Q. Whenever I download a file, I can never find it. How can I keep tabs on anything I download?
A. When you download a file, it’s easy to forget where it was saved. To avoid that, I usually download to my Windows Desktop. In that way, whatever I download is always front and center and I can relocate it later.
If you download a file to a folder and then forget its location, try using the Windows "Find Files or Folders" option from the Start > Search menu. It works great if you know the name of the file you’re looking for, but even if you can’t remember, you’re not out of luck.
Instead of looking for a specific file name, you can search by date. For example, if you downloaded a file within the last week, search within that time frame and you'll find it along with any other files downloaded or modified within that period.
The wording for searching by date will vary depending on the version of Windows you’re using. For example, Windows XP users click Start > Search > For Files and Folders > All Files and Folders > When was it modified? Vista users, click the Start button and in the “Start Search” field, type “Search,” then select “Search Everywhere.” On the next screen, click the Advanced Search button in the upper right-hand corner, where you can then launch your search using any of a number of criteria, including the date.
Q. Is there an easy way to determine how large a folder is? I’ve been adding up the size of each file within a folder to come up with the size of the folder, but there has to be an easier way. Thanks, Mr. M.
A. A quick and easy way to determine the size of a folder, including the files and sub-folders within it, is to select (highlight) the folder and press ALT + ENTER or right-click and select Properties.
For example, to find out how much space any folder or document within your My Documents folder consumes, open My Documents. Right-click on any folder and select Properties. On the General tab of the Properties window, you’ll see displayed a variety of information about that folder, including its size and the number of files contained within the folder.
Mr. Modem's Sites of the Week:
About Big Numbers
Have you ever wondered how big an octovigintillion is? How about a tredecillion, or a quattuordecillion, or a million-jillion? There are so many big numbers here that you’ll have a splitting headache in no time.
http://tinyurl.com/yfn9n2r
Free Information Society
The F.I.S. provides free MP3 downloads of historical sounds, speeches, interviews and other significant moments in audio history. Listen to Spiro Agnew talk about long-haired hippies, Mahatma Gandhi speak about peace, Amelia Earhart about flying, Mr. Modem about the joy of lint, among many others. The site, which is regularly updated with new recordings, is divided into sections including History, People, Mathematics, Science, and Arts & Entertainment.
http://tinyurl.com/6e63l5
Political and Historical Quotations
If you're looking for a quote with which to dazzle your friends and family, you’re bound to find it here. Choose from more than 51,000 quotes by and about historians, politicians, and other famous and infamous folk. Use the Expanded Search link from which you can view a list of all quoted individuals, from Anonymous to Stefan Zweig, who was an Austrian writer -- as if you didn’t know.
www.politicalquotes.org
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