Fig 1.0 Click on the ADD TO FAVORITES button to continue
Fig 1.1 Click on the ADD TO FAVORITES menu-item to continue
| INTERNET FAVORITES |
Favorites (American spelling) is a program built into Internet Explorer that allows you to create a list of your favourite
websites and webpages. The idea being that when you need to go to one of those websites or webpages again you simply select
it from the list, as opposed to having to type its web address/url into Internet Explorer's address bar each time. For every
website (or webpage) you add to the list a Link File is created for it, that contains its web address/url and title for
example. That link file is then stored inside the Favorites folder, which also has four default Microsoft sub-folders inside
it called Links, Microsoft Websites, MSN Websites and Windows Live. When you view the list what you are really viewing is
the contents of the Favorites folder.
To add a website (or webpage) to the existing list first make sure you are viewing a website (or webpage) with Internet
Explorer. In this example I am viewing the website www.yoingco.com. When you have done that click on the ADD TO FAVORITES
button of internet explorer (Fig 1.0) which then displays the Favorites menu-items (Fig 1.1). The ADD TO FAVORITES button
acted as a menu (menu title).
After clicking on the ADD TO FAVORITES button the first Favorites menu-item, also named ADD TO FAVORITES, is already highlighted for you. So all you need to do is click on it (select it). The Add A Favorite window will then appear.
The first item on the Add A Favorite window is an edit box called NAME. This has the title of the website (or webpage)
inside it which can be changed by editing it in the normal way. For example. You could, after clicking inside the edit box,
change the original text (i.e FREE Windows Vista Lessons - Explained with Pictures and Text) to something more meaningful
such as John's Website, Computer Lessons or whatever. It is up to you.
The next item is a drop-down menu, called CREATE IN, that lists all the possible folders you can store your favorite website
(or webpage) in. Or put another way. It lists the Favorites folder and its sub-folders - The folder or sub-folder where your
favorite website's (or webpage's) Link File will be created in. Clicking on the ADD button (Fig 1.2 above) will add your
favorite website (or webpage) to the favorites list (store its Link File inside the Favorite folder). However. In this
example I will create a sub-folder called Lessons.
To create a new sub-folder inside the main Favorites folder first click on the NEW FOLDER button (Fig 1.3 above). This will
bring up the Create A Folder window (Fig 1.4 above) where you must type a name for the new sub-folder inside the
FOLDER NAME edit box before clicking on the CREATE button. Once that is done the sub-folder is created. Now all you need to
do, now that the Add A Favorite window has returned, is click on the ADD button (Fig 1.5 above). This will add your favorite
website (or webpage) to the Favorites list, Lessons sub-menu. Or put another way. Store its Link File inside the Lessons
sub-folder, which is a sub-folder of the main Favorites folder.
If do not want to create a new sub-folder but want to use an existing folder instead simply click on the arrow button of the
CREATE IN drop-down menu, select an existing folder (Fig 1.6 below) and then click on the ADD button.
When you have added your website (or webpage) to the Favorites list you can view it by clicking on the FAVORITES CENTER button (Fig 1.7 below). As you will notice, even though you have clicked on the FAVORITES CENTER button the Links sub-folder is highlighted. This is normal behaviour. The sub-folder is only highlighted, not selected.
If the website (or webpage) you want to view is not inside a sub-folder simply click on its link file (list-item) to go to its website (or webpage). For example. If I click on the link file (list-item) called LONDON TRANSPORT - TRAVEL INFORMATION (Fig 1.8 below) Internet Explorer will go to www.tfl.co.uk - The Travel For London website.
If the website (or webpage) you want to view is inside a sub-folder you must first click on the sub-folder's name. In Fig 1.9 below I have clicked on the sub-folder called Lessons - The sub-folder I created in Fig 1.4 above. Clicking on a sub-folder or its name expands the view of that sub-folder. Or put another way. Opens the sub-folder, so you can see the Link Files inside it. So in this example clicking on the sub-folder called Lessons expanded Lessons view (opened the sub-folder) to reveal that it has one link file inside it called FREE Windows Vista Lessons - Explained with Pictures and Text.
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With the sub-folder expanded (opened) you simply go through its link files (list-items) until you find the link file you want and then click on it. In this example on the link file called FREE Windows Vista Lessons - Explained with Pictures and Text (Fig 1.10 above). If the expanding of a sub-folder makes the favorites list grow, especially at the bottom of the favorites list, the first link file in the sub-folder may become highlighted only as in Fig 1.9 above.
| DELETE A FAVORITE |
To delete a favorite (website/webpage link file) simply right-click on it, to select it and bring up its Options menu, and then select (left-click on) the DELETE menu-item (Fig 2.0 below). This will bring up the Confirmation Requester (Fig 2.1) to ask if you really want to delete the favorite.
