are displayed, drag and drop each selected detail in the list to the location where you want it. The order from the top to the bottom of the list will be the order from left to right in the Tree pane. 4. Click the Total tab and modify the settings; the settings in the dialog box control the display of the Total column in the Folder Details window. The Total column displays the cumulative size of all the files in the folder, including the subfolders. The following settings are available: •

Display Properties controls how file sizes are displayed. Sizes can be set to display in bytes, to be hidden if the file size is zero, and to display as a percentage of the size of the parent. V Communications, Inc. 153

•

Graph Options control whether size graphs are displayed.

•

Graph Scale controls how the graphs are displayed. The Auto Scale option scales the graphs logarithmically with respect to the capacity of the drive. The benefit of auto scale graphs is that they are usually large enough to see, and yet small enough to fit within the space provided. The drawback, however, is that relative sizes are only roughly indicated. The auto scale option, therefore, is most useful when highly visible graphs are more important than accurate, relative folder sizes. The Fixed Scale option scales the graph linearly with respect to the capacity of the drive. That means the width of the graph column represents the capacity of the drive, and the width of a folder’s graph directly reflects the percentage of disk drive space that the folder occupies. For example, a graph spanning half the column signifies that the folder occupies 50% of the storage drive’s capacity. Entering a multiplier in the text box below the Fixed Scale button can enlarge the size of the graphs. If, for example, the number was set to 3, then a folder that occupies 5% of the storage drive’s capacity would have a graph that spans 15% (3 x 5%=15%) of the column, which makes it much easier to see. The benefit of fixed scale graphs is that they represent relative sizes in a clear, straightforward manner—a graph twice as long means the folder is twice as large. The drawback of fixed scale graphs, however, is that graphs are often too small to compare with other folders. Fixed scale graphs, therefore, are most useful when relative folder sizes are more important than visible graphs, and when the folders being compared have similar sizes.

•

Column Width. Enter the width for the column.

5. Click the Files in Folders tab and modify the settings. The settings in the dialog box control the display of the Files in Folders column in the Folder Details window. The Files in Folders column contains the cumulative size of the files in the selected folder, exclusive of any subfolders. See the previous step for an explanation of the settings. 6. Click the Modified tab and enter the width for the Modified column. The settings in this dialog box control the width of the Modified column in the Folder Details window. Click the up or down arrows in the list box to increment or decrement the value, or type the value that you want used. 7. When finished, click OK in any of the dialog boxes.

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Expanding and collapsing folders To expand and collapse folders in Size Manager click on the drive or folder, or do the following:

icons next to the

1. Select the Tree menu. 2. Select one of the following commands: Expand One Level

Expands the drive or folder to display the next level of subfolders.

Expand All Levels

Expands the drive or folder to display all of the subsequent levels of subfolders.

Collapse One Level

Collapses the current folder or drive, hiding all of its subsequent subfolders. If the branch is expanded again, all subsequent levels will be displayed.

Collapse All Levels

Collapses the current folder or drive, hiding all of its subsequent subfolders. If the branch is expanded again, only the next level of subfolders will be displayed.

Refreshing the tree pane If the files on your system undergo change when the Size Manager is running, it is best to refresh Size Manager to reflect those changes. To refresh the Tree view: •

Select View, Refresh.

Tagging folders Tagging folders displays the folders that meet certain criteria in a specific color. Size Manager tags folders by displaying the folder details in a different color. For details on setting the colors, see “Customizing Size Manager” on page 160. To tag folders: V Communications, Inc.

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1. Select Tools, Tag Folders. 2. Click the Folder Size tab. Select one of the following: •

Ignore folder size. Select this button if you do not want the folder size used to tag folders.

•

Folders which match the following sizes. Select this button if you want folders of a specific size tagged. Select Equal to, Larger than, Smaller than, or Between, to tag files equal to, larger than, smaller than, or between two different sizes. Then select or type a file size, and select Bytes, KB (kilobytes), MB (megabytes), or GB (gigabytes).

