How to rename multiple files

Whenever you want to rename multiple files with the same piece of text and an individual number for each file, as in photo1.jpg, photo2.jpg and so on, you usually either have to do this manually or use a batch rename program. Yet, Windows has the facility to do this, albeit in a rough-and-ready way.

To rename multiple files, select all the files you wish to rename (in a previous post I looked at various ways of selecting multiple files). Then either right-click on any of the files and select Rename from the context menu (this method is demonstrated in the following video), or press F2. Type in the new name of the file - including the file extension if it is visible (eg. .doc, .jpg, etc) - and press Enter. All the other selected files will be renamed with an individual number in brackets. So, if you type in photo.jpg, the next file will be called photo (1).jpg, the next photo (2).jpg and so on.

If you think this is a little messy, you can type in the (1) yourself. For example, if you rename the selected file to photo (1).jpg, the next file will be called photo (2).jpg etc.

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: don`t bin it, delete it

Whenever you delete a file it will be sent to the Recycle Bin so that it can be restored if you change you mind (unless the file is too large for the recycle bin).

Sometimes, however, you may want to bypass the Recycle Bin and delete a file completely(ish), to do this highlight the files you wish to delete, hold down the Shift key and press Delete. As with a normal deletion you will be asked to confirm the action.

These files can still be restored by using appropriate software, as I have explained in a previous post, unless the drive they were deleted from is defragmented - even then it may be possible to restore the files, although this requires sophisticated techniques beyond the reach of most users.

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Jargon busting: software

In a new regular feature I will try to translate a few technical terms into plain English. In the first post I will look at some terms about software that you may have seen.

Freeware
Software that the authors retain the copyright for, which is free to use for an unlimited period. The term has come to refer to any free software, such as public domain and open source.

Shareware
Software that can be used for free for a limited period, after which the user will have to pay to continue using it.

Public Domain
Any software that is free to use, which the authors do not retain copyright over.

Adware
Software - free or otherwise - that displays advertisements to generate income for the authors. This type of software often contains spyware.

Proprietary
Technically, any software for which the creator retains copyright or has a patent etc. Generally it used to refer to any software which can only be used with limitations.

Source Code
The actual code authored in a programming language (such as Visual Basic or C++).

Compile/Compiled/Compilation
In order for a program to be used by a computer it has to be compiled from the source code into machine code which the computer can understand.

Executable
A computer program, which is compiled from source code. On Windows these files generally have the extension .exe.

Open Source
Software for which the source code is made available along with the compiled executable.

Some of these are legal terms, others may have meanings that are in dispute. I have tried to give a simple explanation for them to help the non-computer-initiate and as such I have avoided any controversies. Nevertheless, feel free to comment on any of the terms used.

For more technical descriptions of these terms try searching for them on Wikipedia or Google.

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Carnival of Computer Help and Advice

I have decided to start a blog carnival to provide a monthly digest of the best blog articles that offer computer help and advice, preferably those that are written in novice-friendly language.

This carnival will be published on the 27th of each month.

The submission deadline for new articles is the 20th of each month.

Like all blog carnivals, this is a community effort. If you wish to host a carnival you can leave a comment on this article or click here, and if you wish to submit an article for inclusion please click here. The carnival's website can be found here.

[Edit 03/02/08]
As with other blog carnivals the host each month will choose which articles to include.

To be clear, this is not a general technology blog carnival, nor is it a carnival of blogging tips. It is a collection of articles offering help and advice for using computers, which may include articles about free applications but not commercial software.
[End edit]

So without further ado, may I present...

The First Carnival of Computer Help and Advice

To get the ball rolling I have trawled the web for some useful blog articles as examples of what would be suitable for future carnivals.

Jim at Simple PC Talk provides some good advice on How to Update to Office 2007. Speaking of installing software, on the IT Guys blog, CodeWizard has posted a fix for those of you getting Error code 2738 When Installing iTunes + Quicktime on Windows Vista.