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Although there are other options available on the Options menu (Fig 2.1 above), apart from the DELETE option, it is only the RENAME and SORT BY NAME options that will be of any real benefit to you.
| SORTING FAVORITES (Alphabetically) |
The SORT BY NAME option, on the Options menu (Fig 2.0 above), automatically sorts the favorites list into Alphabetical order.
Unless you really want to sort the favorites list into your own order (explained below) it is usually a good idea to have it
sorted into alphabetical order.
To sort the favorites list into Alphabetical order right click on any favorite (Link File) in the list to bring up the
Options menu and then select (left click on) the SORT BY NAME menu-item.
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In Fig 3.1 the Google - UK Search Engine favorite (link file/list-item) is highlighted, in gray, just like when you are going down the list with the mouse pointer. This is because this is the list position where I clicked on SORT BY NAME. In other words. When you click on SORT BY NAME the favorites list is automatically sorted into alphabetical order and then the favorite that is currently underneath the mouse pointer becomes highlighted. In this case the Google - UK Search Engine favorite.
| SORTING FAVORITES (Manually) |
To sort the favorites list into the order you want requires mouse dragging, so a little practice and patience is needed!!
Start by clicking on the favorite you want to move, but instead of letting go of the left mouse button keep it pressed
(held-down). In this example I am going to click on the RyanAir favorite (Fig 4.0), with the intention of moving it down
eleven positions so that its new position will be underneath the EasyJet favorite and above the Lessons sub-folder.
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With the left mouse button still held down (still clicked) start moving the mouse pointer downwards, in a straight line if you can. As you move the mouse pointer it will change into a NO ENTRY mouse pointer (Fig 4.0 above) to denote that you cannot move the selected favorite on that spot, if you were to let go of the left mouse button. This basically means the mouse pointer is over a favorite and not in-between, above or underneath a favorite or sub-folder - The mouse pointer has to be in a clear space (either in-between, above or underneath a favorite or sub-folder) before you can let go of the left mouse button (Fig 4.1 above). So when you have your mouse pointer in a clear space, in your desired position, feel free to let go of the left mouse button (as I have done in Fig 4.1 above).
If all went well, after letting go of the left mouse button, your favorite should of moved into its new position. Fig 4.2 shows that I have moved the RyanAir favorite down eleven positions, so it is now underneath the EasyJet favorite and above the Lessons sub-folder as desired. When you let go of the left mouse button the favorite underneath the mouse pointer position is the favorite that ends up highlighted. In this example the Ryanair favorite is highlighted, but it could of easily been the Lessons sub-folder that was highlighted. Do not worry if you did not get your positioning right the first time. As said, it does take practice and patience. When you are more confident just follow the above steps again to move other favorites.
| ORGANIZING FAVORITES |
Apart from sorting your favorites list (Link Files) into order, you can also organize them into sub-folders. This next example shows how to create a sub-folder and then put a favorite (Link File) inside that sub-folder.
After clicking on the ADD TO FAVORITES button (Fig 5.0 above) and then selecting the ORGANIZE FAVORITES menu-item (Fig 5.1 above) the Organize Favorites window will appear (Fig 5.2 below).
When the Organize Favorites window appears the first item is selected, in this case the Lessons sub-folder. It is important to remember this because you could DELETE, RENAME or MOVE it by mistake. At the bottom of the window are details of the selected item. In this case the details are telling you that Lessons is inside the main Favorites folder and that Lessons was last modified on 08/10/2007 at 14:17. Modified meaning the last time it was created and/or used. This informaion can be useful, especially if the selected item is a Link File (favorite).
Fig 5.3 Left click on an item to get information about it |
Fig 5.4 Right click on an item to bring up the Options menu |
As you can see in Fig 5.3 above, by selecting a favorite you get its website address information as well as the number of
times it was visited and the last date/time it was visited. Now imagine someone who uses your computer saying
"I did not visit that bad website"...."I was not on the computer at that time"....And so on. The evidence is right here!!
If you right click on a favorite it will bring up an Options menu (Fig 5.4 above) that gives you more or less the same basic
options as those on the Organize Favorites window (i.e DELETE and RENAME - MOVE can be emulated with COPY & PASTE actions).
