Microsoft Windows XP Unleashed

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The Favorites Folder: Sites to Remember

The sad truth is that much of what you’ll see on the Web will be utterly forgettable and

not worth a second look. However, there are all kinds of gems out there waiting to be

uncovered—sites you’ll want to visit regularly. Instead of memorizing the appropriate

URLs, jotting them down on sticky notes, or plastering your desktop with shortcuts, you

can use Internet Explorer’s handy Favorites feature to keep track of your choice sites.

The Favorites feature is really just a folder (you’ll find it in your

%UserProfile% folder)

that you use to store Internet shortcuts. The advantage of using the Favorites folder as

opposed to any other folder is that you can add, view, and link to the Favorites folder

shortcuts directly from Internet Explorer.

Adding a Shortcut to the Favorites Folder

When you find a site that you’d like to declare as a favorite, follow these steps:

1. Select the Favorites, Add to Favorites command. The Add Favorite dialog box

appears.

2. Make sure that the Make Available Offline check box is deactivated. (See “Reading

Pages Offline,” later in this chapter, for the complete story on viewing web pages

offline.)

3. The Name text box displays the title of the page. This is the text that appears when

you later view the list of your favorites. Feel free to edit this text if you like.

4. Internet Explorer enables you to set up subfolders to hold related favorites. If you

don’t want to bother with this, skip down to step 8. Otherwise, click the Create In

button to expand the dialog box as shown in Figure 18.4.

5. Select the folder in which you want the new folder to appear.

6. Click New Folder to display the Create New Folder dialog box.

7. Type in the name of the new folder and then click OK. Windows XP takes you back

to the expanded Add Favorite dialog box.

8. Select the folder in which you want to store the favorite.

9. Click OK.

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FIGURE 18.4 Use this dialog box to add a shortcut to the Favorites folder.

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Internet Explorer offers two methods for quickly adding a site to the Favorites folder:

• If the current page has a link to the site you want to save, click and drag the link to the

Favorites menu.

• If you want to save the current page, instead, click and drag the icon from the Address

bar to the Favorites menu.

When the Favorites menu pulls down, drag the item to the position you want (you can even

hover over submenus to open them) and then drop the item.

Opening an Internet Shortcut from the Favorites Folder

The purpose of the Favorites folder, of course, is to give you quick access to the sites you

visit regularly. To link to one of the shortcuts in your Favorites folder, you have three

choices:

• In Internet Explorer, the Favorites menu contains the complete list of your Favorites

folder shortcuts. To link to a shortcut, pull down this menu and select the shortcut

you want.

• Click the Favorites toolbar button, or select View, Explorer Bar, Favorites, to display

the Favorites Bar, as shown in Figure 18.5. Click a link in the Favorites Bar.

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You can also toggle the Favorites bar on and off by pressing Ctrl+I.

• Select Start, Favorites and then click the favorite you want from the submenu that

appears.

CHAPTER 18 Exploring the Web with Internet Explorer466

FIGURE 18.5 The Favorites bar keeps your favorite links visible at all times.

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If the Favorites submenu doesn’t appear on your Start menu, right-click the Start button, click

Properties, and then click the Customize button beside the Start Menu option (which should be

activated). In the Advanced tab’s Start Menu Items list, activate the Favorites Menu check box,

and then click OK.

Maintaining Favorites

When you have a large number of favorites, you need to do some regular maintenance to

keep things organized. This involves creating new subfolders, moving favorites between

folders, changing URLs, deleting unused favorites, and more. Here’s a summary of a few

maintenance techniques you’ll use most often:

• To change the URL of a favorite, display the Favorites list, find the item you want to

work with, and right-click it. In the context menu, click Properties and then use the

property sheet to adjust the URL.

• To move a favorite, display the Favorites list, find the item you want to work with,

and then drag the item to another spot on the menu (or into a submenu).

• To delete a favorite, display the Favorites list, find the item you want to work with,

right-click it, and then click Delete.

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