FILE MANAGER

EVEN THE MOST GLORIOUS EDIFICE HAS ONE FACADE THAT ISN'T AS GRAND AS all the others. Even the best hitter in baseball has a particular pitch he's weak at. For Windows, the weak aspect is unquestionably File Manager, the program that allows you to manage files, directories, and disk drives.
	In Windows 3.0, File Manager was so bad it was the single biggest reason, we feel, that Windows users reported spending a fair amount of time back in character-mode DOS. It was easier to mash that DOS button and do it the old way than to face the rigors of File Manager.
	In Windows 3.1, File Manager has been hugely improved, which is to say that now it's barely adequate. It's inscrutable, rather than confounding.
	When it comes to File Manager you have three choices: One, you can bag it and drop to DOS for your file operations, which is like reverting to bike pedals for getting your Ferrari uphill. Two, you can check out one of the many commercial alternatives to File Manager. It's a given in the PC business that any weakness in a popular program will draw potential replacement programs like a trash can draws flies. Your third choice is the courageous one: Dig in and work with File Manager. Use the extensibility and customizability of Windows to improve File Manager to suit your tastes. That's what we've done. To make your journey into the File Manager jungle easier (and a lot less time-consuming) than ours was, we offer here a veritable road map of shortcuts and suggestions for taming the wild subdirectory and handling other such adventures of the Windows outback.

File Manager Housekeeping
The essential reason for the File Manager's existence is the selection, movement, and manipulation of the files stored on your PC. In DOS, this was all done at the command line, a process that was remarkably swift if you knew your way around the commands, and utterly impenetrable if you didn't. By replacing commands with mouse clicks and the command line with graphics displays, the File Manager has greatly simplified these processes for the uninitiated, and hugely slowed them down for the expert. But remember, you can always drop back down to the DOS prompt for file handling if you're a DOS guru. With the techniques offered here though, you may find File Manager performance improved enough to be acceptable.

Selecting Files 
In DOS, you could manage a single file reasonably, and handling a complete directory wasn't too hard. But working with groups of files smaller than a whole directory was a major headache under DOS. Whole products were created to fill this gap. Under Windows, the File Manager makes it possible to select different sets of files, but leaves the process a bit confusing. Try these ideas to make file selection smoother.

Fast File Manager Selections Windows' File Manager offers a couple of mouse shortcuts for file selection. To select a contiguous group of files, point to the first filename and then hold down the Shift key while clicking on the filename at the end of the group. If you want to select a group of files that are not contiguous, hold down the Ctrl key as you point to each filename in the File Manager directory window, and click with the left mouse button. You can also use this trick to deselect individual files in a group if you change your mind.

Selecting Even More Files in the File Manager Making multiple file selections in File Manager is straightforward enough: Just press Shift and click on filenames to highlight contiguous files or subdirectories, or press Ctrl and click for noncontiguous selections. However, here are some even easier ways for quick file or subdirectory processing. Press Shift+F8 to enable the selection cursor-a blinking, dotted line that lets you select any number of files by first pressing the spacebar on the file to select it and then using the arrow keys to advance to the next file. To select all files in a subdirectory, press Shift+slash (/). To copy all the highlighted files at once, drag the mouse from one of the highlighted files to another disk drive or subdirectory.

The Sort by Type and By File Type Options Are Different Here's something to keep in mind: The File Manager's View menu options (Sort by Type and By File Type) are quite different. When you select Sort by Type, you get a list of files sorted by extension. Files with no extension come first and then the other files, in alphabetical order by extension. Selecting By File Type gives you much more power. Clicking this option displays the dialog box shown in Figure 7.1, which lets you choose the files you want to display. Check Programs and you'll see just program files (such as *.COM, *.EXE or *.PIF files). Check Documents and you'll see only files with extensions associated with applications. You can even request to see ordinarily hidden system files. Select as many file type options as you wish.

