Windows Tools, Help & Guides

By setting up parental controls, you gain more control over what your children (colleagues, friends etc) can and can’t do on your computer. Parental controls are very useful as there is so much inappropriate content out there – whether it be on the internet, in games, or even in some software. You may also want to protect your computer from unauthorized changes. This guide will help you set up a user account with parental controls, or add parental controls to an existing account.

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For the next week, I’m going to run a series of guides that will help you manage user accounts and parental controls on your Windows Vista machine.

If you have younger children, I strongly suggest you set up a user account for them and follow the instructions in these guides. You’ll learn how to do the following:

• Set up a user account with parental controls
• Collect information about computer usage
• Control allowed websites, downloads, and other internet usage
• Set time limits on computer usage
• Control games by rating, content, or title
• Block specific programs on your computer

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Batch Rename Files in Name(Number) Format

When browsing folders, do the following to rename a batch of files in Name(Number) format:

1. Select a group of files (hold the CTRL key and click individual files to select more than one.)
2. Right click the first file and select Rename
3. Type the name you want to add to the files and press enter

Now you files will be named in the following way:
Photo_Name(2)
Photo_Name(3)
Photo_Name(4)

Sequentially Raname Files with the Tab Key

When renaming a file in Vista (while in file name editing mode – right click the first file and select Rename) simply hit tab to move the next file name. No more arrow keys and F2 buttons.

More Renaming Guides

Here you may see the naming conventions I use for my files, this is here just as a guide to get you started on your own system. I set many of these conventions many years ago, but they work. Experience has given me newer ideas, some of which I am currently using.

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This week, I’m going to run a series of guides that will help you get on top of file organization on your computer.

The following five guides help you create naming conventions, take control of file names on your computer, and find duplicate files. Personally, I always keep my files named properly and I rarely, if ever, lose files. I encourage you to do the same and in these guides I’ll offer you a few tips to get you started.

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I love Vista’s Explorer interface, but the one thing I miss is the “up” button. In this guide you’ll learn how to emulate the up button with a keyboard shortcut. I’ve also included some other useful keyboard shortcuts.

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