Windows 7 File Sharing Essentials

You can share files and folders in several different ways. Windows provides two methods for sharing files from your computer, you can share files from any folder on your computer, or from the Public folder. Which method you use depends on where you want to store the shared folders, who you want to share them with, and how much control you want to have over the files. Either method allows you to share files or folders with someone using your computer or another computer on the same network.

Which sharing method to use
There are several factors to consider when deciding whether to share files from any folder or from the Public folder.

Use any folder for sharing if:

• You prefer to share folders directly from the location where they are stored (typically in your Documents, Pictures, or Music folders) and want to avoid storing them in your Public folder.


• You want to be able to able to set sharing permissions for individuals rather than everyone on your network, giving some people more or less access (or no access at all).


• You share a lot of digital pictures, music, or other large files that would be cumbersome to copy to a separate shared folder. You might not want these files taking up space in two different locations on your computer.


• You frequently create new files or update files that you want to share and don't want to bother copying them to your Public folder.

Use the Public folder for sharing if:

• You prefer the simplicity of sharing your files and folders from a single location on your computer.


• You want to be able to quickly see everything you have shared with others, just by looking in your Public folder.


• You want everything you are sharing kept separate from your own Documents, Music, and Pictures folders.


• You want to set sharing permissions for everyone on your network and don't need to set sharing permissions for
  individuals.


• You want all users of your computer to have access to the files without getting involved in network settings.

Share files from any folder on your computer
Follow these steps to share files from their current location without copying them to another location. Using this method, you can choose the people with whom you want to share files, regardless of whether they use this computer or another computer on the network.

Locate the folder with the files you want to share.

Click one or more files or folders that you want to share, and then, on the toolbar, click Share.

In the File Sharing dialog box, do one of the following:

• Type the name of the person you want to share files with, and then click Add.


• Click the arrow to the right of the text box, click the person's name in the list, and then click Add.


• If you don't see the name of the person you want to share files with in the list, click the arrow to the right of the text box, and then click "Create a new user" to create a new user account so that you can share files with the person using this account.

The name of the person or group that you selected appears in the list of people you want to share files with.

• Note: If password protection is turned on for your computer, the person you are sharing with must have a user account and password on your computer in order to access the files and folders you are sharing. You can turn password protection on or off in the Network and Sharing Center.

Under Permission Level, click the arrow next to each person or group and select sharing permissions:

• A Reader can view shared files, but not add, alter, or delete them.


• A Contributor can view or add shared files, but can only alter or delete files he or she has contributed.


• A Co-owner can view, add, alter or delete any shared file.


• Note: If you are sharing a file instead of a folder, there is no option to set the permission level to Contributor.

When you are finished choosing the people or groups you want to share files with, click Share. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

After you receive confirmation that your folder is shared, you should send a link to your shared files to the people you are sharing them with, so they know the files are shared and how to access them. Do one of the following:

• Click e-mail to automatically open a Windows Mail e-mail message containing the link to your shared files.


• Click copy to automatically copy the link displayed on this screen to the Windows Clipboard. Then open a new e-mail message and paste the link into the message.


• Manually copy and paste the link displayed on this screen into an e-mail message. Right-click the link and click Copy Link. Then open a new e-mail message and paste the link into the message. You might want to do this if you don't use Windows Mail as your e-mail program.


• Note: If you change the name of a file or folder after you have shared it with someone, the previous link you sent them will not work. You should send them a link to the new location instead. An easy way to get this link is to share the file or folder by following the preceding steps.

If you don't want to send an e-mail message to the person you are sharing files with, click Done. They won't be able to find the shared files, however, until you give them the network location of the files.

Share files from the Public folder
When you share files from the Public folder, you don't share them with specific people. Anyone with a user account on this computer can access the Public folder, but you decide whether to allow access to people on your network. You can only grant access to everyone or no one on the network.

