bainbrrw@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Robert Bainbridge) (02/23/91)
Another question, kind of retorical, about windows. Why does the delete option in Windows File Manager take so long when deleting multiple files? This is what I did: I uploaded lotsaicons.zip from cica.cica.indiana.edu. Upon unzipping it I looked through and found which ones I wanted and didn't want (there are 400+ icons!) After I found the ones I didn't want, I went to FileManager to delete them. Holding down the <Ctrl> key I selected the ones I didn't want, and then selected Delete. I deleted 270 or so. This took 1 1/2 hours!!! The icons are 766 bytes each. (oh yeah, file delete conformation was off thank god!) I realized this was outragous, and unzipped them again, and deleted 270 of them with a different File Manager I have. It took less than 10 minutes, not sure exactly I left the room. I figured something was wrong, and tried to find out why. Well, I figured that windows rereads the directory and redraws the directory on the screen after every deletion. This increases the running time to O(!n). My only question is isn't this kind of stupid?? and is Microsoft aware of it? and is there anyway around it besides not using Windows File Manager for deleting? Bob Bainbridge bainbrrw@sage.cc.purdue.edu