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FDFiles (VERSION 1.00)
Copyright (c) 1996 Ziff Davis Publishing Company by Michael J. Mefford 
First Published December 17, 1996 
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About  FDFiles...
Purpose:  FDFiles uses the "last access date" date stamp available under Win95 and 
WinNT to help you "find dead files" on your system. Over time, unused files can 
accumulate from old applications you've upgraded or no longer use, or undeleted 
temporary files. FDFiles lets you find these files and remove them from your 
system. If you are running FDFiles under Windows NT, you will need version 3.51 
or higher.

Usage:  To install FDFiles, copy the program files FDFILES.EXE and FDFILES.HLP
to a subdirectory on your hard disk, and create a icon for FDFiles in your shell. When
you first launch FDFiles, youll see a tree view of your computers disk directory on 
the left, and two list pages on the right. The Search Spec page lets you set search 
criteria and specify the directories to search; the Files Found page displays the 
search results.

The directory tree looks and operates much like Explorer's directory tree. You can
refresh a highlighted branch on the directory tree by clicking File|Refresh. This is 
useful if you change floppy disks or create a new directory. The directory tree serves
two purposes. It can be used as a drag-and-drop source for the directory list on the 
Search Spec page, and it can be used as a copy/move target for the files listed on the
Files Found page. A splitter bar between the directory tree and the page lists lets you
control the space allotted to each side of the display.

To start a search, you must first specify which directories on your computers file
system to search. You can do this in two ways: by dragging a directory from the 
Search directory tree and dropping it on the Search Spec page, or by selecting a
directory in the tree and then clicking the Add button. You can add as many paths to 
the Search Spec page as you like.

The next step is to specify what you want to find in the selected directories by 
modifying the parameters in the top line of Search Spec page. This top line reads 
like a sentence; for example, "Find *.* where Last Access is <= Sep 19, 1996".

If you check the Include subdirectories check box, FDFiles will search not only the
selected directories, but any subdirectories beneath them. If you check the Page 
pause check box, FDFiles will pause in its search each time it fills the File Found 
page with a page full of filenames. This gives you a chance to see the results and 
decide if you want to continue or abort the search process.

When you click on the Search button FDFiles automatically switches to the Files 
Found page and starts filling it with filenames matching the criteria of the Search 
Spec. You can sort the list by clicking on the header buttons: Name, Creation, Last
Access, or Last Write. Another click on the same button before clicking on any 
other will sort the list in descending order.

To delete some or all of the files found, select the files and then click the Delete 
button. A dialog box will appear that tells you what file will be deleted (or how 
many files, if there are more than one), and asks you to confirm your choice. 
If you are unsure whether the files are really unneeded, archive the files by moving 
them to a temporary directory for a while instead of deleting them right away. 
To copy or move files, first select the ones you want, then drag them to the desired
location in the directory tree. You can also copy and move files via the new Win95 
Explorer-style copy and paste technique.

As with Explorer, FDFiles lets you rename files using in-place editing. To shift into
edit mode, select a file, wait a moment, then click on it again. You can also rename
a file by clicking the Rename button. To save the name after changing it, press Enter;
to cancel the change press Escape.

Support Help for PC Magazine's free utilities can be obtained electronically
in the Utilities section of ZD Net's TIPS Forum (GO ZNT:TIPS). The authors
of current utilities generally visit this forum daily. You may find an answer to 
your question by reading the messages already posted in the forum. If the
author is not available and the forum sysops can't answer your question, the 
Utilities column editor, who checks this forum each day, will contact the
author for you.

Michael J. Mefford is a contributing editor of PC Magazine. 
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