You can also turn on password-protected sharing. This limits network access to the Public folder to only those people with a user account and password on your computer. By default, network access to the Public folder is turned off unless you enable it.

To share files from the public folder:

• Copy or move whichever files you want to share to the Public folder or one of its subfolders, such as Public Documents or Public Music.

Your files in the Public folder are now shared with anyone who has access to the Public folder.

What are permissions?

Permissions are rules associated with objects on a computer or network, such as files and folders. Permissions determine if you can access an object and what you can do with it. For example, you might have access to a document on a shared folder on a network but only be able to read the document and not make changes to it. System administrators and users with administrator accounts on computers can assign permissions to individual users or groups.

The following table lists the permission levels that are typically available for files and folders.

Permission level:	Description:
Full control	Users can see the contents of a file or folder, change existing files and folders, create new files and folders, and run programs in a folder.
Modify	Users can change existing files and folders but cannot create new ones.
Read & execute	Users can see the contents of existing files and folders and can run programs in a folder.
Read	Users can see the contents of a folder and open files and folders.
Write	Users can create new files and folders and make changes to existing files and folders.

Notes:

• You can't restrict access to some individual files and folders within the Public Folder but allow access to other files and folders there. If users have access to the Public folder, they will have access to everything in it.


• Security permissions can only be viewed or set from Safe Mode under Windows XP Home.


• You may need to disable "Simple File Sharing" in the file options to access security from the file properties menus.


• When you share files and folders with people using other computers, they can open and view those files and folders just as if they were stored on their own computers. Any changes you allow them to make to a shared file or folder will change the file or folder on your computer. However, you can restrict people to just viewing your shared files, without the ability to change them.

Using Windows XP Files and Settings Wizard for Backup

FAST Limitations
The Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard can only back up settings
for the user that is currently logged in. If multiple system users are configured
on the system, the Files and Settings Wizard must be run for each user.

The FAST Wizard only archives specified files from the system drive, and typically
only from the folders contained in the Documents and Settings folders. If data
files are stored on other drives or in some other directory structure location,
the FAST Wizard may not archive the data.

System Preparation
The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will copy files from several
Windows and Internet Explorer work-file locations. Verify and correct any errors
on the drive as these will cause most backup programs to abort before the backup
data is fully collected. Cleaning up unnecessary temporary files will speed
up the FAST Wizard process and reduce the size of the resulting archive. (Note:
Defragmentation will have little or no effect on this process.)

Error Checking
Run error checking on the hard disk to check for errors. To correct errors on the startup drive/partition will require a system restart with CHKDSK running before Windows Starts. To do this:

Command Line Method

Windows GUI Method

Click Start > Run. Enter "CMD" in the Open box (without the quotes) and click OK to open a Command Prompt window. At the C: prompt, enter "CHKDSK" and press Enter to check for errors. To scan for and correct errors, enter "CHKDSK/F" and press Enter. Restart the computer to start the process (Start, Turn Off the Computer, Restart). Note: If you choose to run CHKDSK only to look for errors, but not correct them, you will need to repeat the process with the "/F" option only if errors are reported.

Open My Computer, right click on the local hard drive to test, select Properties. Click the Tools tab, and then click the Check Now button in the Error Checking section. Add a checkmark next to Automatically fix file system errors and next to Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors and click Start. Click "Yes" to the option to schedule the disk Check next time you start. Restart the computer (Start, Turn Off the Computer, Restart).