Caveats When Viewing by File Type One big limitation to viewing by file type is how confusing it can get. When you select a subset of files to view, File Manager gives no indication that this isn't your complete directory listing. If you exit File Manager with this display, and you have checked Save Settings on Exit, the subset screen will return when File Manager is reloaded. Even if you press the F5 key, which forces File Manager to reread the disk, the display will not change.
	Believe it or not, Windows has no natural way around this problem. But there is one (and apparently only one) approach that works. To get back to your complete directory listing after viewing by file type, first make sure that Name and Sort by Name are checked on the View menu. Then select By File Type again. Make sure that *.* appears in the Name box and that Directories, Programs, Documents, and Other Files have all been checked under File Type. Choose OK, and you'll get your complete listing back.

Quickly Collapsing the Directory Tree  File Manager provides a keyboard shortcut for expanding all the branches of your directory tree (Shift+*), but doesn't have a keyboard shortcut to collapse them. You can, however, accomplish this with your trusty mouse. Double-click on the root directory. The entire directory tree will disappear from the directory tree window, and all you'll see is the root directory. Double-click on it again to reveal its directories, but not their subdirectories. You can use this mouse shortcut to collapse individual directories as well.

File Tweaks and Traps
Once created, files have a habit of never staying still. They need to be copied, saved, protected, archived, and otherwise altered across their natural lives. As with so many areas, the File Manager handles these chores, but somewhat less than elegantly. Avoid much mouse clicking and mouth cursing by using these tips.

File Naming for Efficiency Here's a simple time saver: File Manager always places files that begin with numerals at the beginning of its displays. After that, it sorts alphabetically by first letter, unless you give other instructions. So, give files you access often names that begin with numerals, such as 1GETIT.COM or 1DOS.PIF. That way, these filenames will always top your directory listings. Also, name files you want grouped together with the same first letter.

Hide Files from File Manager (and Yourself) File Manager helps prevent you from accidentally deleting or changing important files by enabling you to mark files as read-only. But these read-only files can still be deleted like any other files, even though Windows brings a dialog box asking if you in fact want to delete the file, as shown in Figure 7.2 (unless you have turned off this option by selecting Confirmation from the Options menu and checking the appropriate check box). Increase the protection of these important files by also hiding them from view. If you can't see them, chances are you won't accidentally delete or rewrite them. Hiding critical files can also keep them away from prying eyes.
	You can set a file's attributes to read-only and hidden at the same time. Select the name of the file, choose Properties from the File menu, check the Read-Only and Hidden check boxes, and then choose OK. To ensure that these files won't be visible in File Manager, choose By File Type from the View menu and make sure that the Show Hidden/System Files box is not marked.

NOTE If you use File Manager's Search feature, it will find hidden as well as nonhidden files that match the search description.

	You can also apply this technique to entire subdirectories. If you share a PC with other users, you may want to mark the subdirectory where you store your files as hidden, but not read-only.

Copy Files within the Same Drive If you select a file and drag it to another directory located on the same drive, Windows asks if you want to move the file to the new location. If you want to place a copy of the file in the new directory but still retain the old one, you have to hold down the Ctrl key while you drag the file. A confirmation box still appears, but this one correctly asks if you want to copy the file to the new directory.

Refreshing Floppy Drive Listings It can be frustrating to get an accurate file listing of a floppy disk in File Manager unless you know which command to issue. For example, if you review the contents of one floppy disk and can't find the file you are looking for, you'll try another floppy disk. But when you click the drive icon for the disk drive, for example B:, all you get is the listing from the first disk. Windows is showing you the directory it has stored in memory for that drive; it is not reading the drive anew. You can try closing the window and reselecting the drive icon, but to no avail; you'll still see the contents of the previous floppy disk. Even switching temporarily to another disk drive doesn't do the trick. Short of exiting from File Manager and starting it all over again, what can you do?
	Actually, the answer is quite simple and will make you wonder why you spent all that time trying to get an accurate floppy listing! Just press the F5 key or choose the Refresh command from the Window menu. Voilà! An updated listing of the current floppy disk. Repeat the command every time you insert a new floppy disk into the drive.

Copy and Move Files to Floppies If you need to copy a file from one drive to another, for example, from your hard disk to a floppy, you simply drag the filename to the drive icon and release it. But what if you want to move the file instead? Holding down the Alt key while you drag the file tells Windows that you want to put the file in a new location altogether, rather than creating another copy of it. If you have selected the Mouse Action option (Windows 3.1) or Mouse Operation option (Windows 3.0) in the Confirmation dialog box, Windows will ask if you do indeed want to move the file to the new location, as shown in Figure 7.3.