3. Click the Folder Name tab. Select one of the following: •

Ignore folder name. Select this button if you do not want folder names used to tag folders.

•

Folders whose names match. Select this button if you want to tag folders based on the folder name. Type one or more names in the text box, separating each with a semicolon. For instance, you could tag all folders that contain the string big and luke by typing *big*;*luke*. Size Manager also stores previous search strings, which you can display and select from by clicking the down arrow in the text box.

4. Click the Folder Date/Time tab. Select one of the following: •

Ignore Folder Date and Time. Select this button if you do not want folders tagged by date or time.

•

Folders which were. Select this button if you want to tag folders that were accessed, modified, or created during a specific time period. Then select the Accessed, Modified, or Created button, and select or type the appropriate time period from the Within the last text boxes.

•

Folders which were not. Select this button if you want to tag folders that were not accessed, modified, or created during a specific time period. Then select the Accessed, Modified, or Created button, and select or type the appropriate time period from the Within the last text boxes.

5. Click OK. Size Manager will then tag the matching folders and display the file details in an alternate color.

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Clearing tags To clear all tags, do the following: •

Select Tools, Clear All Tags.

Finding folders Finding folders uses the same process as tagging folders. Instead of tagging matching files in the Tree pane, only the matching folders are displayed in the Tree pane. To find folders: 1. Select Tools, Find Folders. 2. Click the Folder Size tab and select the folder size that you want searched. See step 2 in the previous section, Tagging folders. 3. Click the Folder Name tab and select a folder name that you want searched. See step 3 in the previous section, Tagging folders. 4. Click the Folder Date/Time tab and select the date and time you want used in the search. See step 4 in the previous section, Tagging folders. 5. To specify advanced options, click the Advanced button. •

In the Location section, select the areas you would like searched: search all the drives, search the current drive, or search the current folder.

•

In the Display Options section, select the type of display in which you would like to see the results: display as a tree or display as a list.

•

In the Search Options section, select the Merge with results from last find check box to combine the search results with the previous search.

6. Click OK. Find Folders displays matching folders in the Find Results tab of the tree pane. To switch between the Normal Size Manager view and the Find Results view, click their respective tab in the tabs bar. You can stop any scan in progress by selecting File, Stop Scanning.

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Printing the tree list You can print the contents of the Tree pane. The entire tree or a selected branch can be printed. To print the tree list: 1. Select File, Print Tree. 2. Select one of the following: •

Entire Tree. Select this button to print the entire tree.

•

Selected branch only. Select this button to only print the branch currently selected in the tree. If you only want to print the displayed folders in the selected branch, and not all of the folders, select the Only displayed folders check box.

3. Click OK.

Exporting the tree list You can export the tree list to a text file, and then open and view it in another application. To export the tree list: 1. Select File, Export to file. 2. Navigate to the location where you want the file saved and type a File name. 3. Select one of the following: •

Entire Tree. Select this button to export the entire tree.

•

Selected branch only. Select this button to only export the branch currently selected in the tree. If you only want to export the displayed folders in the selected branch, and not all of the folders, select the Only displayed folders check box.

4. Click Save.

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Displaying drive information You can display miscellaneous information about a drive, including the drive type, bytes per sector, sectors per cluster, cluster size, number of clusters, capacity, free space, and used space. To set the drives that display in Size Manager, see “Customizing Size Manager” on page 160. To display drive information: 1. In the Tree view, select the drive for which you want to display information. 2.

Select File, Drive Info.

Adding and removing programs You can use Size Manager to run the Windows install and uninstall applications. To Add/Remove programs: 1. Select Tools, Add/Remove Programs. The Add/Remove Program Properties dialog appears. 2. Follow the on-screen instructions to select the desired action.

Managing the Recycle Bin Your Windows Recycle Bin can be configured and emptied using Size Manager. The Recycle Bin is where deleted files are stored. To empty the Recycle Bin: •

Select Tools, Empty Recycle Bin.

