I was at Borders last night and came across the May 2009 issue of Maximum PC Magazine. May issue..., at the first of April, that's a different rant for a different day. While flipping through the articles I saw"Eight UI Inconsistencies That Annoy Us" So, I've modified that list and added my own.
10 WINDOWS DOES NOT CLEAN UP AFTER ITSELF BY DEFAULT In XP and Vista the Windows temp folder is not cleared regularly. But with 2009 you can use SolidWorks RX to clear out your temp files on a daily basis. This is important for SolidWorks users, it can affect performance. I've even seen it cause, "failed to save document" errors. SO CLEAN IT UP!!
9 RENAMING MULTIPLE FILES CAN BE A PAIN. Currently Microsoft does not have a auto renaming utility for mass renaming. There are some good tools out there though.
8 FILE FOLDERS DON'T SHOW THEIR SIZE IN EXPLORER. Microsoft says this would slow down your file browsing in explorer. Come on Microsoft, you're Microsoft. Get it done and make it fast, Bill probably has an idea. He's not doing too much right now give him a call.
7 FILE SIZES ARE SHOWN ONLY IN KB.Does your car display its speed in furlongs per week? No! That makes as much sense as showing how many kilobytes a 2.5TB file is.
6 THE PROGRESS BAR IS A COMPULSIVE LIAR.
Whether you're copying files or installing patches, the progress bar is always wrong. This is what we call Bill Gates Time.
5 APPLICATION SPLASH SCREENS ARE USELESS. Splash screens can be pretty, but what purpose or what problem do they solve? Can't we figure out something else for the graphic designer to do?
4 OUTLOOK SEPARATES EMAIL ADDRESSES WITH A SEMICOLON. Here in America we use commas to separate lists.
3 APPS BURIED IN THE SUB-FOLDERS OF THE PROGRAM MENU. Apps belong in the root of the Program Files not sub-folder after sub-folder, where no one will ever find them!
2 DISABLING APPS IN THE SYSTRAY IS HARD. In many applications you must go to Run "msconfig" and disable it in the start-up tab. Some you have to find the function in the apps preferences. Last but not least some get installed in your start menu inside of Start-up.
1 THE SAVE ICON IS A FREAKIN FLOPPY DISK! I haven't saved a file to a floppy disk in over a decade. Why is the icon still standard, is it a piece stone age technology?
Robert McGaughey, CSWP
Regional Technology Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.
My personal favorite. To stop Windows, you begin by hitting the "Start" button.
Posted by: Rod Levin | April 08, 2009 at 12:18 PM
There has been a mass rename utility in Window since NT IIRC. Highlight the files you want to rename and then RMB and pick rename. You can then do the following:
Add additional text based on the position of the cursor in the text of the filename you chose to RMB on.
Completely delete the names of all the files selected and give a new name that will in addition have a sequence number added.
You can test this out on your temp directory before you clean it out. :)
Posted by: Paul Kellner | April 14, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Paul,
Thanks for the comment. I have my utilities that I used over the years, like free commander and file rename (original name). They work great, for situations when you want to do replace part of the file name with something else. Its on my wish list for Uncle Bill over at MS to put into the tool a little more then what you mentioned by default. What to you think?
Bob McGaughey, CSWP
CATI
Posted by: Bob McGaughey | April 16, 2009 at 09:11 AM