Search Out Temporary Files If you're having trouble locating a file or group of files because your directories and subdirectories contain so many of them, use File Manager's Search feature. You can tell Search to look for specific words, file extensions, or even wildcards.
	Put this capability to work by using it to rid your hard disk of old temp files that may be lurking about. Windows is supposed to delete these temp files when it's done with them, but any Windows user can tell you that that's not always the case. Before you select the Search option, make sure that the root directory is selected so that you can search the entire disk drive. Also, select Partial Details from the View menu and check Last Modification Date. Choose Search from the File menu, and mark the Search All Subdirectories box (if not already marked). In the Search For box, type *.tmp. File Manager then gives you a listing of all these files, as you can see in Figure 7.4. Because you asked for last modification date, the list will be sorted by the date of last usage. If the file dates are old, go ahead and delete them from within Windows, but if the files are from your current session leave them alone!

A Caution on Searches Only move files from a Search Results window with the mouse. If you drag a file into or out of this window, it will update to include the change. However, if you do the same operation using keystrokes, the Search Results window will not automatically reflect the changes.

Search Multiple Layers Remember that you can search a set of files multiple times. This means that you can search for a preliminary set of files that meet one criterion and then search that subset for a second pattern. In this way you can pinpoint your searches and keep to a minimum the wait while File Manager pores over your directories.

Use View to Find Files by Date If you want to place the files that you have altered most recently first, select Sort by Date from the File Manager's View menu. If you want to see the dates the files were saved, check Partial Details on the View menu. Then, in the Partial Details dialog box, shown in Figure 7.5, check Last Modification Date.

File Manager's Quick Deletes The File Manager's default settings for deleting files are wisely geared for the cautious, but the constant query "Delete file...?" can be annoying if you have entire subdirectories to clear. To remove the safety net and shave minutes off your file management chores, select File Manager's Options menu and choose Confirmation. If you delete multiple files in the same subdirectory, click on the first option, File Delete, to deselect it. If you're going to remove whole nested subdirectories, click on the second option, Directory Delete, to deselect it. To play it safe again once you've deleted your files, reselect both options, or make sure that Save Settings on Exit is not checked in the File Manager Options menu.

Printing Directory Listings from File Manager Windows' File Manager doesn't provide a way to print directory listings, but you can create a batch file that will do the job. Using a text editor such as Notepad, create a one-line batch file like the following (substitute your printer port for LPT1 if it is different):

 DIR %1 > LPT1

Save the file with a name like PRINTDIR.BAT, and make sure that it is located in a directory that is in your PATH statement. Now when you want to print a directory listing from File Manager, choose the Run command from the File menu and type printdir.bat (or whatever you named the batch file) followed by the desired directory in the Command Line text box. For example, to get a listing of your REPORTS directory, type

 printdir.bat c:\reports

A DOS screen will appear and then disappear as the directory listing is sent to the printer.
	Another, somewhat quicker option for the DOS savvy is to select Run from the File Manager's File menu. In the Command Line text box of the resulting dialog box, type

 command.com /c dir> lpt1

This runs a copy of COMMAND.COM, the DOS command processor, and orders it to print your directory listing on printer LPT1.
	The only limitation of this trick is if you have a .PIF file for DOS called COMMAND.PIF. If you do, that file, not a native COMMAND.COM, will run here. An easy fix is to instead name your DOS-session .PIF file DOS.PIF.

Finding File Facts Fast When a file or directory is selected in File Manager, you can press Alt+Enter to call up a Properties dialog box that gives you detailed file information. The dialog box includes the filename, file size, last modification date, path, and file attributes, as shown in Figure 7.6.

Get More Information on All Files  Usually, File Manager only lists file and directory names. However, you can instruct it to tell you far more about your files. From the View menu, select All File Details. Now your listings should include name, size in bytes, date and time last modified, and all file attributes for every file. Too much info? Go back and check Partial Details from the View menu instead. Now you'll see a dialog box (shown earlier, in Figure 7.5) that lets you select what information you want on your files. The information you select here will remain in force for all files until you uncheck this choice on the View menu. If you have Save Settings on Exit selected, this will become your default listing.