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Customizing Size Manager Size Manager gives you a graphic look at what folders are holding your data. To learn more about how to use it, see â&#x20AC;&#x153;Organizing your data with Size Managerâ&#x20AC;? on page 149. Size Manager properties control startup settings, including the drives scanned at startup, the drives displayed in Size Manager, and the colors used to display graphs and details. To change Size Manager properties: 1. In Size Manager, go to View, Preferences, Settings. 2. Click the Scanning tab. The dialog appears:

3. Select the option you want used when scanning is stopped. 4. Select the drives that you want scanned at Startup. You can select the All Floppy, Fixed, Network, or Others check boxes for Size Manager to automatically scan the appropriate drives. The Others category includes drives such as the CD drive. 160

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5. Click the Show Drives tab. 6. Select the drives that you want Size Manager to display while it is running. You can select the All Floppy, Fixed, Network, or Others check boxes for Size Manager to automatically scan the appropriate drives. The Others category includes drives such as the CD drive. 7.

Click the Colors tab. The color used for tagged folders displays in the Tagged Folders Color box, and the colors used for graphs display in the Graph Colors box. The Bar Color is the basic graph color and the OverRun Color is the color used for graphs wider than the graph column can display.

8. To change any of the colors, click the button to the right of the color, select a color in the color table, and then click OK. 9. Click OK in any of the dialog boxes to close the window and save the new settings.

Saving Size Manager settings You can save the Size Manager settings in two ways. â&#x20AC;˘

To immediately save the settings, select View, Preferences, Save Preferences Now.

- or â&#x20AC;˘

To save the preferences every time you exit Size Manager, select View, Preferences, Save Preferences on Exit.

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Getting information on your files and folders PowerDesk puts as much information about your data as possible at your fingertips. Among the ways it does this are: •

Details View: PowerDesk enhances this standard Windows display by letting you sort and remove columns as you please. See “Organizing Details View” on page 31 to learn more about this.

•

File Info: This is a special column in Details View with additional file information you cannot get in Windows Explorer. See the next section for details.

•

FileTips: This extension of the File Info feature lets you point your mouse at a file and get all relevant information about it in a pop-up tool tip.

•

File Notes: Write and edit personal notes on a file. Identify downloaded files that come with not-so-descriptive names. Assign yourself a file-related task.

•

Adding color to folders: Have you always wanted to color-code your folders to identify related projects? Now you can!

The File Info column The File Info column in PowerDesk Details View pulls relevant information from the contents of a file and displays it for you. Not all file types will show information in this column, but among the things PowerDesk can show you are: •

Image files: their height and width in pixels.

•

ZIP and CAB archives: the number of files in the archive.

•

Executable files (DLLs and EXEs): the name and a description of the program, the company that built the file and its version number.

•

Microsoft Office files: Information from the Document Properties (title, subject, author, keywords, comments).

•

MP3 tracks: Length, title and artist, plus any additional ID3 fields.

In the following example you can see some of the extra information shown in the File Info column (to the far right): 162

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FileTips FileTips give you a lot of information about a file with just a point of the mouse. All files will show their name, size and creation date and time. For example:

Depending on the type of file, you may see the author, version number of a program file, even a thumbnail of image files. You might want to use FileTips to change your default View to an icon view to shrink the amount of screen real estate PowerDesk takes up. FileTips lets you see all the information available on that file. By default, FileTips is turned off when you install PowerDesk. To change its state, go to View, FileTips. The check mark next to FileTips will appear when FileTips is active.

Adding notes to files Keeping track of all the files on your system is a difficult task. Naming documents with descriptive names helps a lot. You can see automatically what a file has. What can be a problem is identifying files downloaded from the Internet or other sources. Many FTP sites, CDs and other file repositories restrict file names to the old DOS limit of eight characters with a three-character extension. Program updates, hardware driver files and the like also often have cryptic names. How are you supposed to remember what file is what?

