PC Magazine - 2009 11.pdf - Libertad Zero

WHERE TO FIND THEM Libraries are just belowFavorites on the Navigation pane.or My Music, and so forth, inside each userprofile (and easily accessible from Computeror My Computer), so you might verywell ask how Win 7 improves anything here.The answer is that the folder “My Music”(to use just one example) contains files andsubdirectories that reside inside one bigdirectory called My Music—and that folderexists in one specific location on your harddrive. By contrast, the library “Music” in Win7 contains links to files, and other directories,and other subdirectories anywhere onyour system. Think of the security desk in alarge building: From one monitor bank youcan view camera feeds from any numberof locations within the building. This isn’tlike metatagging files, which enables Windowsto search for them more efficientlyand accurately; it’s telling Windows that itshould consider certain, disparate folders asa group. With Win 7 Libraries, you can add asmany locations as you want to each library,and when you open that library all locationswill be accessible from within it. And to topthat all off, if you join multiple PCs in a Win7 HomeGroup, you can share entire librariesas easily as you can share individual directoriesor files.To show how libraries work, I’ll create abrand new one and call it “Archived E-mail.”Inside it, I want links to all folders on my varioushard drives and partitions that containOutlook data (PST) files I’ve stored over theyears. Every time I install a new instance ofWindows (beginning way back in the year2000 or so), I reinstall Office as well, creatinga new Outlook data file. I then import mycalendar, contacts, and certain folders fromthe most recent Outlook PST file, but I oftenleave much of the data in that older file as anarchive. In addition, I have numerous smallerarchives and backups scattered around.LIBRARYCONTENTSThe list of includeditemsappears in theLibrary Locationsarea of thelibrary’s Propertiesdialog.NOVEMBER 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 71