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Creating Shortcuts in Windows 7
One other option exists in Windows 7 for accessing a file from a different location: creating a shortcut. A shortcut allows you to get to a single file from multiple locations on your computer. For example, you can have an important file stored in your My Documents folder. If this is a file you access all the time, you may want to get to it from your desktop as well. By placing a shortcut to the document on the desktop, you can use it to get to the document quicker.
1. Navigate to the folder or location where you want to place the shortcut. You can use My Computer or Windows Explorer to get to the folder. You can also go to the desktop.
2. Right-click on an open area within the folder, or on an open area of the desktop if placing a shortcut on the desktop. A pop-up menu appears.
3. Select New > Shortcut from the pop-up menu. This starts the Create Shortcut Wizard dialog window.
4. Enter the item you want to create a shortcut to. You can click the Browse button to look for the item. Clicking the Browse button presents a window. You can click on the plus signs to expand the folders.
5. Click on the item you want to create the shortcut to, then click OK. This places the name of the item and its location into the dialog window for you.
6. Click Next in the Create Shortcut Wizard. Enter the name you want given to the shortcut. The default name will be the same as the item you are linking to.
7. Click Finish to create your shortcut.
Copying Windows 7 Files to a CD-ROM
Copying files to a writable CD is done a little differently than copying files to another folder. Windows 7 helps you organize your files and then writes them all at once to a CD. This feature also allows you to easily write the same files to more than one CD. The following steps walk you through copying files to a CD:
1. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and navigate to the location of the folder or files you want to copy to the CD.
2. Select the folder or files by clicking on them. You can select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key while selecting the files.
3. Select the Copy link in the File and Folder Tasks of Windows Explorer. This link copies the selected files or folders. The Copy Items dialog window appears.
4. Select the CD drive that you are copying the files to, and press the OK button. The files are copied to a temporary area.
5. Open My Computer, and select the CD drive. Windows 7 The files that are ready to be written.
6. From the CD Writing options, select Write These Files to CD. This starts the CD Writing Wizard.
7. Fill in the information requested by the wizard. The wizard takes care of copying the files to the CD. A status bar is displayed as the files are copied. When the wizard has completed, you are presented with a Completing page. You can choose to write another CD by checking the box, or you can click the Finish button to end the copying.
Saving Space within Windows 7 by Compressing a Drive
Windows 7 comes with two features that allow you to save disk space when placing information on your computer’s hard drive. The other method involves compressing — or shrinking — items that are placed on your hard drive. Windows 7 can do this compression automatically. When you use a compressed file, Windows 7 automatically uncompresses the file for you. When you save the file, Windows 7 again compresses the file automatically. For compression to work, you have to identify what you want compressed. It will not work automatically until you turn it on. Additionally, compression will only work if your hard drive is set up as an NTFS drive. The following steps show you how to verify if a hard drive is NTFS:
1. Click on My Computer in the Start menu. This displays the My Computer dialog window.
2. Right-click on the hard drive you want to verify. Most likely this will be Local Disk (C:). A pop-up menu appears.
3. Select Properties. This displays a dialog window with information about your hard drive, including an entry for File System. If File System is NTFS, you can use compression. Otherwise, you can’t use compression, but you can still use zipped files.
4. Close the dialog and My Computer windows.
If your hard drive is NTFS, you can compress the entire hard drive, individual folders, or individual files. The following steps walk you through turning on compression.
1. Follow Steps 1 through 3 in the preceding list. This takes you to the Properties dialog window for the hard drive you want to compress.
2. Check the Compress Drive to Save Disk Space option at the bottom of the dialog window.
3. Click the Apply button. A new window appears. You can see that this dialog window tells you what you are doing: compress.
4. Select to compress documents and files in just the base (root) folder, or select to compress everything on the hard drive (Apply Changes to C:\, Subfolders and Files).
5. Click the OK button. Compression is applied to the selection you made. If you selected to compress everything, you may see errors as. This is a result of a file or document that can’t be compressed. It is recommended that you press the Ignore button or the Ignore All button on these. Often these are files that are in use.
6. Click OK on the local disk Properties dialog window.
7. Close the My Computer dialog window