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PowerDesk 5 gives you a simple solution to this problem. Write and edit notes that attach to the file. These notes appear in the Notes column in Details view (if you have that displayed) and in FileTips. The note can be up to 1000 characters, so feel free to be as descriptive as you like! To create or edit a note: 1. Select the file you want to annotate. 2. Go to File, Edit Note or press Ctrl-n to open the dialog box. You can also right-click the file and select Edit Note from the context menu. 3. The Edit File Note dialog box appears. You will see the file name in the second line, above the edit box. Type your note in the box. Click OK to save changes, or Cancel to discard the changes.

Notes do not travel with the file if you copy or move the file.

Coloring folder icons Do you want a visual prompt to the content of some of your folders? Or just want to add some color to that drab yellow folder icon? PowerDesk lets you do that with a couple mouse clicks! For example in this view, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve set the Documents and Settings and Program Files folders to distinct colors to make them stand out from the crowd.

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To assign a new color to a folder icon: 1. Select the folder you want to color in either the tree pane or file pane. 2. Go to File, Change Folder Icon. 3. Select the color you want from the menu. To restore the default yellow color, repeat the process above and select Default from the menu.

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Appendix A: Technical Support We hope that you will never encounter problems with PowerDesk. However, the reality is things may come up that are not covered in this manual and you may need technical assistance. We strongly encourage you to check the manual's troubleshooting chapter and check out our latest support information on our web site. www.v-com.com/support/intro_PowerDesk.html

Contacting Technical Support Should you find yourself at a loss and need to contact us directly, we will do our best to assist you. Our web site has additional information and you can send questions via our web site directly to our support engineers. Before you contact technical support, please have your product version number. In addition, we will need to know the exact nature of the problem and what you have done to attempt to remedy it. Ninety days of complementary email technical support is on a first come, first serve basis.

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Appendix B: Toolbar Reference Clicking on an icon in the toolbar is often the quickest way to select a function. This reference helps identify items in the toolbar. Remember, you can customize this toolbar by adding many additional functions, removing icons you don’t need, or changing the order to suit your preference. Icons will appear gray when the function is not currently available. For example, if no folder or file is selected, you can’t copy or paste and these icons appear gray. If you can’t remember what a specific icon does, you can hover the mouse over an icon to see a tooltip label. The default main toolbar appears as:

Paste

Copy

Cut

Undo

Back

Forward

The direction, undo and edit controls:

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Swap

Dual Pane

Single Pane

Folder list

The file pane controls (shown with folder list and single pane selected):

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Properties

Rename

Copy to

Move to

Delete

Recycle

Create Folder

Folder and File action controls:

Favorites

FTP

Favorites and FTP menus:

Thumbnails

Details

List

Small Icons

Large Icons

File pane view selection (shown in list view):

Viewer

Edit file

Fonts

Fonts, Editor and Viewer menu:

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Appendix C: VCOM Products VCOM makes a number of great products that can save you time and effort! Check out the latest information or order on-line from our web site at www.v-com.com.

System CommanderÂŽ System Commander lets you have multiple operating systems on a single PC! It automates the OS preparation process; supports for multiple OSes in the same FAT/FAT32 partition; gives you boot choices directly to a prompt in Windows 95/98/Me; offers multiple graphic "skins". In addition, it includes an auto-select timer, a boot-time screen saver; provides driverless mouse support, multi-user password control and more!

As a bonus, it includes Partition Commander, to safely create, resize, move, copy and convert partitions. More infoâ&#x20AC;Ś 170

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More products from VCOM!

