The Status bar
The optional Status bar in Explorer provides brief information about whatever you’re viewing in Explorer
at the moment. It also offers the standard sizing pad, which you can drag to resize the window. You can
Windows XP Bible
see an example along the bottom of the Explorer window shown in Figure 2-26. Choose View › Status
Bar from the Explorer menu bar to hide or display the Status bar.
Searching for Lost Files
It’s not unusual, especially among beginners, to lose files on a hard disk. You might download a file
from the Internet or create and save some document without paying much attention to where you put it
or what you named it. Or, you may be digging around for some document you created ages ago, and
have long since lost track of its name and/or location. The Explorer Search Companion will help you find
it.
Cross-
Reference
Newbies take note. Chapter 3 teaches you all about creating and saving
documents. Chapter 6 explains how to download files from the Internet.
To open the Search Companion:
If you’re already in Windows Explorer, just click the Search button in the Standard Buttons
toolbar.
Or, choose View › Explorer Bar › Search.
Or, press Ctrl+E.
Or, if you’re not in Windows Explorer, click the Start button and choose Search.
The first time the Search Companion opens, you’ll see a prompt asking whether you want to search
with, or without, an animated screen character. This is a one-time question, so you might not see it at
all. Frankly, it makes little difference which you choose, unless you happen to be fond of animated dogs.
You can change your mind at any time by choosing Change Preferences within the Search bar.
The first set of options to appear in the Search Companion bar, shown in Figure 2-27, are as follows:
Pictures, music, or video: This option limits the results of the search to those types of files.
Documents: This option limits the search to document files that go with specific programs,
such as Word documents, Excel documents, and so forth.
All files and folders: This option returns search results with all types of files.
Computers or people: This option enables you to search for computers in a local network,
people in your address book, or the Internet.
Information in Help and Support Center: This option plays the same role as the Search
option in Windows Help.
Figure 2-27: The Search Companion, with the animated character
The options that appear next depend on what you select. To see the full range of searching options, you
need to click Use Advanced Search Options. You can fill in any information you do know about the file.
Windows XP Bible
If you don’t know a specific piece of information about a file (such as its size), leave that option blank.
Staying with the example of searching for lost files or folders, you’ll likely be given the following options:
All or part of filename: If you know anything about the name of the file, you can enter that
here. For music, videos, and other media files, you can even add information that’s not
specifically in the file name, but elsewhere in the file’s properties. For example, searching for
“Hendrix” in music and sound files will find files with Hendrix in the file name, the artist name,
album name, and so forth.
A word or phrase in the file: If you don’t remember the name of the file, but remember
something about its contents, you can enter that here. If you’re searching for a letter written to
Jack Jones, for example, and are pretty sure the letter contains “Dear Jack” or “Dear Mr.
Jones,” you can enter Jack or Jones as the content to search for.
Look in: This option enables you to expand or narrow the search to certain drives or folders. If
you know the file is in My Documents or one of the folders contained within My Documents, for
instance, you can choose My Documents as the place to look in. This speeds up the search,
because only that folder (and its subfolders) are searched.
When was it modified: If all you remember about the file is that you created or modified it
yesterday, last week, or within some other time frame, you can choose this option and specify
a range of dates.
What size is it: In the unlikely event that you happen to remember only the approximate size of
the file, you can choose this option to search for files within a range of sizes.
More advanced options: As the name implies, choosing More Advanced Options enables you
to narrow things down even further, including the following:
at the moment. It also offers the standard sizing pad, which you can drag to resize the window. You can
Windows XP Bible
see an example along the bottom of the Explorer window shown in Figure 2-26. Choose View › Status
Bar from the Explorer menu bar to hide or display the Status bar.
Searching for Lost Files
It’s not unusual, especially among beginners, to lose files on a hard disk. You might download a file
from the Internet or create and save some document without paying much attention to where you put it
or what you named it. Or, you may be digging around for some document you created ages ago, and
have long since lost track of its name and/or location. The Explorer Search Companion will help you find
it.
Cross-
Reference
Newbies take note. Chapter 3 teaches you all about creating and saving
documents. Chapter 6 explains how to download files from the Internet.
To open the Search Companion:
If you’re already in Windows Explorer, just click the Search button in the Standard Buttons
toolbar.
Or, choose View › Explorer Bar › Search.
Or, press Ctrl+E.
Or, if you’re not in Windows Explorer, click the Start button and choose Search.
The first time the Search Companion opens, you’ll see a prompt asking whether you want to search
with, or without, an animated screen character. This is a one-time question, so you might not see it at
all. Frankly, it makes little difference which you choose, unless you happen to be fond of animated dogs.
You can change your mind at any time by choosing Change Preferences within the Search bar.
The first set of options to appear in the Search Companion bar, shown in Figure 2-27, are as follows:
Pictures, music, or video: This option limits the results of the search to those types of files.
Documents: This option limits the search to document files that go with specific programs,
such as Word documents, Excel documents, and so forth.
All files and folders: This option returns search results with all types of files.
Computers or people: This option enables you to search for computers in a local network,
people in your address book, or the Internet.
Information in Help and Support Center: This option plays the same role as the Search
option in Windows Help.
Figure 2-27: The Search Companion, with the animated character
The options that appear next depend on what you select. To see the full range of searching options, you
need to click Use Advanced Search Options. You can fill in any information you do know about the file.
Windows XP Bible
If you don’t know a specific piece of information about a file (such as its size), leave that option blank.
Staying with the example of searching for lost files or folders, you’ll likely be given the following options:
All or part of filename: If you know anything about the name of the file, you can enter that
here. For music, videos, and other media files, you can even add information that’s not
specifically in the file name, but elsewhere in the file’s properties. For example, searching for
“Hendrix” in music and sound files will find files with Hendrix in the file name, the artist name,
album name, and so forth.
A word or phrase in the file: If you don’t remember the name of the file, but remember
something about its contents, you can enter that here. If you’re searching for a letter written to
Jack Jones, for example, and are pretty sure the letter contains “Dear Jack” or “Dear Mr.
Jones,” you can enter Jack or Jones as the content to search for.
Look in: This option enables you to expand or narrow the search to certain drives or folders. If
you know the file is in My Documents or one of the folders contained within My Documents, for
instance, you can choose My Documents as the place to look in. This speeds up the search,
because only that folder (and its subfolders) are searched.
When was it modified: If all you remember about the file is that you created or modified it
yesterday, last week, or within some other time frame, you can choose this option and specify
a range of dates.
What size is it: In the unlikely event that you happen to remember only the approximate size of
the file, you can choose this option to search for files within a range of sizes.
More advanced options: As the name implies, choosing More Advanced Options enables you
to narrow things down even further, including the following:
Labels: The Status bar
posted by petrzel at 9:11 AM
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