New gateway to your files

If you have Internet Explorer 4 or better installed on your Windows 95/98 system, you can have a quick gateway to your folders and their files. Here’s how to set it up.

On your desktop, left-click on the My Computer icon and drag it all the way to the left of the screen. Release the mouse button and the contents in that folder will cascade, as a menu, down the left side of your desktop. Now left-click on the C: drive icon in that menu, and drag it up to the middle of your screen, all the way up to the screen edge. Release the mouse button.

Now you have a cascading menu across the top of your desktop, listing all the folders and files in your C: drive.

But you likely have too much content for that little menu, in which case you’ll see two tiny right-pointing arrows at the far-right of that menu bar. Click on those to get the cascade to continue down the right side of your desktop. And if you hover your mouse over any of those folders cascading down the right, another menu will explode out, showing you the folder’s contents.

While this trick does cut down on your desktop space, you can now efficiently get to any of your files, right from your desktop.

And if you don’t like this arrangement, just right-click on an empty spot of each menu and choose Close.

Free *Cheap Trick* of the Week: September 4, 2000