Fix-It Utilities™ Keeps PCs running better, faster and longer. It includes an easy one-step maintenance process to locate and solve problems. It also optimizes system performance, protects against viruses, provides emergency fix and rescue tools, recovers lost data, and much more! Fix-It Utilities is fully integrated into a single seamless package, making it easy to use. Full support is included for Windows XP, and NTFS file systems, along with older OSes and file systems. More info…

Partition Commander® Partition Commander® lets you reclaim hard disk space, organize your files, add new operating systems (OSes), and in many cases speed up hard drive access speeds. Best of all, you don't have to be an expert. Partition Commander automates the process - guiding you through step-by-step. Where you have a choice, helpful suggestions are made available - the rest is handled automatically! Includes graphical manual partitioning to Resize, Copy, Move, Delete, Format, Convert partitions and more! Supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux formats such as Ext2, Ext3 and ReiserFS. More info…

SystemSuite™ A comprehensive collection of essential PC utilities designed to maintain and protect your computer. SystemSuite improves system performance, protects your system against viruses and from hackers, diagnoses and fixes problems, recovers lost data, and much, more! SystemSuite’s award-winning design makes all these utilities accessible from one easy-to-use interface, eliminating the need to buy, install and learn multiple packages. More info…

Web Easy Professional™ The most powerful, easy-to-use web design tool available! Web Easy Professional delivers dynamic Web sites that, up to this point, only the pros were able to create. Web Easy Professional comes with an extensive library of templates, graphics, animated GIFs, photographs, forms, objects, sounds and more. Creating custom web sites with advanced features is now as simple as drag-and-drop! More info…. V Communications, Inc.

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Some websites samples created using Web Easy!

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Index copying disks...............................................64 creating

A Add/Remove Programs............................... 66 adding files to a Zip archive........................... 75 items to Favorites .............................. 39

files .................................................... 47 folders ................................................ 47 Zip archive ......................................... 72

customizing File Finder toolbar ............................ 103 launchbar ......................................... 125 PowerDesk ...................................... 117 PowerDesk toolbar........................... 124 Size Manager................................... 160 Size Manager toolbar....................... 150 skins................................................. 129

Appearance................................................ 129 appending to a search .............................. 107 archive extracting files.................................... 77 finding files inside .............................. 72 self-extracting .................................... 76 viewing............................................... 71

arranging windows...................................... 38 associating file types .................................. 58 audio files .................................................. 142 finding track information................... 142

D date stamp....................................................62 decoding files...............................................55 Default settings ..........................................122 deleting files or folders..................................... 47 permanent.......................................... 48

C clearing tags .............................................. 157 closing windows in PowerDesk ................. 38 collapsing folders........................................ 28 coloring folder icons................................. 164 colors, Size Manager folders.................... 161 Command Line displaying........................................... 26 preferences...................................... 121

DES encryption ............................................57 desktop shortcut........................................129 destroying files ............................................58 detaching viewer pane ..............................136 Details View..................................................31 Dialog Helper................................................20 clearing history................................. 112 exclusions ........................................ 113 file tracker ........................................ 112 file viewer ......................................... 114 folder tracker .................................... 111 starting ............................................... 20 summary .............................................. 9

comments on files..................................... 164 compression formats supported ............... 77 connecting to network drives................... 152 context menus, preferences..................... 120 converting graphics .................................. 139 copying

digital audio................................................142 disks

file name as text................................. 46 files .................................................... 44 folders ................................................ 44 path as text ........................................ 46

copying .............................................. 64 erasing ............................................... 65 formatting ........................................... 64 labeling .............................................. 64

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display views................................................30 displaying command line .................................... 26 drive info.......................................... 159 file sizes........................................... 152 files in Folder Synchronizer ............... 91 folder details .................................... 153 tree list............................................... 37

document history clearing............................................ 113 showing ........................................... 112 using................................................ 113

downloading files and folders ....................99 drive information .......................................159 drive space analysis..................................151 drivebar.........................................................23 dual panes ....................................................37 E EasyUpdate ..................................................12 Editing track tags.......................................147 editing Zip comments..................................79 email attachments to ................................... 53 decoding attachments ....................... 55

emptying Recycle Bin .................................48 encrypting or decrypting files ....................56 erasing disks................................................65 excluded application .................................113 expanding folders........................................27 Exporting Settings.....................................122 extracting files from an archive..................77 F Favorites menu ................................................. 39 selecting ............................................ 40

