Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

By Dorothy Burke and Jane Calabria

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • About the Authors
  • Introduction
  • Conventions Used in This Book
  • Lesson 1. Navigating Windows 2000 Professional
  • Lesson 2. Working with a Window
  • Lesson 3. Using Menus
  • Lesson 4. Using Windows 2000 Professional Help
  • Lesson 5. Using Dialog Boxes
  • Lesson 6. Working with Multiple Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 7. Copying, Moving, and Linking Between Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 8. Using My Computer
  • Lesson 9. Managing Files with My Computer
  • Lesson 10. Using WordPad
  • Lesson 11. Understanding File Properties and the Recycle Bin
    • Filenames
    • File Size
    • File Creation Date and Time
    • File Attributes
    • Viewing Properties
    • Managing the Recycle Bin
    • Opening the Recycle Bin
    • Emptying the Recycle Bin
    • Restoring Files
    • Recycle Bin Properties
  • Lesson 12. Printing
  • Lesson 13. Using My Network Places
  • Lesson 14. Using the Control Panel
  • Lesson 15. Using Outlook Express Mail
  • Lesson 16. Sharing Workstations and Setting Passwords
  • Lesson 17. Using Internet Explorer 5
  • Lesson 18. Web Site and Document Searching
  • Lesson 19. Troubleshooting, Restarting, and Disaster Planning
  • Lesson 20. Customizing the Windows 2000 Environment

Filenames

When you save a file you created in a Windows application, such as Word, you assign a name to the file and save the file in a folder. Files stored in the same folder must have unique filenames. Any filename longer than eight characters is considered a long filename, although a name that includes a space or a comma is also considered a long filename. Windows 2000 allows you to use up to 255 characters when you name a file, but remember you must include the full path of the file in that number. For example, the Profits spreadsheet you stored in the January subfolder of the My Documents folder has a full name that is C:\My Documents\January\Profits.xls, which is 35 characters.

Windows 2000 has a few restrictions on the characters used in the filename. The characters you must not use in filenames are /\ :*?<>|. Spaces and other punctuation marks are allowable. Be careful with periods, however, because a period marks the beginning of a file extension. In MS-DOS filenames, the 8-character filename was followed by a period and a 3-letter extension that defined the type of file. Even if you can't see those extensions in My Computer or Windows Explorer, Windows 2000 does store that information. You can display it using folder options (see Lesson 8, "Using My Computer," for a full explanation of folder options).

A practical consideration in naming files is being able to find them later. Although long filenames give you the advantage of a more descriptive name, you have to keep in mind that a name like Letter to Paul Jones will be lost in a group of similar filenames beginning with "Letter to." To make it easier to locate later, you might want to name this file Jones, Paul Letter.

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