Chapter 10 Accessing Files and Folders MICROSOFT EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER  Monitor, manage, and troubleshoot access to files and folders.  Configure, manage, and troubleshoot file compression  Control access to files and folders by using permissions.  Optimize access to files and folders.  Manage and troubleshoot access to shared folders.  Create and remove shared folders.  Control access to shared folders by using permissions.  Connect to shared resources on a Microsoft network.  Manage and troubleshoot the use and synchronization of offline files. Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com A dministrators must have basic file management skills, including the ability to create a well-defined, logically organized directory structure and maintain that structure. Windows 2000 Professional Folder Options allow you to configure many properties associated with files and folders, such as what you see when you access folders, file type associations, and the use of offline files and folders. Finally, you should know how to search for files and folders. Local access defines what access a user has to local resources. You can limit local access by applying security for folders and files on NTFS parti- tions. You should know what NTFS permissions are and how they are applied. You can also optimize local access through the use of the Indexing Service. A powerful feature of networking is the ability to allow network access to local folders. In Windows 2000 Professional, it is very easy to share folders. You can also apply security to shared folders in a manner that is similar to applying NTFS permissions. Once you share a folder, users with appropriate access rights can access the folders through a variety of methods. To effectively manage both local and network resource access and trouble- shoot related problems, you should understand the resource-access process. Windows 2000 Professional uses access tokens, access control lists, and access control entries to handle resource access. This chapter covers file and folder management tasks, beginning with the basics of planning and creating a directory structure. Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com File and Folder Management Basics 439 File and Folder Management Basics B efore you perform tasks such as managing NTFS security and net- work shares, you need to understand how to perform basic file and folder management tasks. The first step in file and folder management is organizing your files and folders. After you have created the structure, you can manage folder options. Another common task is searching for files and folders. These tasks are covered in the following sections. Organizing Files and Folders When your files and folders are well organized, you can easily access the information that is stored on your computer. Organizing your files and folders is similar to storing your papers. If you don’t have very many papers, the task is easy. The more papers you have, the more c hallenging the task becomes. The key to organization is good planning. For example, you might decide to store all of your applications on your C: drive and all of your data on your D: drive. You might organize data by function or by type. Figure 10.1 shows an example of a directory structure that has been logically organized. FIGURE 10.1 A sample directory structure Once you plan your directory structure, you are ready to create the struc- ture on your computer. This involves creating files and folders and may also require you to rename, delete, move, and copy files and folders. These tasks are described in the following sections. C:\ D:\ Applications WP DOCS ACCT DATA WP SS DB 1Q 2QProject 1 Project 2 OS Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com 440 Chapter 10  Accessing Files and Folders Creating Folders You can create folders in several ways, such as through Windows Explorer, the DOS MD command, and My Computer. The examples in this chapter will use Windows Explorer for file management. You take the following steps to create a folder: 1. Select Start  Programs  Accessories  Windows Explorer to open Windows Explorer. 2. Open My Computer and select the drive where the folder will be created. 3. Select File  New  Folder, as shown in Figure 10.2. FIGURE 10.2 Creating a new folder 4. A folder icon labeled New Folder appears in the Windows Explorer window, as shown in Figure 10.3. Replace the label by typing in the name of the new folder. Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com File and Folder Management Basics 441 FIGURE 10.3 Naming a new folder Creating Files There are many ways to create files. The most common way is through applica- tions, including the Windows 2000 Professional WordPad and Notepad utilities. You take the following steps to create a file with Notepad: 1. Select Start  Programs  Accessories  Windows Explorer to open Windows Explorer. 2. Open My Computer and select the drive where the file will be created. 3. Select File  New  Text Document. 4. A new file icon appears in the Windows Explorer window. Type in the name of the new file under the file icon. 5. Double-click the new file to open it in Notepad. Add text to the file, as shown in Figure 10.4. FIGURE 10.4 Editing a text document with Notepad Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com 442 Chapter 10  Accessing Files and Folders 6. Save the file by selecting File  Exit. You will see a dialog box indi- cating that the contents of the file have changed. Save the changes by clicking the Yes button. In Exercise 10.1, you will create a simple directory structure and add folders and files. This structure will be used in the other exercises in this chapter. EXERCISE 10.1 Creating a Directory and File Structure 1. Select Start  Programs  Accessories  Windows Explorer to start Windows Explorer. 