Windows Vista Pocket Reference

Chapter 2. Shortcuts

There are many different ways to improve your experience with Windows Vista. Some solutions involve making modifications and additions to the operating system, while others describe how to work with the tools that come out of the box. The tips in this chapter illustrate the various keyboard and mouse shortcuts available in Windows Vista.

Working with Files and Objects

The tips that follow show you how to predict—and even change—how Windows Explorer responds to the dragging and dropping of files and objects. Here’s an overview of how drag-and-drop works in Windows Explorer:

• If you drag an object from one place to another on the same physical drive (c:\docs to c:\files), the object is moved.

• If you drag an object from one physical drive to another physical or network drive (c:\docs to d:\files), the object is copied, resulting in two identical files on your system.

• If you drag an object from one physical or network drive to another and then back to the first drive, but in a different folder (c:\docs to d:\files to c:\stuff), you’ll end up with three copies of the object.

• If you drag an application executable (an EXE file), the same rules apply to it that apply to other objects, except that if you drag it into any portion of your Start menu or into any subfolder of your Start Menu folder, Windows will create a shortcut to the file. Dragging other file types (documents, script files, or other shortcuts) to the Start menu will simply move or copy them there, according ...