Managing, Organizing and Finding Files, Information,

Shared Folders and Offline Folders

powered by dj

Chapter Objectives - I

Manage Files and Folders

Navigate in Windows Explorer

Work with Properties in the Details Pane of Windows Explorer

Configure Search and Indexing

Recover Files and Folders using Recycle Bin

Maximize Storage Space with NTFS Compression and Compressed (Zipped) Folders

Use Sharing Models in Windows Vista

Configure Network for Sharing

powered by dj

Chapter Objectives - II

Share Files and Folders

Manage Shared Folders

Manage Offline Files

Work on NTFS Permission and Shared Permission

Work with File Encryption

powered by dj

Recall

IE7 provides some security features such as pop-up blocker and phishing filter

Remote Desktop connection allows you to access another user’s desktop without logging out

Windows Calendar enables you to schedule all your appointments and other tasks efficiently

Windows Mail moves the unwanted mails in Junk mail

Windows Contacts is used for storing contacts in Windows Vista

powered by dj

Navigating in Windows Explorer The Explorer is separated into different elements such as:

Address bar

Search box

Favorite links

Viewport area

Windows Vista allows to navigate Windows Explorer easier because of two conceptions namely, the breadcrumb trail and Favorite Links

powered by dj

Navigating with the Breadcrumb Trail Windows Vista allow to view the full path or sometime depends

on the length of the address path

Uses small arrows instead of backslash (/) to separate the folders

Every element in the address bar is an active control

Provides you to open the document from the address bar

View the recent visited location by selecting the Recent Pages button

powered by dj

Navigating with Favorite Links

Favorite Links are used to quick access the folders

Windows Explorer provides some default links such as Documents, Pictures and Music

All Windows Explorer contains same Favorites Links list within a user profile

Provides a default link – Recently Changed

powered by dj

Managing Files and Folders Windows Explorer is a file manager allows to view and Manage files

and folders

powered by dj

Folders and Sub-folders

Folder contains the collection of the files on your computer in an organized way

Need to create folders to manage your computer

Windows Vista allows to create a number of folders within the Explorer or folder

Subfolder is a folder created inside another folder

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to create a folder. (3 min)

powered by dj

Opening Files and Saving Files A file can be opened by clicking the Open command from the

File menu of the appropriate programs

Files are saved using the Save or Save as command from the File menu

When you set the Windows Classic theme, the style of the various items in Windows Vista changes

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to save a file using the Vista style dialog box. (3 min)

powered by dj

Personalizing Files and Folders Windows Vista allows to:

Manage files and folders within the Windows Explorer

Copy or move the files or folders

Rename or delete the files or folders

Can see how files are organized as well as perform other tasks pertaining to files, folders and drives

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to copy files or folders. Demonstrate a procedure to move files or folders. (5 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to rename files or folders. Demonstrate a procedure to delete files or folders. Demonstrate a procedure to create a shortcut for folder. (6 min)

powered by dj

Filtering, Stacking and Grouping Folder Contents Provides default columns with Name, Date Modified, Type,

Size and Tags Allows to add the column for other properties as per your

requirement The entire column provides two options:

Sort

Group

Filtering Folder content – Allows to filter the folder content as per your requirement

Stacking Folder Contents – Provides to keep the filtering separately as a batch for available filtering criteria

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to group folder contents. (3 min)

powered by dj

Using and Configuring Search and Indexing Provides search feature that is used for fast and indexed

searching from everywhere and gives satisfied results

Allows to search from:

Start menu

Windows Explorer folder

Common dialog boxes

Search folder

powered by dj

Searching from the Start Menu

Instant search provides the results in a categorized list in the left side of the start menu

Start Menu search options

Instant search Search Explorer

powered by dj

Start Menu provides the two search options:

Searching from Windows Explorer While searching from Windows Explorer, list of the searched

results is displayed in Windows Explorer

Result in the explorer will be displayed till the last entered letter has not matched

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to search from Windows Explorer. Demonstrate a procedure to view the subfolders in the searched results. (5 min)

powered by dj

Searching from the Search Folder Search folder provides to search the item

When you have no idea about the item’s location

You want to view the list of item that are stored in unrelated indexed folders

It searches for the entire indexed folders by default

Provides to filter your searched results using filter button

powered by dj

Advanced Search

Search Results window provides the Advanced Search button at the right side of the filter buttons

Advances Search pane provides the options:

Name

Tags

Authors

Location

Date

Size

Search

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to search using multiple criteria in advanced search. (5 min)

powered by dj

Searching for the File Content, Properties and by File Extension

Searching for File Contents – Allows to search and locate the content of the file with their properties such as Name, author and size

Searching for Properties Other Than Name – Allows to search the item using properties

Searching by File Extension – Allows to search the file by its extension

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to search the contents within the folders that are not indexed. (2 min)

powered by dj

Recovering Files and Folders using Recycle Bin Recycle Bin is a folder containing all the files and folders that

have been unintentionally deleted

If you do not want to delete the file, you can choose to restore it back to its original location

Restored files will be sent back to their original location

Recycle Bin also allows you to clear all the deleted files permanently

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to adjust the amount of space used by recycle bin for a drive. (2 min)

powered by dj

Changing the allocated space of the Recycle Bin About 7.5 percent of the disk’s space is allocated to the

Recycle Bin for each drive

You can manually allocate the space for each drive

When the size of all the deleted files exceeds this amount, the older files in the Recycle Bin will be replaced automatically by the new ones

Two state of Recycle Bin:

Full

Empty

Recycle Bin can be hidden from the desktop

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to disable the Recycle Bin. (1 min)

powered by dj

Purging the Recycle Bin

Files stored in the Recycle Bin take as much disk space as they took before they were deleted

If you plan to free up some of your disk space, you will have to delete the items from the Recycle Bin

Recycle Bin allows to manually choose:

Files you want to keep

Remove the files you want to be deleted

The process of removing all the content from Recycle bin is called emptying or purging the Recycle Bin

Files deleted from the Recycle Bin are deleted forever

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to clear the Recycle Bin.(2 min)

powered by dj

Maximizing Storage Space with NTFS Compression File compression allows you to reduce the size of files required

to store in the disk

NTFS compression can be used only on NTFS-formatted disks

Easy to use

File compressed in NTFS compression can be opened using your application

powered by dj

Maximizing Storage Space using Compressed Folders Compressed Folders are supported by both NTFS as well as

FAT32 formatted disks

Widely used because of its flexibility with other devices

Two ways of compressing files and folders using zipped compression:

Create an archive first and add files to it

Select the files first and compress (zip) them

Group of files and folders compressed by manually selecting them first and then, adding them to a new zipped folder

powered by dj

Sharing Models in Windows Vista Allows to share files and folders with other users on the same

system or over the network

Different access privileges provided on the shared files for different user accounts

Enables two ways of sharing folders :

Public folder Sharing – Contents of the Public folder can be shared with the users on the same system or over the network

Any folder Sharing – Shared without it being moved to the Public folder

powered by dj

Sharing Files and Folders - I Sharing the files with public folder:

Simple way of sharing files and folders

Files can be shared just by copying them to the Public folder

Allows to choose whether these files be shared locally or over a network

Sharing folder and files from any folder – Any folder sharing can be done manually or using the Sharing wizard

Stopping or changing a file or folder sharing – Shared file or folder can be changed to suit the user’s requirement or stopped altogether from being shared

powered by dj

Sharing Files and Folders - II Setting Advanced Sharing Properties:

Allows to manage the permissions and other settings for the shared item

Located in the Sharing tab of the Properties dialog box

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to compress a folder using NTFS compression. (3 min)

powered by dj

Managing Shared Folders - I Working with Administrative Shares:

Shared Folders snap-in contains the various shares that are present in the system

Shares are of two types, user defined shares and administrative shares

Creating and Removing a Share:

Create a Shared Folder wizard enables to create a shared folder and configure its sharing properties

Share can be removed from the Shared Folder snap-in

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to create a new archive using zipped folders and adding files and folders to it. Demonstrate a procedure to compress a group of folders.(5 min)

powered by dj

Managing Shared Folders - II Viewing and Disconnecting Sessions:

Session is created whenever a user connects to your computer

Sessions can be viewed from the Shared Folder snap-in

If you want to disconnect a user from your computer immediately, then close the session

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to open the Public folder.(2 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to share items in the Public folder with users on your network. (5 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to enable and use the Sharing wizard to share a file from any folder. (10 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to change or stop a file or folder sharing. (2 min)

powered by dj

Managing Shared Folders - III Accessing shared folders:

Shared folders in local computer can be accessed from the Windows Explorer and Computer

Shared folders of the computers in network can be accessed from the Network folder

Allows to map a network folder to a drive letter

Can be unmapped by right-clicking the appropriate mapped network folder and selecting the Disconnect option

