Chapter 7: Using Files and Folders

Fixing Your Mistakes

Even the most experienced computer user occasionally clicks the mouse, and then stares at the screen in horror, asking, "What did I just do?" Fortunately, the horror needn't be lasting--Windows provides tools for recovering from many common errors.

Fixing Big Mistakes

Computers have been known to start misbehaving after you install new software, add a hardware device, or otherwise change delicate settings. Understanding exactly what has gone wrong and fixing it can be a laborious and unrewarding process, and sometimes you just don't care. You just want to put things back the way they were and forget this ever happened.

Windows XP contains a powerful tool for addressing these situations, System Restore. Using System Restore, you can return your computer's hardware/software configuration to the way it was on some previous date--when it presumably worked better than it does now.

Reversing Your Last Action Using the Undo Command

Windows Explorer has an Undo command that allows you to recover quickly from simple mistakes like deleting or moving the wrong file. Just press CTRL-Z on the keyboard or select Edit | Undo from the menu. Repeat either of these commands to step back through your recent actions. If you find yourself undoing mistakes frequently, you may want to add an Undo button to the Standard Buttons toolbar.

Retrieving Files and Folders from the Recycle Bin

If you change your mind about deleting a file or folder and it's too late to use the Undo command described in the previous section, you can still retrieve it from the Recycle Bin--if it was deleted from a hard drive and you haven't emptied the Recycle Bin in the meantime.

Emptying and configuring the Recycle Bin is discussed in the next chapter.

Opening the Recycle Bin

The easiest place to find the Recycle Bin is on the desktop, where its icon looks like a wastebasket. You can also find the Recycle Bin on the folder tree directly under the desktop, below your computer's disk drive and other devices.

Searching the Recycle Bin

If you know exactly what file or folder you are looking for, any view will do. But if the Recycle Bin is crowded and you need to do some real detective work to determine which objects you want to retrieve, the Details view (shown in Figure 7-5) is best. Choose View | Details from the menu bar. The working area becomes a list with columns showing the following:

Figure 7-5: The Recycle Bin in Details view

• The name and icon of the file or folder
• The address of the folder from which the object was deleted
• The date and time the object was deleted
• The size
• The file type
• The date and time the object was last modified

Clicking the column header sorts the list according to that column's attribute. For example, if you know the date when you deleted the file, click the Date Deleted header to put the objects in the order in which they were deleted. All objects deleted on the same date you deleted the file appear together. If you remember the name of the file, but know you deleted several versions of it, clicking the Name header arranges the list alphabetically by name. All the versions appear next to each other, and you can easily see which is the most recent version.

Recovering Objects from the Recycle Bin

The simplest way to recover an object from the Recycle Bin is to follow these steps:

1. Open the Recycle Bin.
2. Select the object (or collection of objects) you want to recover.
3. Choose File | Restore from the menu bar.

You can also right-click the item you want to recover and choose Restore from the shortcut menu.

The object returns to the folder it was deleted from--the address given in the Original Location column of the Details view. If the object is a folder, all its contents return with it. You can use Restore even if the object was deleted from a folder that no longer exists. A folder of the appropriate name is then created to contain the restored object. You can restore everything in the Recycle Bin to its original location by clicking the Restore All Items option on the Task pane.

To recover an object, but to put it in a new place, you can either cut-and-paste from the Recycle Bin to the new location, or do the following:

1. Open the Recycle Bin.
2. Expand the folder tree in the Folders Explorer bar so the target folder icon is visible.
3. In the working area, select the object(s) you want to recover.
4. Drag-and-drop to the target folder on the Explorer bar.

Retrieving Files with Third-Party Tools

When a file or folder is emptied from the Recycle Bin, Windows doesn't immediately do anything rash like overwrite the corresponding disk space with zeroes. Windows simply removes the file from its file allocation table, so the disk space the file occupied is no longer reserved. If that disk space is needed for something else, Windows writes over it but, until then, the information stays on the disk. (Think of a restaurant with a lazy busboy; the tables don't get cleared until more customers come.)

A number of applications have been written to recover this information and reassemble the file, but none are part of Windows XP. Two of the best known are Norton Utilities by Symantec (on the Internet at http://www.symantec.com) and McAfee Utilities (at http://www.mcafee.com). Unfortunately, these programs work only if you have installed them before you delete the files you want to retrieve.