Favorites menu ............................................39 file compression ..........................................71 file compression intro .................................68 File Finder.....................................................15 copying ............................................ 109 deleting............................................ 109 moving............................................. 109 printing............................................. 110

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starting............................................... 16 status bar......................................... 104 summary.............................................. 9 toolbar.............................................. 103 window components ........................ 102

file history .................................................. 112 File Info column......................................... 162 file list PowerDesk ........................................ 25 Size Manager .................................. 151

file manager general................................................. 8 window components .......................... 22

file names viewing, true.............................. 31 file operations.............................................. 41 file pane Folder Synchronizer........................... 85 generic icons ..................................... 31 PowerDesk .................................. 25, 30

file security .................................................. 56 File Tracker ................................................ 112 File Transfer Protocol ................................. 95 files coloring folders ................................ 164 downloading ...................................... 99 information....................................... 162 selecting ............................................ 41 Tips.................................................. 163 uploading ........................................... 99

FileTips....................................................... 163 filters ............................................................ 33 finding a network computer ......................... 102 files .................................................. 104 files and folders ............................... 101 files in archives .......................... 72, 105 folders in Size Manager ................... 157 MP3 track information...................... 142 setting criteria .................................. 104

folder history ............................................. 111 clearing ............................................ 112 showing ........................................... 111 using ................................................ 111

Folder Synchronizer ............................. 16, 83 file pane display................................. 91 history ................................................ 84 icons .................................................. 85 stating ................................................ 17

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summary .............................................. 9 viewer pane ....................................... 87

folder tracker.............................................. 111 folders creating .............................................. 47 information ....................................... 162 selecting............................................. 41 synchronizing..................................... 88 tagging ............................................. 155

K keyboard shortcuts....................................127 L labeling disks ...............................................64 launchbar....................................................125 customizing ...................................... 125 summary ............................................ 24

fonts changing display ................................ 36 changing file pane.............................. 92

formatting..................................................... 64 FTP connecting ......................................... 98 introduction ........................................ 95 setting up ........................................... 96 summary .............................................. 9

Layout Manager desktop shortcut............................... 129 Using................................................ 128

Lists preferences .........................................29 loading at startup.......................................115 M mapping network drives..............................65 menus

File Finder ........................................ 102 Folder Synchronizer........................... 84 PowerDesk ........................................ 23 Size Manager................................... 150

Group Rename............................................. 49 GUI .............................................................. 129

moving

H history, Folder Synchronizer...................... 84 hotkeys....................................................... 127

files .................................................... 44 folders ................................................ 44

MP3s editing track tags.............................. 147 finding track information................... 142 working with ..................................... 142

I icons generic ............................................... 31 quick search..................................... 107

Icons ........................................................... 168 images

navigating previously viewed folders ........28 network drives

converting ........................................ 139 managing ......................................... 135 thumbnails ......................................... 30 viewing............................................... 30

mapping ............................................. 65 unmapping ......................................... 66

Importing Settings..................................... 122 include filter ................................................. 84 installation folder................................... 11, 12 installation requirements............................ 11 installing PowerDesk .................................. 11 Introduction.................................................... 8 V Communications, Inc.

notes on files..............................................164 O one-click file selection.................................42 opening files ............................................ 59, 141 PowerDesk window............................ 38 search criteria .................................. 111

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URLs ................................................. 61

options PowerDesk ...................................... 117 Size Manager .................................. 160 skins ................................................ 129

R Recycle Bin properties........................................... 63 Size Manager .................................. 159 using .................................................. 47

refining a search ....................................... 107 refresh .......................................................... 39

P permanently deleting items ........................48 playing MP3 files........................................142 Playlist Editor.......................................19, 143