Starting Programs from the File Manager You can start programs from the File Manager in one of several ways:

Double-click on a selected program's File Manager icon or on the icon of a document associated with the application (for more on association see "Take Advantage of Associations," later in this chapter).

Drag the icon for an associated document onto the icon of its application.

Select Run from the File menu, and enter the application's startup command into the Run dialog box.

Select an associated document and press Enter or click on Open in the File menu.

	Some Windows applications offer still other options, such as dragging an associated document icon into an open application window or onto the application's title bar. The preceding options should work for every Windows application.

Starting DOS Programs from the File Manager You can also start DOS programs from the File Manager, as long as you have created .PIF files for them. Open a window on the WINDOWS directory on your C drive (or wherever you have Windows loaded). Double-click on the .PIF file for the DOS program you want; it will run.

Installing Windows Programs with the File Manager Install applications in Windows through the File Manager by double-clicking on the application's startup file. To find this file, open the application's directory, select By File Type from the View menu, check Programs in the dialog box, and uncheck the other three check boxes. Study the resulting list for a file with a name like STARTUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE. Click on this program and the application's setup routine will run.

The Fast Way to Change the Active Drive Even quicker than clicking on a drive icon is changing the active drive in File Manager by pressing Ctrl+drive letter. For example, to see a listing of the contents in your A drive, press Ctrl+A.

Quick Formats You don't have to exit to DOS to format floppy disks, because Windows 3.1's File Manager lets you do so through its Disk menu. Speed up the process of formatting a floppy by selecting the Quick Format option in the Format Disk dialog box shown in Figure 7.7 (select Format Disk from the Disk menu). This process is faster than a regular format because it does not check the disk for bad sectors. Quick Format only works with disks that have been previously formatted. Use it when you are sure that the disk is problem-free (that is, it has been recently formatted and is fairly new) so that you don't end up saving a file to a bad disk sector and losing important information.

Minimizing File Manager for Quick Access Minimizing makes sense for any Windows application you think you'll use later, but it's particularly valuable with the File Manager. Every time you load File Manager, it reads your entire disk structure, wasting precious time. If you minimize it instead of closing it on first use, you can get back to the File Manager much faster by using the Task List or by clicking on the File Manager icon.
	If you want to make this process automatic, pull down the File Manager Options menu and check Minimize on Use. Then put a copy of the File Manager in your StartUp program group. A minimized File Manager will appear each time you start Windows.

Using File Manager for Daily Backups Use the File Manager for a quick daily backup of each day's work to a floppy disk. In the Options menu, select Confirmation and make sure each box in the dialog box has been checked so that you won't have to okay any overwriting of old versions of today's files. Then, before you end your work, go to the File Manager and open whatever directory you've worked in. Select Sort by Date from the View menu. You'll see your new files at the beginning of the directory listing. Select these files by clicking to select the first one and then holding down the Shift key while clicking on the last file name. Click on Copy from the File menu (or press F8). In the dialog box, note the drive and directory you want the files saved to, as shown in Figure 7.8. Make sure to uncheck File Replace after your backup, so you don't inadvertently overwrite files during your other work.

Take Advantage of Associations
One of the many conveniences Windows offers you is the ability to load a data file and the program that created it by simply double-clicking on the data file's icon.
	The trick is in the data file's extension. Windows rides atop DOS and uses DOS's outdated file system, so data files don't automatically reveal which programs created them, as Macintosh files do. But Windows can be taught to associate certain file extensions with specific programs. For example, for Windows to open NOTEPAD.EXE anytime you double-click on a file with the extension .TXT, Windows must first be told that all .TXT files belong to Notepad. Fortunately, many applications provide Windows with linkage information when you install them, and those that don't can still be linked to their data files by means of a simple procedure in the File Manager. Once files are associated, they take on new powers that you can use to manage your system more efficiently.

