You can rename a single file in Explorer by selecting it and pressing F2. What if you wanted to rename many files at once? Many alternative file management apps have the ability to rename several files at once. For example, Total Commander comes with a really impressive "Multi-Rename" Tool, which supports search and replace, regular expressions, case conversion and many other useful options. But did you know that Explorer, the default file manager of Windows 8, also lets you rename multiple files at once. The feature is a bit crude - you get little control over how to rename more than one file but if you only wanted to rename a folder full of pictures or music tracks serially, it is possible.
Tag: Explorer
How to repair Explorer showing incorrect icons by deleting and rebuilding the icon cache
Sometimes Windows shows incorrect icons for various file types and even a forced refresh of icons does not work. This usually is a result of the Windows icon cache getting corrupted due to an improper shutdown. In this case, you can delete the icon cache and restart Explorer so Windows will freshly rebuild the icon cache again. Let's see how to do this.
StExBar: Explorer addon to let you filter files, copy paths, copy file names, open command prompt and much more
Windows Explorer is a very powerful file manager but it still lacks some important tools. In Windows 8, the Ribbon has added some of these essential commands to Explorer which were missing but the Ribbon takes a lot of space and does not let you add your own custom commands in Explorer. An extremely useful toolbar for Windows Explorer called StExBar provides killer features that should have been included in Windows.
See detailed properties and tags/metadata info about media files using MediaTab
Windows isn't very smart when it comes to handling various media file formats. It has an extensible property system for viewing their properties and embedded metadata but it leaves end users high and dry by shipping with support for very few media formats and their properties. A third party free app called MediaTab solves this problem for good by exposing all possible details about media files in their Properties.
How to remove the Lock icon on files and folders in Windows 7
In Windows 7, some of your personal folders and files may have a padlock overlay icon on them and you might be wondering what it indicates and how to get rid of it. The Lock icon indicates that the file or folder is shared with nobody but you, and that your account alone has the permission to access it (besides the SYSTEM and admin accounts). This icon is shown only when some item that was shared previously with other users was made private. It is easy to remove this icon if you find it unwanted.
How to set a folder view in Explorer for all folders – List, Details, Tiles, Small or Large Icons
If you use the built-in file manager in Windows, Windows Explorer, you will realize that it has a feature to remember each folder's view setting. Unfortunately, it is not explained very properly by Microsoft and some changes were made in modern Windows versions which make it even more confusing for end users. We constantly get this question asked by our readers - is there any way to make Windows Explorer set a desired view for all folders and then remember it? Let us explore how to do that.
How to show more details for shortcuts in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7
File shortcuts have been in Windows since Windows 95. In case you don't know what shortcuts are, they are merely a link to another file or folder on your hard drive's file system or to some system object. The object that they link to is called the target. Shortcut files have the extension .LNK but it is always hidden by the Explorer shell using the 'NeverShowExt' registry value. Shortcut files can be placed anywhere - on your Desktop or pinned to your taskbar or Quick launch but the most number of shortcuts are located in your Start Menu folder. Today, we will see how we can turn on the display of more details about these shortcuts which the Explorer shell hides.
How to add any Ribbon command to the right click menu in Windows 8
In Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced the Ribbon in Windows Explorer so that the numerous Explorer commands can be more prominently displayed when you need them. But the Ribbon commands are still split across many tabs unnecessarily making you go through all of the tabs to find the command you need to use. There is the Quick Access Toolbar at the top where you can add custom commands but the problem is that it has only tiny 16 x 16 sized icons and no textual description. You need to hover over each of the tiny icons to see their description. Also, Desktop has no Ribbon, and most of the useful commands are inaccessible via right click.
In contrast, the right-click/context menu is a better option as it has icons as well as textual description, excellent keyboard usability and you don't need to remember which Ribbon tab a particular command is located on. Also, the Ribbon takes a huge amount of vertical space, so once you added the command to the context menu, you can keep the Ribbon minimized or disable it entirely with our Ribbon Disabler. ;)
Today I am going to share with you a cool trick which will let you add any Ribbon commands of your choice directly to the right click (context) menu of files and folders. Let us see how.
How to improve the way you close Modern (Metro) apps
Ever since I released "Close Threshold for Metro Apps" utility for Windows 8, many people have been asking me how to make it easier to close Modern Apps without using third party software.
In case you are not familiar with Close Threshold for Metro Apps, it is a utility that simply adjusts the registry value for mouse as well as for touch screens so that the distance needed to close a Modern App by dragging it from the top edge of the screen can be reduced to whatever you want. You no longer have to drag it all the way to the bottom of the screen to close an app. It's a significant improvement in usability, trust me.
Coming back to the manual way of accomplishing the same thing. because Windows RT-based devices are unable to run my utility as it does not have a version for ARM architecture. Well, now they can use this simple registry tweak I am going to share.