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to create a Network Share using advanced settings. (10 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to share a folder using the Create a Shared Folder wizard.(15 min)

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to map a network folder to a drive letter.(10 min)

powered by dj

Managing Offline Files Enables to continue working on the files even when the network

is unavailable

Offline files are located in your computer

Making files available offline is helpful because:

Network unavailability

Slow network connection

Easy to sync

Connect with mobile PC

Offline files have to be synchronized with the network files to update the new changes

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to make files and folders available offline. Demonstrate a procedure to enable offline files. (10 min)

powered by dj

Working with Network Files when Offline Allows to work with network files even when network is not

available

Changes made in the offline files can be merged with the network files by synchronizing them

View the status of an offline file from the Details pane

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to sync offline files. (4 min)

powered by dj

Working on NTFS Permission and Shared Permission NTFS permissions can be assigned only on the NTFS drives

NTFS permission allows to set various permissions that are similar to the permissions set using the Sharing wizard

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to set permissions for a group or user that is not listed in the Group or User Names box. (10 min)

powered by dj

Advanced Security Settings - I Various levels of permission that can be assigned to the users

and groups are:

Full control – Provides the user with full control over the file or folder

Modify – Provides the user with privilege to view and change files, execute programs, create new files and delete files

Read & execute – Provides the user with privilege to view files and execute programs

List folder contents - Provides the user with privilege to view files and execute programs

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to delete inherited permissions. (8 min)

powered by dj

Advanced Security Settings - II

Read – Provides the user with privilege to view files, view file attributes and permissions and synchronize files

Write – Provides the user with privilege to create files, write data, view file attributes and permissions and synchronize files

Special permissions – Include permissions such as Full control, Traverse folder, List folder, Read attributes, Read extended attributes, Create files, Create folders, Write attributes, Write extended attributes, Delete subfolders and files, Delete, Read permissions, Change permissions and Take ownership

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to view the effect of all NTFS permissions on a user or group. (8 min)

powered by dj

Applying Permissions to Subfolders through Inheritance Permissions of the parent folder are inherited to its files and

subfolders

Prevent this either by deleting the inherited permissions for the files and subfolders or by assigning different permissions to them

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to change a file ownership. (10 min)

powered by dj

Testing the Effect of Permissions Permissions on a specific file or folder depend on the various

settings specified by various users on the system

In Windows Vista, the net permissions on a file or folder can be viewed from the Effective Permissions tab

powered by dj

Using Special Permissions - I Full control Traverse folder/execute file List folder/read data Read attributes Read extended attributes Create files/write data Create folders/append data

powered by dj

Write attributes Write extended attributes Delete subfolders and

files Delete Read permissions Change permissions Take ownership

Using Special Permissions - II Special permissions categorized into:

Read permission

Read & execute permission

Write permission

Modify permission

Full control permission

powered by dj

Taking Ownership of Files and Folders In a NTFS formatted drive, if you create a file or folder,

Windows automatically assigns you as the owner of that file or folder

Being the owner, you have the permission to read, execute, write, modify and delete the item

You can also grant the ownership of the file to other user

If you are not an administrator, then you will not be able to take ownership

powered by dj

Encrypting and Decrypting a File or Folder through GUI option Encryption is a process of securing information by coding the

contents

Files and folders that you want to keep away from unwanted access should be encrypted

Need to backup your encryption certificate in case of first time encryption

Encrypted file or folder can be decrypted

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate a procedure to encrypt a file or folder. Explain the process of encrypting files using Cipher command. (10 min)

powered by dj

Encrypting files using Cipher Command Used to encrypt file at the command prompt

From the command prompt a new encryption key can be created just by typing cipher /k

Used to quickly view the files and folders that are encrypted in a given directory

powered by dj

Practical Activity: Demonstrate the Data Recovery Agent to access the encrypted file.(44 min)

powered by dj

Summary - I

Windows Explorer is a file manager that allows you to view and manage files and folders

Recycle Bin is a folder containing all the files and folders that have been deleted

Windows Vista supports NTFS file compression as well as compressed (zipped) folders

Files can be shared with users on the same system and also with users on the network

Using the Network and Sharing Center, the network can be configured to support file sharing

The Shared Folder snap-in allows you to manage all the shared folders in your computer centrally

powered by dj

Summary - II

The offline files are copies of network files located in your computer, which can be used when the network is not available

NTFS Permissions are applied to the files and folders present in the NTFS disks

In Windows Vista, files and folders can be encrypted to protect them from unintended users with the help of the Encrypting File System feature

powered by dj