Establishing Associations To establish an association, follow these steps:

1.Run File Manager, either by double-clicking on its icon in Program Manager or by pulling down Program Manager's File menu, choosing Run, and typing winfile.

2.Find a file that has the extension that you want to associate, for example *.XYZ. You'll notice that next to it (and all the other filenames) is a small icon, as shown in Figure 7.9. Document and data files, such as this one, are marked by rectangles with a bent corner.

3.Pull down File Manager's File menu and choose the Associate command. A dialog box like the one shown in Figure 7.10 appears.

4.In the text box at the top, you enter the file extension you want to associate.

5.At the bottom is a list of the various applications you can associate the file with. Select one and click on OK.

All files that have the specified extension will now be associated with that application. That's all there is to it!
	When you click on OK in the Associate dialog box, all of the icons next to the .XYZ files instantly change. They're still dog-eared, but they now bear little black stripes. A striped, dog-eared icon denotes a document file associated with a program. This means that any .XYZ file that you select (not just the specific one that you associated) can be launched from File Manager.

Change Predefined Associations File Manager can run a program and open an associated file when you click on the file's name, but it doesn't always work the way you want. If you want to look at .PCX files in Publisher Paintbrush, for example, the default association to the Windows Paintbrush accessory won't help you. Fortunately, creating and editing file associations is simple. Select a data file's name from any open subdirectory in File Manager, and then select the File menu's Associate option. Enter the path and filename of the program you want to open when you double-click on the filename and then press Enter or click on OK. (To find the file name, you can use the Browse button in the Associate dialog box. It displays the dialog box shown in Figure 7.11.) To get a list of existing file associations, open your WIN.INI file and scroll the [Extensions] section. You can also associate files and applications by directly editing the WIN.INI yourself. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 2.

Quick Check for Associated Files If you double-click on the icon of a data file that is not associated with a program, you'll receive a message to that effect. To avoid getting this dialog box, you can do a quick check before you double-click on the file icon. The icon next to the filename will be blank if it is not associated; if it is associated you will see little lines across the icons, as shown in Figure 7.12.

Loading an Unassociated Data File If a data file is not associated with an application, you can still run it from File Manager. Select the file and then drag it and release it on top of the executable file for that application. Windows will ask if you want to start the application with that specific file, as shown in Figure 7.13. Select Yes and the application will start with the file loaded.
	For example, to start the Word for Windows document file MYNOTES.DEC, drag it and release it onto the file WINWORD.EXE. To carry out this dragging and dropping operation, it's probably easiest to display two tiled directory windows if the document file and application file are not located in the same directory (as in Figure 7.13).

NOTE Make sure both the file you want to drag and the executable file you want to drop it on are visible on screen before you begin the process. You can't scroll through a directory window while dragging a file.

Quicker File Manager Access in Windows 3.0 Getting to the File Manager takes considerably more time in Windows 3.0 than in Windows 3.1 because the old version of File Manager reads the directory contents of the entire active drive when it loads. In Windows 3.1, this time-consuming behavior is eliminated. If you haven't upgraded to Windows 3.1 and don't like waiting for File Manager to cycle through the drive, you can gain control of File Manager more quickly by using a variation on the procedure described in the previous section.
	Select the File Manager icon from the Program Manager's Main program group. Pull down the File menu and select Properties. In the Program Item Properties dialog box for your File Manager icon, change the path from C:\WINFILE.EXE to point to a drive on your system that contains fewer directories and files. An excellent candidate is a RAM drive, if you have one, because it contains few files. For example, for a RAM drive D, the new command line would read D:\WINFILE.EXE. Windows will tell you that the path is invalid, but just select OK to make it accept the changes.

Getting the Most from Windows 3.1 File Manager
If this were a book about Windows 3.0 exclusively, this section wouldn't exist. That's because the Windows 3.0 File Manager was so weak the problem was getting it to work, not getting the greatest benefit from it. Under Windows 3.1, however, the File Manager is solid enough to offer some worthwhile tricks for the savvy user, such as those that follow.

File Manager Drag and Drop Techniques
One of the great boons of the File Manager, once you get the knack of it, is the ability to replace typed or menu-driven file operations with simple drag and drop on-screen procedures. The notion of literally taking a file from here and putting it there makes eminent sense.