Right clicking on a sub-folder gives you more options such as SEARCH, OPEN and EXPLORE. The previous item, in this example
Google - UK Search Engine, is always highlighted when using the right click. And when you have finished with the right click
(i.e after you have DELETEd the selected, right clicked, item) the previous item will still be highlighted, to remind you
of the last item you were/are working on.
To start organizing your favorites (link files/sub-folders) you normally make your new sub-folder(s) first and then move
your favorites (link files/sub-folders) into those new sub-folder(s). In this example though I will just make one sub-folder
to get you started. I will call it Travel. The first thing to do is click on the NEW FOLDER button (Fig 5.5 below) which
will create a new sub-folder called New Folder (Fig 5.6). You then need to rename New Folder to Travel, by typing the word
Travel - Do not click inside the edit box has it is already selected/editable. Just type the word Travel and then press the
ENTER keyboard key or click to the right of the new sub-folder (Fig 5.7). Both methods will set the sub-folder's name and
leave the sub-folder selected, at the bottom of the list (Fig 5.8). If you do need to click inside the edit box, perhaps
because you made a mistake, you can do so. See the Rename Folder section if you need some help.
Fig 5.5 Click on the NEW FOLDER button to create a new sub-folder |
Fig 5.6 Rename the New Folder sub-folder |
Fig 5.7 Click to the right of the edit box to set the new sub-folder's name |
Fig 5.8 The new sub-folder's name has been set |
With the new sub-folder created you then start moving your favorites (link files/sub-folders) into it, one at a time. This is done by first selecting a link file (or sub-folder) and then clicking on the MOVE button (Fig 5.9 below), which will then bring up the BROWSE FOR FOLDER window (Fig 5.10).
Fig 5.9 Select a link file (or sub-folder) and then click on the MOVE button |
Fig 5.10 Select a folder/sub-folder to put your link file (or sub-folder) into |
From the BROWSE FOR FOLDER window select a folder (Favorites) or sub-folder in which to put your selected link file (or
sub-folder) into. In Fig 5.10 above I selected the Travel sub-folder before clicking on the OK button. When you click on
the OK button you are returned to the Organize Favorites window where you will notice your selected link file (or sub-folder)
is missing. In this case the EasyJet UK link file. It has been put inside the Travel sub-folder. This can be clarified by
clicking on the Travel sub-folder (Fig 5.11 below).
The link file will become highlighted, because the favorites list will have automatically been scrolled up one position to
make room for the link file to be in view, but the sub-folder will be the item that is selected. Hence why its details are
at the bottom of the window and not the link file's details. In other words. The link file is only highlighted because the
mouse pointer is in the position where the sub-folder used to be. Moving the mouse pointer away just leaves the sub-folder
selected.
You would keep doing the above until all the Travel link files are in the Travel sub-folder. You could then create a Search Engine sub-folder, for all the Search Engine link files, and then use the MOVE method above to move those search engine link files into the Search Engine sub-folder. And so on. Or you could create all your sub-folders first and then MOVE your link files into their appropriate sub-folder. It is up to you how you do it of course. Also remember that a sub-folder can be MOVEd into another sub-folder, making that sub-folder a sub-sub-folder. Another thing you could do is drag an item, as shown in Fig 4.1 above, within the Organize Favorites window (Fig 5.12 below) therefore cutting out the need to use the MOVE button.
Fig 5.12 You can also drag a link file (or sub-folder) into a sub-folder |
Fig 5.13 The newly organized favorites, in SORT BY NAME order |
When you have finished simply click on the CLOSE button on the Organize Favorites window. This will bring you back to Internet Explorer where you can view the changed organized favorites by opening the FAVORITES CENTER window again (Fig 5.13 above). As you can see, by organising your favorites (link files/sub-folders) you can make them look tidier and easier to find.
| FAVORITE ICONS |
Each time you add a website (or webpage) to your favorites list Favorite's built-in icon feature downloads that website's
icon into the main Favorites folder, if an icon exists on that website. Otherwise a generic Internet Explorer icon will be
instead.
The main Favorites folder is stored inside your USER folder. Its Path Name is
C:\Users\UserName\Favorites. So in other words, when you add a website (or webpage) to the favorites list you also inherit
that website's icon. Depending on how your Favorites folder is viewed you may see the website icons or the generic Internet
Explorer icons (below). Either way, the website icons will be displayed properly in the actual Favorites list as above.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John