Disk Cleanup Tool
Run the Disk Cleanup Tool to delete unnecessary temp files. To do this:

1. Open My Computer.


2. Right-click on the hard drive, select Properties.


3. Click the Disk Cleanup button in the lower right of the General
   tab.


4. Add check marks next to:
   
   
   
   • Downloaded Program Files
   
   
   • Temporary Internet Files
   
   
   • Recycle Bin
   
   
   • WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files
   
   
   • Catalog files for the Content Indexer
   
   
   
   


5. Click OK and then click Yes to start the clean-up process.

Manual deletion
To perform a manual deletion of common temporary directories and subdirectories:

The disk cleanup tool will not remove all temporary files from the drive if
the applications that created them used Windows "legacy" directory
locations or created sub-directories during installation. Note that some of these
temporary directories may be flagged as hidden or system folders, and you will
need to adjust the Advanced Settings under Folder Options to view or access
them. To do this:

Directories to check for temp files:

Advanced Folder Option Settings:

Click on My Computer. Click to open the Local Hard Drive. Open the Windows directory, and then open the Temp directory. Delete any temp files found. Open Documents and Settings For each user folder in Documents and Settings: Open the User's Folder, Local Settings Folder, and then the Temp folder. In the Temp folder: Select and delete any files and folders appearing in these directories (do not delete the temp folder itself.) If you receive an (access denied) error and that a file cannot be removed; skip that file and continue to delete the rest. Since a group selection and delete operation will terminate on errors, try selecting smaller groups until you have just the 3-4 files left that are "locked" by the system.

From a Windows Explorer window, click on the Tools menu and select Folder Options. Click on the View tab and make the necessary changes: Display the contents of system folders Hidden files and folders - Do not show hidden files and folders - Show hidden files and folders Hide extensions for known file types Click the Apply button. Click the Apply to All Folders button. Click OK.

 

How to back-up a single user's data with the FAST Wizard
Windows Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will build a compressed archive
containing the user's personal files, folders and settings, including common
folders such as My Documents, the user's Desktop, and the Start Menu structure
specific to that user. It does NOT archive applications, and will usually prompt
or identify some programs that will need to be reinstalled to access the files
it does archive.

The Files and Settings Wizard does give a user the choice of archiving the
most common settings, or allow them to make specific selections. This option
does allow the knowledgeable user to select additional folders to include in
the archive, or to add or skip specific file types to the standard list for
archiving.

At least two different versions of the FAST Wizard appear to exist, the original
version that ships with Windows XP and the updated version that is compatible
with Windows XP 64-bit. The latter version is available through one of the additional
updates that may be selected on the Windows Update site.

The program can be saved in a folder by using the disk creation step and copying
the files after it completes. Storing the version of the FAST Wizard that was
used to make the backup initially is recommended, since trying to restore from
a different version will fail. See: Update for Windows XP (KB896344)

The backup drive can be any removable media, a folder on the drive, a second
hard drive, a network drive, or an external USB or Network-Attached Storage
(NAS) device as long as it has sufficient capacity to contain all of the data.
If using removable media, multiple disks may be required. An estimate of the
number of required disks should be displayed.

The FAST Wizard does NOT support archiving directly to an optical disk drive.
To make a backup to optical media, save the archive on a network or other secondary
storage device and then use your regular software to burn the data folder and
application to the recordable media.

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
How to run the File and Settings Transfer Wizard on the source system:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
   
   
   


2. Close any running programs (especially email!) and click Next.


3. Select Old Computer (This is the computer I want to transfer
   files and settings from.) and click Next. 
   
   


4. Select the transfer method. Your choices include:
   
   
   
   • Direct cable (such as a serial or USB transfer cable)
   
   
   • Home or small office network (such as when the old and new computer are connected over a LAN)
   
   
   • Floppy Drive or other removable media (choose from the detected list)
   
   
   • Other (you can browse to a target location that includes mapped network drives, USB hard drives, etc.)
   
   
   
   


5. Select what to transfer and click next:
   
   
   
   • Settings only
   
   
   • Files only
   
   
   • Both files and settings (This is the default selection to back up all of the user's files and settings.)
   
   
   • Let me select a custom list of files and settings...
   
   
   
   Choosing this option takes the default of the normal set of files and settings,
   but will allow you to add additional settings, data folders, files or file
   types. This would be the best choice when there is only one primary user
   of the system and there are additional files or folders that need to
   be archived that are not located in the default user's folders.
   