Alex Jose's blog offers Tips And Tricks For A Healthy PC, as well as other advice such as how to Remove Security Alerts From System Tray and save us from annoying messages. Nothing is more annoying than a slow PC, Ajith offers advice on making to changes to Windows so that it runs faster at Tweaking Made Easy, such as Stopping Unneeded Startup Services and Making XP boot faster!

Lastly this month, a quality freeware product found by nicky81 at Tips, Tricks & Practice: a freeware Audio Ripper and Converter application that will let you convert audio files using all the most popular formats.

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Free Lightweight Alternatives to Bloatware

We have to install many programs to open the variety of files we are sent or download off the Internet, and we have to install more programs to keep in touch with people on the Internet.

These programs are often quite large and the install files can take a while to load, even on broadband connections. Thankfully there are some free lightweight alternatives to these bloated applications.

Foxit Reader is a fully featured PDF (Portable Document Format) reader and a much slimmer alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

I have already mentioned Real Alternative, which enables you to play RealMedia files without installing RealPlayer, in a previous post, and in a recent post I drew attention to the slim image editor Paint.net; although, you may have install Microsoft's .Net Framework, which is quite bloated too.


Meebo is the slimmest of all these sveldt options, as it doesn't require the installation of any new software at all. This website offers an alternative to various messenger clients such as Microsoft's Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, ICQ and Google Talk. Whilst it does not include all the features of all these clients, it does enable you to have a single contacts list and you only have to enter one username and one password to access all your messenger services once you have created a Meebo user and configured it.

I am always on the search for quality free lightweight alternatives to bloated applications. If I find any more I will post them here, and if you find any, dear reader, please add a comment to this post with the details.

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: jump up a level

When you are using Windows Explorer - the file management program that opens when you double-click on 'My Computer' and the like - you can move to the parent folder by clicking the back-space key.

By 'parent folder' I mean the folder that contains the one you are looking at. In the following image we see that the 'parent folder' of Adobe is Program Files.

Another way to achieve the same thing is to press the F4 key followed by the up arrow, and then Return.

Note for Vista users: using the Backspace key in Vista mimics the use in web browsers, that is, it takes you to the previous folder you looked at. To go to the parent directory using Vista, hold down Alt and press the Up cursor.

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Five freeware image manipulation tools

The GIMP
This is a fully featured image editor with an interesting name - it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program (apparently). This is an incredibly powerful application with features that rivals professional software like Photoshop. Whilst this software was originally developed for a Linux environment there is a Windows version available; however, in my experience it does not work well on Windows. Nevertheless many people do use it on Windows machines and enjoy its powerful features although for the novice user it's stark interface may take some getting used to.

Paint.net
Whereas the GIMP's interface may take some getting used to Paint.net's is friendly and intuitive, and while Pain.net is not as feature-rich as the GIMP it is still a powerful image manipulation tool with many of the features found in commercial image editing packages. Because it is quick and easy to use it has become my image editor of choice.

IrfanView32
IrfanView is an image viewer which has few editing features, but it is still a worthy inclusion on this list; although, not even as an image viewer (the one built into most versions of Windows is good enough). The reason I have included it is the batch image process feature, with which you can change the format of many files in one go, say from 'bmp' to 'jpeg', rather than open and save each file separately.


Beneton Movie GIF
This application can be used to create animated GIFs. I used it myself to create the animated advert for a friend's website - the one for younilife that you can see at the top right hand of this page. The software works on the same principle as a flipbook: draw the pictures in an image editor such as paint.net; open them all in Beneton Movie GIF; select the order in which they are to be shown and set the length of time each frame is to be shown for. This may sound a little complicated but it is quite intuitive after a while. The software includes some fancy transition features to create dynamic looking animations.

IcoFX
IcoFX is an icon editor. I used it myself to create the favicon for Bloody Computer! (the yellow exclamation mark that you see next the this webpages' URL in the address bar). This software supports all the various Windows icon formats, including those for Vista.

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