Folder Synchronizer........................... 92 Size Manager .................................. 155

rename files or folders .................................... 49 group ................................................. 49

starting............................................... 19

playlists ......................................................143 adding tracks ................................... 145 copying ............................................ 147 creating............................................ 143 opening............................................ 144 removing tracks ............................... 145 saving .............................................. 146 sorting.............................................. 145

positioning the viewer pane .....................136 preferences archive............................................... 81 Command Line ................................ 121 context menus ................................. 120 lists .............................................. 29, 35 Lists ................................................... 35 PowerDesk ...................................... 117 skins ................................................ 129 viewer pane ..................................... 119

previously viewed folders...........................28 printing File Finder search results ................ 110 file list ................................................ 34 files .................................................... 52 files from File Finder ........................ 110 tree list............................................. 158 viewer pane contents....................... 140

properties file or folder........................................ 93

Q quick search customizing ..................................... 108 using................................................ 107

requirements ............................................... 11 restoring files from Recycle Bin ................ 48 resuming downloads .................................. 99 rotating images ......................................... 138 running programs ....................................... 61 S sample skins.............................................. 131 saving layout ............................................... 128 search criteria .................................. 110

scanning drives......................................... 151 search appending........................................ 107 buttons............................................. 103 refinded............................................ 107 results .............................................. 103

searching for files ..................................... 104, 107 in archives ......................................... 72 MP3 track information...................... 142 quick buttons ................................... 107 saving criteria .................................. 110 setting criteria .................................. 104 viewer pane for text ......................... 141

selecting files or folders .................................... 41 folders to synchronize........................ 91 viewer pane contents....................... 140

self-extracting archive ................................ 76 setting file date and time ............................ 62 setting up FTP sites .................................... 96 settings PowerDesk ...................................... 117

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Size Manager................................... 160

shortcuts, keyboard .................................. 127 Show All Files .............................................. 33 Show Matching Text.................................. 106 Single Pane command ................................ 37 Size Manager.............................................. 149 displaying file sizes .......................... 152 exporting tree list ............................. 158 file pane ........................................... 151 find folders ....................................... 157 menus .............................................. 150 refreshing......................................... 155 removing programs.......................... 159 scanning drives................................ 151 settings ............................................ 160 starting ............................................... 18 status bar ......................................... 151 stopping the scan............................. 152 summary .............................................. 9 toolbar.............................................. 150 tree pane.......................................... 150 window components ........................ 149

sizes, displaying........................................ 152 skin samples.............................................. 131 Skins........................................................... 129 specifications............................................... 11 standard button bar..................................... 23 starting Dialog Helper ..................................... 20 File Finder.......................................... 16 file manager ....................................... 14 Folder Synchronizer........................... 17 Playlist Editor ..................................... 19 PowerDesk ........................................ 14 Size Manager..................................... 18

status bar Folder Synchronizer........................... 87 PowerDesk ........................................ 26 Size Manager................................... 151

stopping a scan ......................................... 152 synchronizing folders ................................. 88 T Tag Editor................................................... 147 tagging folders........................................... 155 technical support....................................... 167 testing Zip archive integrity........................ 80 V Communications, Inc.

Thumbnail view............................................30 time stamp....................................................62 toolbar customizing PowerDesk................... 124 File Finder ........................................ 103 Folder Synchronizer........................... 84 PowerDesk ................................ 23, 123 Size Manager................................... 150

toolbar reference........................................168 Tour PowerDesk...........................................13 transferring files and folders ......................99 tree list ..................................................25, 150 tree pane PowerDesk ........................................ 29 PowerDesk ........................................ 25 Size Manager........................... 150, 152

true file names..............................................31 U Uninstalling ..................................................12 unloading Dialog Helper............................115 unmapping network drives .........................66 updating PowerDesk ...................................12 uploading files and folders .........................99 UUEncoding files .........................................54 V VCOM products..........................................170 viewer in Dialog Helper .............................114 viewer pane detaching ......................................... 136 Folder Synchronizer........................... 87 images ............................................. 135 menu................................................ 137 positioning........................................ 136 PowerDesk ........................................ 25 preferences ...................................... 119 printing ............................................. 140 rotating images ................................ 138 searching for text ............................. 141 selecting contents ............................ 140 sizing................................................ 138

viewing archive contents................................. 71 images ............................................. 135 true file names ................................... 31

