Most avid computer users will have discovered the Windows has a very limited feature-set when it comes to renaming files. Basically you can manually rename one file at a time, and nothing more. Bulk file renaming is not an option. If you want to rename an entire album of MP3 files, or perhaps an entire MP3 collection, a photo collection, and so forth, then I am sure you’ve already decided that doing it manually is also not an option. A bulk file renamer is required, and a free one would be even better. Right?
I’ve been looking around for a good file renamer. There is one built into a fantastic Windows Explorer replacement program that is called Directory Opus. DO is a great piece of software for Windows, converting its pathetic file explorer into a powerful beast! But DO is relatively expensive for many computer users, so if you’re just looking for a file renamer here are some options.
- Bulk Rename Utility:
Bulk Rename Utility has evolved through a series of user-requests, one-off requirements, and general enhancements. Some of the features provided by Bulk Rename Utility include:
– Very easy to use
– Rename files, folders or both
– Remove or change a filename
– Perform string substitution
– Change the case of filenames
– Remove characters or words
– Remove digits or symbols
– Append or prepend text
– Append dates in many formats
– Append the parent folder’s name
– Auto-number files with flexible rules
– Automatically preview the new names
– Sort the file details by any column
– Group configurations into “favourites”
– “Bulk Rename” Explorer extension
– Directory recursion - process subdirectories too!
– Rename files from an input text-file list
– Create an “Undo” batch file
– Log activity to a text log file
– Change file and folder date/time-stamps (created, modified, accessed)
– Change file/folder attributes (hidden, readonly, archived)
– Small memory footprint
– Settings retained between sessions
– True 32-bit application
– Written wholly in Visual C++
– Application is totally free!
- I’ll list more as and when I discover them…
Many people report that one or more computers can’t connect to other computers on their Windows NT / XP / Vista based workgroup networks. Sometimes it’s not possible to access another computer on the network — it won’t appear in the workgroup at all. Other times it appears but then it can not be accessed. Errors like the following may occur:
- “Login failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer”
- “(XXXX) is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource.
Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.
The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available.
- Or perhaps you manage to access the PC but it always wants a password and user name to be entered to browse its files?
Here are a few things to check locally on the PC that you are having trouble accessing from another PC on the network. These solutions all assume you are using Windows XP. I would suggest you retry the connection after EACH of these steps… as you may not have to apply all of them. Also, I list these in no specific order.
- Guest access may have been disabled.
Go to Admististrator Tools > Local Security Policy. Then Local Policies > User Rights Management.
Find “Deny access to this computer from network”. Double-click it if “Guest” is in that list, and remove “Guest”
- Go to START > RUN > type in “CMD”
In the command prompt type in: net user guest /active:yes
-
Change the networking Node-type to “mixed”. You can check it is set to something else by typing “ipconfig /all” into a command prompt. To change it to “mixed”:
Start Manu > Run > Type in “regedit” (without the “”) and hit enter.
Go to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters
When you click on parameters you should have “DhcpNodeType” or just “NodeType”
Change the value to 4 (mixed type).
More info here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=160177
If that key does not exist at all (which was the case on my PC) you can create it. Create a new DWORD Value by right clicking on the right panel of the registry editor. Give it the name “DhcpNodeType” and a value of 4
- Make sure your third party firewall is not blocking sharing on the local network (see the support site for your firewall system for more info)
- If you have Windows Firewall enabled then you’ll also want to ensure that there is an exception set to allow Windows file and print sharing. Google that to find out how if you are not already sure.
- Follow the steps found in this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913628 in order to allow anonymous access.
- Install “NWLink IPXSPXNetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol” to your Networking configuration:
1. Go to Control Panel, and select “Network Connections”;
2. Right-click with your mouse your Network Connection and select “Properties”;
3. On the “Connection Properties” screen, select the “Install” tab;
4. On the “Select networking Component” screen select “Protocol” double-click the > Add…” Tab;
5. On the “Select Network Protocol” screen, select “NWLink IPXSPXNetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol” and click the “OK” tab to install the protocol.
- In the above Security Policy go to Local Policies > Security Options.
Find “Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts”. Set it to “Guest Only - Local users authenticate as guest”
I DON’T RECOMMEND THIS LAST STEP. Use it as a last resort if all else fails and if it fixes your problem. Why? Because it will prevent you from controlling who can access the various resources you share. All shares will be accessible to the Guest account, meaning you can’t lock out users from anything you share.
The last two options are last resort steps to try. Many people find step 7 resolves the access issues they experience. But I think this step is simply side-stepping another issue that can usually be fixed directly with one of the other actions/changes I’ve outlined.
Let me know which, if any, of these steps fixes your access issues.
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