Phlox: use “f2″ in XP to rename files without overwriting file extensions
Phlox is a small program for Windows XP that runs in the background and tweaks the "f2" button when used to rename a file in Windows XP, such as to select only the file name without the extension (similar to Windows Vista).
If you read the description above and did not understand what this program does, consider the following:
- The function in question is clicking "f2" while a file is selected (and assuming the file extension is visible and not hidden). In XP this will select the file name including the extension to allow easy renaming (try it and see). In Vista it behaves a little differently whereby the file name is selected but the extension is not, making it possible to type in a new name without over-writing the extension.
- Phlox provides this same behavior as in Vista when pressing f2 in XP.
More notes on this program:
- Can be enabled and disabled through the program’s icon in the system tray.
- While it works really well in general, I noticed at times that it becomes less responsive and might stop working and require a program restart (a bug, perhaps?)
- Memory use: approx 5 megs. Not a lot, but it seems that something like this should have been smaller.
Wish list:
- The ability to hide the program icon in the system tray.
- Bugfix: for those occasions where it seems to stop working, mentioned above.
The verdict: if you’ve known about this function in Vista, (or Mac or Linux OS’s) and thought that it would be useful, well… there you have it. My only criticism is the 5 megs in memory, not because it is a lot necessarily but because it may be big enough for many people to choose to opt out. (If you use Autohotkey, you might want to look into the Autohotkey script mentioned here that does the same thing as Phlox).
I’ve had this program installed on my machine for 24 hours now and I must say that after a while using f2 starts becoming second nature (and is rather useful).
Version Tested: 1.0
Compatibility: Windows XP.
Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 461K).
No… In XP it does select all the filename including the extension…
The installer doesn’t work for non-administrator Windows accounts…which sucks
I wonder why developers make stupid installer for small programs (like this one), rather than provide a standalone exe
I guess they make installer for a program like this to put easily the application in the start group. Most users doesn’t know how to do it.
I remember that qttabbar had also that function, among others, but it is bad in memory and cpu usage.
Should be much much smaller indeed. As an example currently for me Directory Opus 8 is using 1.2mb(this of course goes up though depending on what you are doing, but only upto around 9mb if i open a stack of listers) Physical mem, does what this does and has a bazillion(slight exhaggeration) other features as well.
Nuff Said.
I think ‘pitachios’ has that feature.
[...] Windows XP only: Free system utility Phlox has a single, small purpose, but it’s one that’s caused certain people to hunt down free ways to get Vista’s features into XP. That feature is a smarter renaming scheme, one that doesn’t make you re-type the file’s extension just to change its name. Hit the F2 key on a file, and it does its advertised job. As the FreewareGenius blog points out, however, it uses about 5MB of memory to get the job done, so fans of scripting utility AutoHotKey can get the same feature, or check out system-wide tweakers in Adam’s XP-like-Vista guide that do the same. Phlox is a free download for Windows systems only. Phlox [MysterCrowley via FreewareGenius.com] [...]
ah the joy of not using the old buggy & slow explorer… with xyplorer i have this implemented for years! as well as using keys up or down to loose selection and get cursor at begin or end of filename (extension excluded, of course), so easy to add suffix that way!
>I guess they make installer for a program like this to put easily the application in the start group. Most users doesn’t know how to do it.
You don’t need install for that, there are some single-executable programs that simply offer you to create shortcuts and such on first run. Works great.
Woah. Uses way too much memory for what it does.
Also, xplorer2 lite has this function built in, and is a pretty good explorer replacement.
I confirm that pitaschio (http://pitaschio.ara3.net/) provides this funcionality — among many others — for a measly 2.2 MB memory footprint.
a utility that you have to keep in memory all the time just for doing that? Seems a waist to me.
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[...] verdict: this program is from the same guy who wrote Phlox,which I reviewed previously. I didn’t think much of it when I first saw it but since then I [...]