Drag and Drop Basics In File Manager, you can move or copy files by simply dragging their icons from one spot and dropping those icons on another with the mouse. You control what happens when you drag an icon by the key you hold down while moving the mouse. Here are the basic combinations:

Action    Result

Drag (no key pressed) Moves a file among directories of a single drive or copies a file between drives or into any Program Manager group (since this doesn't actually move the file, just the icon)

Drag+Shift or Moves a file between drives
Drag+Alt 

Drag+Ctrl Copies a file on a single drive or between drives

You Don't Need Open Windows to Drag and Drop You can move and copy between open directory windows, but you don't have to. You can drag and drop to a minimized directory window, to a folder icon in a directory tree window, or to a disk drive icon. If you use a
minimized directory of a disk drive icon, the dragged files will go into the logged directory.

Combine Associations with Drag and Drop If a file extension is associated with a file type defined in Windows 3.1's Registration Database, not only can you start the application (as in Windows 3.0), but you can also print the file, add its icon to a Program Manager group, and even embed the file in another document all by dragging and dropping. We talk about these particular tricks in Chapters 8 and 9 and elsewhere in this chapter. Here, we'll deal with the basics of the Registration Database itself.
	The Registration Database, new to Windows 3.1, contains a listing of the file types that Windows recognizes. To register a file type, you need to run the utility Registration Info Editor by typing regedit in the File Manager's Run dialog box (select Run from the File menu). To add a new file type, select Add a File Type from the Edit menu. A dialog box like the one shown in Figure 7.14 will appear, which you then fill out for the application. Before you attempt to add an application's file type to the Registration Database, you should make sure that the application supports drag and drop capabilities. You also need to find out the macro commands and command-line options supported by the application so that you can properly fill out the information in the Registration Info Editor. Check your application's documentation or contact the manufacturer for this information.

Immediate Drag and Drop Add copies of the File Manager and Print Manager icons to your StartUp group so that they'll be readily available. With many applications now supporting drag and drop printing, you'll want to keep these two managers around all of the time to take advantage of this feature. We'll cover printing tricks in detail in Chapter 8. 

Drag and Drop to Nowhere If you change your mind about a drag and drop operation after you have selected files and started moving them, simply drag them anyplace on the screen that isn't a directory window. This will cancel the procedure and return the files to their original spot.

Taming the File Manager Screen
At first, the notion of being able to view all files and directories on the screen sounds great. Think about it for a minute, though. Add to an already crowded Windows screen the wealth of information contained in a complex scheme of directories and subdirectories and you wind up with a visual nightmare. To be most effective, the File Manager's screen displays must be carefully managed.

Make File Manager Easier to Read Another new feature of the Windows 3.1 File Manager is that you can change the font that is used to display the file and directory listings. You can enlarge the font so that it's easier to make out individual files in crowded directories, or you can decrease the font size to fit more information on the screen at one time. You can even change the style of the font, such as making it uppercase or boldfaced. For instance, a large, boldfaced font in uppercase may be helpful for those who are visually impaired.
	To change the File Manager font, select Font from the Options menu to call up the Font dialog box seen in Figure 7.15. You'll see the selection of your installed fonts that Windows recognizes as potential system fonts, as well as available point size and format options. Make your selections and click on OK. Your fonts will change immediately.

NOTE Your font changes will remain in effect after you exit File Manager, even if you haven't checked Save Settings on Exit. To restore your original fonts, you'll have to reselect them from the Font dialog box.

Resize File Manager Window Panes Using your mouse, you can easily change the proportions of the directory tree pane and the directory contents pane. Grab the line that divides the window into these two sections (it's located just to the right of the scroll bar) and drag it to the left or right, depending on which side you want to make bigger or smaller. See Figure 7.16, in which the size of the directory tree pane has been greatly reduced. If you don't have many branching subdirectories, you probably have extra space on the directory tree side. Move the border line so that the space can be used to display more files on screen at one time. Once you adjust the width of these panes, make sure that the Save Settings on Exit option is selected so that the newly sized window will remain in place the next time you use File Manager.