   
   


6. Click Finish.
   
   
   
   

Make a FAST Wizard archive CD, DVD, or Archive Folder

1. If you do not have a copy of the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard diskette,
   make one by following these steps: 
   
   
   
   1. Run the FAST Wizard and select New computer.
   
   
   2. Select I want to create a Wizard Disk and select the removable media from the list to copy the files to. Removable media will typically be a floppy disk, USB flash drive, or memory card.
   
   
   3. Click Next to start the file transfer. Two files should be copied to the target media: FASTWiz.exe and migwiz.ca.
   
   
   
   


2. Copy the two files from the diskette (or other media) over to the same location
   as selected when you ran the Wizard to transfer the files.


3. To create a recordable CD using Windows built-in burning feature:
   
   
   
   • Insert a blank CD-R disk in the optical drive
   
   
   • Select the data folder created by the FAST Wizard and the two FAST Wizard program files you copied from the diskette.
   
   
   • Right-click, select Send To from the context menu, select the CD-ROM drive from the list.
   
   
   • Click on the notification balloon You have files waiting to be written to the CD and follow the prompts to burn the files.
   
   
   
   

How to restore a single user's data with the FAST Wizard
The Windows XP Files and Transfer Settings Wizard is used to restore the data after the backup is made. Unlike the backup process, the restore process is fairly limited and does not offer partial or selective restore options. The archives created do not use a standard compression method such as .ZIP or .CAB archive formats, and cannot be opened or browsed interactively.

NOTE: Running the restore process multiple times may result in duplicate files
or menu shortcuts in some situations.

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
Run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on the source system. To do this:

1. Run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard by doing one of the following:
   
   
   
   • Open the backup location containing the FAST Wizard program and data files. Double-click on FASTWiz.exe to start the program. Use this method if the updated Wizard was used to create the backup, otherwise, run the Wizard from the Windows Start Menu. To do this:
     
     
     
     1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   


2. Close any running programs and click Next.


3. Select New Computer (This is the computer I want to transfer files and settings to.) and click Next.


4. Select the option I don't need the Wizard Disk. I have already collected
   my files and settings from my old computer. Click Next.


5. For the answer to "Where are the files and settings?" select Other
   and click Browse.


6. Locate the drive and folder that contains the FAST Wizard data files and
   click OK.


7. Click Next. The wizard should transfer the files and settings from the optical media, network drive, or external storage device.


8. Click Finish.


9. Click Yes to log off for the changes to take effect and log back in as the user.

How to Capture a Screen Shot with Mac OS X

The Mac OS X has several options for Screen capture. The capture process will allow for saving (capturing) the whole desktop or individual items on the screen.

To capture the entire desktop:

• Press the keys: Command + Shift + 3. This will save the capture in a PNG File on the desktop. This file can be opened using the application called
  Preview.

To capture the entire desktop without saving the PNG file to the desktop:

• Press the keys Command + Control + Shift + 3. This will save the screen shot to your clipboard so you can paste it in to another program.

To capture a portion of the desktop or a single item on the desktop:

• Press the keys Command + Shift + 4. This will change the curser to a cross shaped item and will allow you to draw around the item you want to capture. After selecting the area you want, release the mouse button and the item will be saved to the Desktop in a PNG file. (If you are using Mac OS X 10.3 or earlier the item is saved as a PDF file.

To capture a specific application window:

• Press the Command + Shift + 4, then press the Space Bar.
  This will change the cursor to a camera. As you move around the desktop, stop on an application. This will cause the application to become highlighted. With the window highlighted that you want to capture, press the mouse button. This will capture this application window only. The entire desktop does not need to be seen to do this.
  You will find this captured item on the desktop as a PNG File. (If you are using Mac OS X 10.3 or earlier the item is saved as a PDF file.)

Note: you can capture to the Clipboard instead of saving to the desktop by pressing the Control key during the last two commands described above.