I thought I would share the following that i have copied and pasted from
another list.
Microsoft Overhauls Windows Explorer in Windows 8
By Ian Paul, PCWorld Aug 24, 2011 6:13 AM
Microsoft Overhauls Windows Explorer in Windows 8Hold onto your socks
Windows 8 fans, because Microsoft is adding some new enhancements to its
file manager application, Windows Explorer, in the next version of its
popular operating system. And the first Explorer feature Microsoft wants
to show off is (drumroll please): the new copy dialog. Huh?
I know, I know, copying functions may elicit yawns from many of you, but
copying, moving, renaming and deleting files are the most oft-used
features of Windows Explorer. Microsoft says these four basic functions
account for 50 percent of all Explorer usage in Windows 7. That means
there's a lot of file management going on for the average Windows 7 user
every day.
So while these changes may not be as exciting as say, a brand new
touch-centric overlay, improvements to the way Windows handles copying
could improve your overall OS experience, as long as you're into copying
multiple files that is.
This One's For The Multitaskers
Microsoft's copying overhaul doesn't really improve much for people who
typically move around one file or folder at a time or are used to
handling small text files. But if you find yourself moving around large
amounts of data such as photos and videos, then Windows 8 aims to make
your copying experience easier.
Microsoft says it had three goals for its new copy dialog: move all copy
jobs into one window, simplify the UI and give you more control over any
operations in progress. Here's what you have to look forward to when
copying files in Windows 8.
Copy Central
Instead of having multiple windows open for each file, Windows 8 will
automatically merge all copy jobs into one central window. The basic
view shows you how many items are being copied in each job, their source
and destination folders, and a progress bar. There are also pause and
cancel buttons if you'd like to speed up one copy job by putting the
other on hold or cancel one altogether. The source and destination
folders are also clickable so you can open up those folders directly
from the copy dialog.
If you want more details about your copy job, click on the "More
details" disclosure button at the bottom of the window. Opening this up
shows you a new real-time throughput graph, speed of data transfer, time
remaining and how much data is left to transfer.
Microsoft also says it has improved its time estimates for how long it
takes for a copy job to finish, but didn't go into detail about what
those improvements are. The Windows maker did point out that getting a
precise time estimate is nearly impossible. There are just too many
variables to account for, according to Microsoft, such as whether you're
anti-virus program will start scanning files on your hard drive halfway
through the transfer.
Microsoft also warned that while the new copy dialog offers detailed
information it was not designed to be a benchmarking tool.
Filename Collisions
Windows 7 Conflict Resolution Dialog
Windows 8 has a new way to handle alerts when you are about to copy a
file with the same name as another file in your destination folder, a
problem Microsoft calls a filename collision. This can happen if you
maintain a separate folder for editing photos and don't bother to change
the filename. Or, you receive a revised copy of a contract via email and
dump it into your contracts folder.
Before Windows 8 lets you overwrite your old file, you'll be met with
three choices that are somewhat similar to Windows 7: replace all the
old files in the destination folder, skip copying the new files or
choose the files to keep in the destination folder.
Windows 8 Conflict Resolution Dialog
If you choose the latter, a new dialog pops up showing you the files you
want to copy in the left column and the files with the same name in the
destination folder on the right. The dialog shows the file names, dates
that each file was created, and each file's size. You can also hover
over each file to see its location or you can double click on a file to
open it. When you're ready to choose the files you want to keep, just
click the check boxes next to the files, press "Continue" and you're
done. If you don't click a check box next to one of your two colliding
files, Windows 8 errs on the side of caution and keeps your old version
intact.
New Windows 8 Start Icon?
Beyond the new copying features, online sleuths have been trying to
glean other tidbits of information from Microsoft's new Windows 8 demo.
UK-based blog My Microsoft Life believes it saw a new Windows start icon
at the beginning of the video below, but it's hard to say for sure. Keep
an eye on the screen behind Microsoft's Alex Simons and let us know what
you think in the comments. Microsoft also has a larger version of the
copy dialog video to get a better look at the screen.
--
Chris Hallsworth
Sent from Thunderbird
=======================================
The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and
worm-free
To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web
pages located at
http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat
You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at
either of the following websites:
http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html
Or:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml>
---------------------------------------