2. Expand My Computer, then Local Disk (D:). Select File  New  Folder and name the new folder DATA . 3. Double-click the DATA folder to open the folder. Select File  New  Folder and name the new folder WP DOCS . 4. Double-click the Data folder, select File  New  Folder, and name the new folder SS DOCS folder. 5. Confirm that you are still in the DATA folder. Select File  New  Text Document. Name the file DOC1.TXT. 6. Double-click the WP DOCS folder. Select File  New  Text Docu- ment. Name the file DOC2.TXT. 7. Double-click the SS DOCS folder. Select File  New  Text Docu- ment. Name the file DOC3.TXT. Your structure should look like the one shown below. DATA WP DOCS SS DOCS DOC1 DOC2 DOC3 Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com File and Folder Management Basics 443 Renaming and Deleting Folders and Files If you need to rename a folder or a file, right-click the folder or file that you want to rename and select Rename from the pop-up menu. The name will be selected and boxed. Start typing to replace the existing name with your entry, or position the cursor and edit the existing folder name or filename. To delete a folder or file, right-click the folder or file that you want to remove and select Delete from the pop-up menu. When prompted, click the Yes button to confirm the deletion. Deleted files or folders are moved to the Recycle Bin, which you can clear peri- odically to delete files or folders permanently. If you delete a folder or file by accident, you can usually restore the folder or file through the Recycle Bin. Copying and Moving Folders and Files You can easily reorganize your directory structure by copying and moving folders and files. When you move a folder or file from its original location (called the source) to a new location (called the destination), it no longer exists in the source location. When you copy a folder or file, it will exist in both the source and destination locations. To copy or move a folder or file, right-click the folder or file that you want to copy or move and drag and drop it to its destination location. You will see a pop-up menu that includes the options Copy Here and Move Here, as shown in Figure 10.5. Make the appropriate selection. FIGURE 10.5 Choosing to move a folder Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com 444 Chapter 10  Accessing Files and Folders Managing Folder Options Through the Folder Options dialog box, you can configure options such as the Desktop view and what you see when you open folders. To open the Folder Options dialog box, start Windows Explorer and select Tools  Folder Options. Folder Options also appears as an icon in Control Panel. The Folder Options dialog box has four tabs: General, View, File Types, and Offline Files. The options on each of these tabs are described in the fol- lowing sections. General Folder Options The General tab of the Folder Options dialog box, shown in Figure 10.6, includes the following options:  Whether the computer is configured to use the Windows classic Desk- top or to use the Active Desktop, which enables Web content on the Desktop  Whether the computer is configured to use Windows classic folders or to enable Web content in folders  Whether folders are opened in the same window or each folder is opened in a separate window when a user is browsing folders  Whether a user opens items with a single-click or a double-click FIGURE 10.6 The General tab of the Folder Options dialog box Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com File and Folder Management Basics 445 Folder View Options The options on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box, shown in Figure 10.7, are used to configure what users see when they open files and folders. For example, you can change the default setting so that hidden files and folders are shown in Windows Explorer and other file lists. The View tab options are described in Table 10.1. FIGURE 10.7 The View tab of the Folder Options dialog box TABLE 10.1 Folder View Options Option Description Display Com- pressed Files and Folders with an Alter- nate Color By default, compressed files and folders are dis- played in the same color as uncompressed files and folders. Enabling this option displays compressed files and folders in an alternate color so that they can be easily identified. Display the Full Path in the Address Bar By default, the address bar in the Windows Explorer window shows an abbreviated path of your location, such as Chapter 10 (from the Word Documents folder). Enabling this option displays the full path, such as C:\Word Documents\Sybex\Prof Book\Chapter 10. Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com 446 Chapter 10  Accessing Files and Folders Display the Full Path in the Title Bar By default, the title bar at the top of the Windows Explorer window shows an abbreviated path of your location. En- abling this option displays the full path. Hidden Files and Folders By default, Do Not Show Hidden Files and Folders is se- lected, so that files and folders with the Hidden attribute are not listed. Choosing Show Hidden Files and Folders displays these items. Hide File Ex- tensions for Known File Types By default, filename extensions, which identify the file type (for example, .DOC for Word files and .XLS for Excel files), are not shown. Disabling this option displays all filename extensions. Hide Protected Operating Sys- tem Files (Rec- ommended) By default, operating system files are not shown, which protects operating system files from being modified or deleted by a user. Disabling this