|
09 Feb 09 - 03:26 PM (#2562051) Subject: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage I've been working through adjusting various settings on my computer (HP/PC/XP-Pro) after the big crash and rebuild over the new year, and since I have gotten back to doing some serious work on this computer I've had these nagging problems I can't find an answer to. I always use the drag and drop feature to organize my files, moving folders to the most convenient places, usually within other folders and sometimes back and forth to the desktop. But with this setup now it will only drag and copy, and then I have to go delete the original. I find I can select the folder, select 'cut' then go 'paste' it to where I want it and the original version is gone from that location. Tedious and more risky than just dragging. I can't find a way on Control Panel or in the preferences in Windows Explorer to change this to drag and drop instead of drag and copy. The desktop(s) are a mess. I set up (finally) my video card for the dualhead two-monitor desktop, but there was a chipset (the original on the motherboard) that kept trying to take over. Every time I turned it on I had to re-configure the desktop, moving files, setting up new shortcuts, and I finally ended up with monitor profile descriptions in a couple of different places, and re-wrote the "default" setup so it opens the way I want with the icons still in place (or at least somewhere on the screen). I finally disabled all of the possible monitor connections except the two NVidia drivers I am using, and I uninstalled the nagging chipset. My monitor seems to be coming up the way I want now. Today in Windows Explorer I see a dozen (at least) files all labeled "desktop" and each has different contents, some files, some just images. They seem to be reflecting the contents of different folders on the desktop but calling them all "desktop." I'd like to get rid of those but I don't know if they all link to copies of the folders or to the main folder itself. There are no commands to delete the version when I'm looking at the properties. I've seen labeled versions appear like folders on the task bar at the bottom and there is a small "desktop >>" text on the task bar next to the quick start icons, so when I click on it I can see everything that is on the desktop in front of me. I want to get rid of that and stabilize the desktop to one format. Any thoughts? SRS |
|
09 Feb 09 - 03:50 PM (#2562078) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Bill D ?? sometimes programs or systems require you to use 'shift' to do the opposite choice. (I 'almost' always move/copy stuff from within a filemanager, except for image files which I do mostly from within my image viewer...which is often IrfanView.) I have all sorts of suggestions about file managers..*grin*..(as you might guess)...by try 'shift'. |
|
09 Feb 09 - 04:10 PM (#2562100) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage I just went in and disabled the "NView" aspect of my NVidia card and adjusted some of the desktop settings. I'll see if that helps. It was trying to do me a favor by moving open screens to one side or the other (things kind of bounce around when you're just shuffling through and don't care for the moment that the screen is split). I consider Windows Explorer a file manager--is this what you're talking about? It has been a little squirrely with this activity. Maybe when I reboot after turning of the NView stuff it'll calm down. Too many cooks managing the desktop, maybe. SRS |
|
09 Feb 09 - 04:20 PM (#2562110) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Bill D Yes..Explorer is the basic file manager that comes with Windows. Like many MS items, it has been improved on and redesigned by folks who didn't like it or thought it needed more features. There are awesome choices, but it is true that 'most' everyday tasks can be done in Explorer. (You 'can' get to the store on a bicycle too *grin*) Who, me? Opinionated? nawwwwww... [now, *I* have very little experience with graphics cards and how you can tweak their settings...I wasn't even smart enough to get a card with 3D on this PC) |
|
09 Feb 09 - 08:41 PM (#2562335) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: JohnInKansas In some cases with Windows you can "force" the choice between whether the drag and drop moves the file or copies the file. (Technically, you'd call it drag and drop either way, the choice is whether you're dragging the file or dragging a copy of the file.) It's been years since I've used it, but my recollection is that holding down the Ctl key while you drag forces a copy and holding down Alt(?) [or maybe it was Shift(?)] forces a move, but try it somewhere where it's easy to recover and see if one of them works. I do recall that holding down shift while you Delete forces a permanent delete that doesn't stuff your garbage can full of junk. Vista's Help on Windows Explorer says that the default is to move when you drag to a different folder on the same drive, but copy when you drag to a folder on a different drive - but doesn't say what you can do to change that. I don't recall there being that difference in WinXP, but I almost NEVER use drag-n-drop since Ctl-C or Ctl-X followed by Ctl-V is completely unambiguous. If you click to drag and lose your grip on the clicker in the same folder you end up with a copy of everything you had selected. I found one instance of "Copy (13) of xxxxx" (on 40 or so files) on one machine belonging to a certain slightly nervous young lady not too long ago. John |
|
09 Feb 09 - 10:02 PM (#2562367) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage I'll give a few of those things a try, John, thanks! I'm also trying to get default settings changed in Photoshop CS. It keeps opening my images at 72dpi and I have to save each one after resetting it at 300dpi. One at a time, hundreds of photos . . . they'll have to get the treatment when I'm ready to use them, at this rate. Installing is the easy part, getting them to do what you want (what they always used to do until you had to reinstall) is more difficult. SRS |
