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HOW TO LASSO SEVERAL FILES/FOLDERS AT ONCE
If you're an old hand at Windows 3.x, I presume you're
familiar with how to select several files simultaneously
for some common function (such as a copy or move to
another directory): first, you can, while in File Manager
of course, select several files that are listed on the
screen one after the other by clicking on the first file
name, moving to the last file name in the group that you
want to select, then holding down the "Shift"
key while you click on that name. This selects all files
listed between your first and last clicks. Very handy!
But how about if the several files you want to select
don't follow one another in a line? In other words, there
may be files in between the first and last ones which you
want to omit. Then you can choose the second option for
selecting multiple files: hold down the "Ctrl"
key while you click one at a time on each file you
select.
Both of these nice Windows 3.x functions also work under
Windows 9x/ME. But here's another way to select several
files in a single column on the screen if you do this in
the Windows Explorer: lasso them by drawing a selection
rectangle around the whole list. You do that by moving
your mouse just to the left of the first file name to be
selected (make sure your mouse is not positioned either
on the file name or its icon), then dragging a rectangle
(with your left mouse button depressed) down and to the
right until all the files you have chosen have their
names highlighted, then release the mouse. This technique
works especially well with the icon views of the Explorer
("Small Icons" or "Large Icons" in
the View menu.) If you want to add more selection
rectangles to the first, then just hold down the
"Ctrl" key while dragging in order to lasso the
next group of files. Neat!
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