Control the Files You See in Windows Getting multiple directory windows open in the File Manager can be confusing. If you click on New Window in the Window menu, you get a replica of whatever window is already open. You can then work with that window to look at something new. But how inefficient! Here's a method that's much better.
	When you want to open a new window from the same drive as the one you already have on screen, but with a different directory listing, highlight the directory folder you want. Press Shift while double-clicking on the highlighted folder. You'll get a new window that displays that directory. If you want to open a new window onto a new drive, just double-click on the drive's icon.

Get Rid of the Directory Tree File Manager defaults to a two-window arrangement: one window with the directory tree for the drive, and the other with the contents of the selected directory. Unless you are planning to hunt around on the drive a great deal, the tree listing may be superfluous. You can get rid of it, and simplify your File Manager screens, in two ways. To get rid of the tree temporarily, use your mouse to grab the slide bar that separates the windows. Drag it all the way to the left, covering the tree. If you want the tree removed permanently, go to the View menu and click on Directory Only.
	To move around without the tree, click on any directory or subdirectory to open it; to move to the next highest level in the directory tree, click on the bent arrow at the top of any open listing or press Home+Enter.

Put File Windows Side by Side Windows 3.1 enables you to view the contents of two drives at once. To do so, select the Tile command from the Window menu. When you do this, you'll notice that the two drive windows are stacked horizontally. To make the windows line up next to one another so that you can easily compare the contents, press Shift+F4 or hold down the Shift key while you choose Tile from the Window menu.

Side-by-Side Windows for Drag and Drop The most efficient way to arrange windows, if you plan to move many files from one directory or drive to another, is side by side. That way you can easily drag your files over to their new location. To get two File Manager windows arranged in this way, first press Shift while double-clicking on the first directory's icon. This opens a window for that directory. Repeat the process for the second window (or refer to the earlier section in this chapter, "Control the Files You See in Windows"). When both windows are open, press Shift+F4 to tile them. Now they will be side by side, and you can easily drag your files between them.

Put File Manager and Program Manager Side by Side Positioning File Manager and Program Manager side by side is a bit trickier. The File Manager Tile key sequence won't work. What to do? Call up the Windows Task List by clicking any open space on the desktop or by pressing Ctrl+Esc. Click on the Tile button in the Task List dialog box. This will place the Program Manager and File Manager windows side by side, as shown in Figure 7.17.

Use File Manager as Your Primary Shell With all of these File Manager improvements, you might find yourself working very well in this improved shell. And if you liked the good old days of the MS-DOS Executive, try using the File Manager instead of Program Manager as your primary shell. The File Manager in Windows 3.1 is about twice as fast as the File Manager in Windows 3.0. And if you get rid of the directory tree window by selecting the View menu and choosing Tree Only, it even looks and feels the same as the old Windows 2 shell, MS-DOS Executive.

File Manager Keyboard Shortcuts
One way to effectively manage the File Manager screen display is to use keyboard shortcuts to move around in File Manager windows as quickly as possible. Table 7.1 lists the File Manager keyboard shortcuts. 

TABLE 7.1 Keyboard Shortcuts for File Manager

Home	Goes to the root directory in the directory tree window or first file in the directory list.
End Goes to the last directory or last file in the list.
PgUp Goes to the first visible file or directory in the current window.
PgDn Goes to the last visible file or directory in the current window.
Letter Goes to the next file or directory whose name starts with the specified letter.
Ctrl+/ Selects all files and directories in a directory window.
Ctrl+\ Deselects all files and directories in a directory window.
F5 Refreshes the listing in a directory window.
F7 Moves a selected file or files to the destination you note.
F8 Copies a selected file or files to the destination you note.
Backspace Selects the parent directory or current directory.
Spacebar Selects or deselects a file or directory when choosing files not listed contiguously.
Del Deletes a selected file (upon confirmation).
Ctrl+letter	Selects the specified disk drive.
-(hyphen) Collapses the selected directory.
+(plus sign) Expands selected directory.
*(asterisk)	Expands the entire directory branch.
Tab of F6 Moves between the directory tree and directory contents panes and drive indicator.
Ctrl+Tab Moves from one directory window to another.