You have referred to the USB-to-USB method of transferring files from one computer to another. During this process, does the “donor” computer retain a copy of the material being transferred?
A. I thank you for the reminder that all of this computer-speak that seems so natural to us hard-core propeller heads actually doesn’t make sense when presented to balanced people who don’t live and breathe bits.
As you note, we tell people that they can connect two computers by way of a special USB cable and then “move” all of the files from Computer A to Computer B (Don’t try this with an ordinary USB cable; it can damage one or both computers. You’ll need to buy what’s called a USB transfer cable.) “Move” means to pick something up at one spot and place it elsewhere.
With the possible exception of particle physics, something cannot be in two places at the same time, but when you “move” files across a USB cable or any other computer-to-computer link, the original file is merely copied from Computer A and pasted to Computer B.
I know you merely asked what time it was and I’ve started telling you how to build a watch. But please bear with this, because knowing this stuff can spare a lot of inconveniences up to and including the heartbreaking loss of treasured files.
Since the beginning of DOS – the disk operating system – there has never been a true move command for mainstream computers. Fear of losing files made Bill Gates and other pioneers set things so that moving files from one place to another was done by copying a file and pasting it elsewhere while leaving the original intact.
Reflecting this is the widely used method of pressing the Control key plus the A key to “select all” and then Control+C to copy all. Then, even in this world of cellphones, Web browsing and instant-message avatars, one indicates where the copy should go and then presses Control+V, as in “moVe,” to paste it.
Knowing this bit of PC plumbing gives us the groundwork that will help us retrieve files that seem to be lost or to make deadly sure that a sensitive file is destroyed instead of left somewhere.
To do this deletion, one presses Control+D, as in “delete.” These keystrokes work in Windows just as they did on DOS dinosaurs.
Q. I get an error message reading, “C disk only has 1 percent space and needs 15 percent.” I believe the disk is filled with three- to eight-minute copies of downloads from websites. I don’t know how to clear these files. Help?
A. You, I and everybody else needs from time to time to open Internet Explorer and click on Tools and then Internet Options. This summons a menu with a tab for General that has a big fat button to Delete Temporary Internet Files. Click it now; click it often.
