CNET'S QUICK GUIDE: Windows Vista's new file system

Organize files (or don't)

In the right-hand window pane are columns for Name, Date Created, Type, Size, and Tags. Here, too, are enhancements. Each column head contains drop-down menus with various options, though they're not always clear. For example, the first item in each menu is Sort, but this first line is shared with a separate choice for Group. It's not immediately apparent that these are separate items or that Group perhaps could have been located on its own line.

Under Date Modified within Windows Explorer in Windows XP, you simply order by date--earliest to latest or latest to earliest. Within Windows Vista, you can now filter by date and limit to last week, or arrange in a brand-new way--by stacking. Stack allows you to arrange all of the files within a folder by a given criteria, in this case, date. The result is not a new folder within a folder, but rather a virtual stack of documents, photos, or music arranged by date.

Under Type, you can organize by the most recent file types used; this new feature is very handy, but you can limit by only one type, not two or three. Under Tags, you can limit with check boxes the most recent file tags used, or stack. Under the Pictures Explorer, the Rating option allowing you to sort, group, limit by check box by rating, and stack. Under Music, there's Name, Artist, Album, Number, Genre, and Rating, with similar limiting and stacking options under each.

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