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Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new .....................................................9 window components

Zip

File Finder ....................................... 102 Folder Synchronizer .......................... 83 PowerDesk ........................................ 22 Size Manager .................................. 149

windows

adding files ........................................ 75 creating.............................................. 72 edit comments ................................... 79 finding files in................................... 105 options ............................................... 73 testing integrity .................................. 80

arranging ........................................... 38 using multiple .................................... 38

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License and Warranty Agreement By using the enclosed Software you indicate your acceptance of all terms and conditions of this license agreement. If you do not agree with these terms then V Communications is unwilling to license the Software to you, in which event you should return the full product with proof of purchase to the dealer from whom it was acquired within thirty (30) days of purchase for a refund of the purchase price, or destroy all copies of the Software and the accompanying documentation. The Software that accompanies this license (the "Software") is the property of V Communications or its licensors and is protected by copyright law. While V Communications continues to own the Software, you will have certain rights and obligations to use the Software after acceptance of this license as follows: Number of Copies Licensed. If you have not purchased a multi-site license, you are authorized to use only a single copy of the Software on a single computer. If you have purchased a multi-site license, you are authorized to use the Software on no more than the number of computers for which you have purchased licenses. To purchase or expand your multi-site license, contact V Communications at sales@v-com.com or at 1-408-965-4000. Copies. You can make only one copy of the Software for backup or archival purposes. You may not copy the documentation that accompanies the Software. Transfer of License. After written notice to V Communications, you may transfer the Software, to another person or entity, provided that no copies or older versions of the Software are retained, and the transferee agrees to the terms of this agreement. Non-permitted Uses. You may not modify, translate, sublicense, rent or lease any portion of the Software or accompanying documentation. You may not create any derivative works from the Software. You may not use or transfer a previous version of the Software after you have received a media replacement or an upgraded version as a replacement to a prior version. Term. This license is effective from your date of purchase and will remain in force until terminated. You may terminate this License agreement at any time by removing the software from your computer and destroying all copies of the Software in any form and destroying any accompanying documentation.

V Communications Limited Warranty V Communications, Inc. warrants to the original purchaser that the media on which the program is furnished to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use, and warrants that the Software conforms substantially to any V Communications' advertised claims at the date of sale. This limited warranty extends from thirty (30) days from the date of purchase as evidenced by a copy of your receipt.

V Communications, Inc.

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This warranty does not apply to any Software that has been altered, abused, damaged, misapplied, or used other than in accordance with this license and any instructions included in the Software and accompanying documentation. V Communications does not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements or that operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or that the Software will be error-free. In the event of notification within the warranty period of failure to meet any V Communications' advertised claims at the date of sale, you may return the program and all associated manuals in good condition to your place of purchase for a refund. If you need to exchange or return a product purchased directly from V Communications, call our customer service department to obtain a return authorization number. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, V Communications and its suppliers disclaim all other warranties, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement with regard to the Software. This Warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may have other rights, which vary in different jurisdictions.

Limitation of Liability To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall V Communications or its suppliers be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, loss of business or personal information, or any other monetary loss) arising out of the use of or the inability to use the Software, even if V Communications has been advised of the possibility of damages. Because some states and jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. In no event shall V Communications liability exceed the purchase price for the Software. The disclaimers and limitations set forth above will apply regardless of whether you accept the Software.

Complete Agreement Having read this Agreement, you agree that no contrary or inconsistent statement, oral or written, has been made by any person and that this is the complete and exclusive statement of the terms and conditions of the Agreement between us, and any prior proposal or statement, whether written or oral, is superseded. In the event of any dispute regarding the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you agree that the laws of the state of California, Santa Clara County will govern the interpretation of the Agreement.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights Legend The SOFTWARE and documentation are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government are subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer SoftwareRestricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.277-19, as applicable, V Communications, Inc., 2290 North First St., Suite 101, San Jose, CA, 95131, USA.

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