option displays the op- erating system files. Launch Folder Windows in a Separate Process By default, when you open a folder, it shares memory with the previous folders that were opened. Enabling this option opens folders in separate parts of memory, which increases the stability of Windows 2000 but can slightly decrease the performance of the computer. Remember Each Folder’s View Settings By default, any folder display settings you make are re- tained each time the folder is reopened. Disabling this option resets the folder display settings to their defaults each time the folder is opened. Show My Doc- uments on the Desktop By default, My Documents (a folder created by Windows 2000 for each user who accesses the computer and used as the default location for storing user files) appears on the Desktop. Disabling this option removes My Comput- er from the Desktop. Show Pop-Up Description for Folder and Desktop Options By default, any summary information configured through file properties (such as title, subject, and au- thor) appears when you click a file. Disabling this option suppresses the display of the summary information. TABLE 10.1 Folder View Options (continued) Option Description Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA. www.sybex.com [...]... Traverse folders and execute files (programs) in the folders List the contents of a folder and read the data in a folder’s files See a folder’s or file’s attributes Change a folder’s or file’s attributes Create new files and write data to the files Create new folders and append data to files Delete subfolders and files Delete files Change permissions for files and folders Take ownership of files and folders. .. rights: Traverse folders and execute files in the folders List the contents of a folder and read the data in a folder’s files Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA www.sybex.com 458 Chapter 10 Accessing Files and Folders See a folder’s or file’s attributes Change a folder’s or file’s attributes Create new files and write data to the files Create new folders and append data to files Delete files The Read... 448 Chapter 10 Accessing Files and Folders Microsoft Exam Objective FIGURE 10.9 Manage and troubleshoot the use and synchronization of offline files The Offline Files tab of the Folder Options dialog box Offline files and folders are particularly useful for mobile users who use the same set of files when they are attached to the network and when they are traveling Offline files and folders are also... files and folders, because NetWare uses a protocol called NCP (NetWare Core Protocol) for file and print sharing In order to use offline files and folders, you must complete the following tasks: 1 Attach to the shared file or folder that you want to access offline 2 Configure your computer to use offline files and folders 3 Make files and folders available for offline access 4 Specify how offline files. .. related to optimizing access to files and folders and using permissions to control access to files and folders, for the “Monitor, manage, and troubleshoot access to files and folders objective Using file compression, another subobjective for this objective, is covered in Chapter 9, “Managing Disks.” That chapter also provides more information about optimizing access to files and folders The following sections... Inc., Alameda, CA www.sybex.com 467 468 Chapter 10 Accessing Files and Folders In Exercise 10.4, you will optimize access to folders and files by starting and configuring the Indexing Service EXERCISE 10.4 Starting and Configuring the Indexing Service 1 Right-click My Computer and select Manage 2 Expand Services and Applications, select Services, and double-click Indexing Service 3 In the Indexing... permission allows the following rights: Traverse folders and execute files in the folders List the contents of a folder and read the data in a folder’s files See a folder’s or file’s attributes The List Folder Contents permission allows the following rights: Traverse folders and execute files in the folders List the contents of a folder and read the data in a folder’s files See a folder’s or file’s attributes... the partition is NTFS, you can specify the access each user has to specific folders on the partition, based on the user’s logon name and group associations Microsoft Exam Objective Monitor, manage, and troubleshoot access to files and folders Control access to files and folders by using permissions Optimize access to files and folders Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA www.sybex.com Managing Local... If you are trying to configure offline files and folders, and you don’t see the Make Available Offline option as a folder property, check the following: Are you connected to a network share on a computer that uses SMB? Offline files and folders won’t work from a network computer that does not use SMB Have you configured your computer to use offline files and folders? Before you can make a file or folder... configure more advanced searches by date, type, and size For even more complex searches, you can select Advanced Options and specify subfolders, case sensitivity, and search slow files (files that reside on removable storage media, such as tape or optical drives) Copyright © 2000 SYBEX Inc., Alameda, CA www.sybex.com 456 Chapter 10 Accessing Files and Folders FIGURE 10.17 Search results Managing Local . searching for files and folders. These tasks are covered in the following sections. Organizing Files and Folders When your files and folders are well. Com- pressed Files and Folders with an Alter- nate Color By default, compressed files and folders are dis- played in the same color as uncompressed files and folders.