T 'n' T: Fave On Put Your Favorite Web Sites Where You Want 'Em Gregg Keizer
Mon 7/15/02 -- Windows isn't just the desktop anymore. What with Microsoft stuffing Internet Explorer into every nook and cranny of the OS, you need to know how to manage the interaction between surfin' and the system.
The concept of Favorites -- Redmond's cutesy term for bookmarks -- is a good example. Windows wants to give you control of your favorite links by melding Internet Explorer's list with the operating system, particularly in the Start menu, where a Favorites inventory of Web sites appears alongside applications (or doesn't, as you want, but more on that in a moment).
This week's tips and tricks focus on Favorites, from how to stop their appearance in the Start menu to ways you can fool IE into opening the right home page at the right time. Got favorite Favorites tips 'n' tricks of your own? E-mail me.
Favorites, A to Z. Neatniks who like to keep their Favorites sorted in alphabetical order have it easier if they use Windows 98 (or later) with Internet Explorer 5.0 (or later). To force an A-to-Z sort, select Start, then Favorites, then right-click any item on the menu. Choose "Sort by Name" from the ensuing menu.
With earlier editions of Windows and Internet Explorer, you'll need to muck about with the Registry. From Start, choose Run, then type regedit.exe and press Enter. Locate:
Delete the value Order, close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows.
Home pages galore. Sometimes one home page is not enough. Although browsers like IE and Netscape Navigator only allow one home page -- the page that appears as soon as you fire up the browser -- you can circumvent this limitation by using shortcuts on the Windows desktop.
Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop, then choose New/Shortcut. Type the URL of one of your desired home pages in the proffered field and click Next. Name it and click OK. Repeat as many times as necessary to create shortcuts for each home page.
When you want to start a surfing session with ESPN.com, for instance, just click on the ESPN.com shortcut on the desktop. Feel the need for news? Click on your shortcut to CNN.com instead.
Or you can ditch the standard surfing software and equip your PC with an alternative browser that permits multiple home pages. Two that do are the acclaimed (and free with ads; $35 without) Opera and the virtually unknown $20 shareware SmartExplorer.
Migrate Favorites to another machine. If you're moving to a new PC -- or just want convenient access to the same sites on your notebook that you enjoy on your desktop machine -- take the Favorites folder along. Open Internet Explorer; from the File menu, choose Import and Export. Use the wizard that appears to export your Favorites as a Bookmarks.html file; copy it to a floppy disk, then import this file into that PC's version of IE.
Manage Favorites. When the Favorites list in the Start menu gets too unwieldy -- say, when the folders are three or more deep or the number of bookmarks in a folder passes 20 or so -- you may want to hire a more sophisticated bookmark manager.
I've been trying out a pair of programs: Check&Get and Links Organizer. Both programs consolidate bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Opera; check links to make sure they're live and still working; and open any bookmark you click. Check&Get's free (although a more robust shareware edition costs $30), while the shareware Links Organizer is $25. I think Check&Get is the better of the pair.
A simpler approach -- but one which eschews any automation -- is to turn your Favorites into a single HTML document. From IE's File menu, select Import and Export, then use the wizard to export your Favorites to Bookmarks.html as above. Either place this file on the desktop, or make a shortcut for it and put that on the desktop. Click or double-click the icon, and a list of all your bookmarks appears. You'll need to manually update this menu periodically by re-exporting the Favorites from within Internet Explorer.
Dump Favorites from Start. I don't know about you, but I like a streamlined Start menu. And I don't need access to my Favorites from there, thank you very much. So I've forsaken Favorites on Start.
To do this in Windows XP, right-click the Start menu and pick Properties. Click the Customize button, and on the Advanced tab's "Start menu items:"list, uncheck the Favorites menu. Click OK.
The chore's a bit different in Windows Me/2000. Right-click anywhere on the Taskbar, select Properties, and then click the Advanced tab. Uncheck the "Display Favorites" box and click OK.
In Windows 95/98, you'll need to dip into the Registry. From Start, choose Run, then type regedit.exe and press Enter. Locate:
Right-click on the right-hand pane and pick New/DWORD Value. Name it NoFavoritesMenu. Double-click it and add the value 1. Exit the Registry Editor and restart Windows.