|
09 Feb 09 - 11:28 PM (#2562400) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage In Photoshop I've set up a blank document with the setting I want, we'll see if that affects how it opens photos. Turning off the NView setting seems to have helped. I have moved a couple of folders within folders this evening and they made the move without leaving the original behind. Fingers crossed this stuff all works in the morning when I turn the machine on again. . . SRS |
|
10 Feb 09 - 03:51 AM (#2562458) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: JohnInKansas Stilly - I would expect that your Photoshop CS has a "Run Batch" pretty much like is in my older Photoshop Elements (under File on my toolbar). You can set a source folder for the files to change and the same folder - or a different one - for where to put the changed ones, put a check in the "resize" but don't enter anything in the pixels wide and pixels high boxes, set 300 dpi (if that's what you want) and just click "go." The program will open each file, change the resolution, save and close, and then go to the next file until it runs out of files. With my old 2MP camera they'd flip through so fast you never saw the pictures on screen, but with 5MP or more you'll probaly get a glimpse of each one. Most digital cameras save images at a preset 72 dpi (some may use 96 dpi), since those are the assumed screen resolutions on most monitors: so if you're talking about digicam pictures it's probably the camera that's making that default setting - not your Photoshop. The default resolution is a single number in the file header, so each file does have to be changed in order to have something different. John |
|
10 Feb 09 - 10:51 AM (#2562746) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage I tried that. At least, my first attempt didn't work. My camera setting is on the largest jpg photo setting, without being on RAW. I've had it there since I started using it; it's a process of getting the computer software to understand how to load this. Today I was able to import my FTP information from an old version of FileZilla on the old drive into a new download of the program, and it connected very easily. Amazing how many things I'm still setting up after a crash six or more weeks ago. SRS |
|
10 Feb 09 - 03:51 PM (#2563074) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: JohnInKansas For most photo editing and for storage, it doesn't make much difference what the dpi is for the file. Photoshop programs, in particular, usually fit the image to the screen pretty well, so it doesn't make much difference whether its a 42" x 32" at 72 dpi or 10.24" x 7.68" at 300 dpi, it's still 7MP and still a 3 MB file if you resize without resampling. (A typical image from my 7 MP cheap camera at high quality [low compression] .jpg.) You get exactly the same screen pic when you "view pixels" for the fine adjustments, and most printers should be able to "scale to fit" or "scale to size" during the printing. The only time I bother to change an image if it's to be posted, so you have to resample it to lower pixel count (resolution) "for the web" to get something like 3" x 5" at 96 dpi, or to send it in an email where I prefer to keep the attachments under a MB or two. If you're pasting it into another picture, the "dpi" of the two pics have to match or the "paste" will be a different size (inches) than expected. I usually scan archives of old prints at 300 dpi, since that gives prints with good enough quality to print back at the original size or up to about 2x if you're not fussy. If you want to scan an old photo for maximum quality archiving, something like 1200 dpi is about as fine as it's worthwhile trying to use, since the prints usually aren't any better than that; and lots of "ordinary" scanners can't handle more than about a 5x7" photo at that high a resolution due to the reallybig file sizes. John |
|
10 Feb 09 - 03:59 PM (#2563080) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: JohnInKansas Addend: Batch processing in my Photoshop Elements has only one common "clinker" and that's when the image mode of the original isn't compatible with what you're trying to change it to. Some image types are "indexed color" and some are RGB or grayscale. Elements sometimes can't make the switch in modes in a batch process. I don't know whether the CS programs can do it; but that might explain a batch failure. A resize without changing the filetype shouldn't have a problem though. Also (in Elements) an image that's in multiple layers can't be saved as a .jpg. You need to "Layer | Flatten" before trying to save. And since the "base layer" isn't always shown, sometimes it isn't obvious that flattening is needed. I don't use .png enough to know if it has "peculiarities." John |
|
10 Feb 09 - 05:52 PM (#2563211) Subject: RE: Tech: Files drag & drop vs drag & copy From: Stilly River Sage I prefer to default to 300 dpi because many of my images are used in a printing press context. Offset printing requires a dense image, minimum of 300dpi, generally. Once they're too small you generally can't make them work for offset. My new toy arrived--the IMB Selectric style keyboard. I bought the basic board--noisy. I'd forgotten about the sound, I was going for the feel (which is great). But I may get the other one with the muted keys for comparison. This is the Unicomp board that was on NPR a couple of weeks ago. It's big, wide, that is. Solid. We'll see how well the dimples last on the F and J keys. That's a real test. I feel like I'm sitting up straighter already. Hands over home row, and type! SRS |