Copy and Move Files Faster in Vista With TeraCopy

If you like the thrill of running pre-release software, and want to see if Service Pack 1 will solve your file management woes, you can check out our article on How to Install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate. If not, a utility you may find useful for copying and moving files is TeraCopy. TeraCopy is a small, free program that works on both Windows XP and Windows Vista, and its sole purpose is to copy files fast with a minimum amount of fuss. To get started, download TeraCopy from Code Sector and install it.

Once installed, TeraCopy is super-easy to use. It automatically replaces Windows' default copy and move functions, meaning you don't have to do anything different to transfer files than you did before. In addition to being faster, TeraCopy has additional features Windows' built-in copy and move functions lack. You can Pause operations, and there's a Skip button to allow you to skip over particular files. You can also expand the dialog with the More button to see a list of all of the files that have been transfered and which are queued to be transferred.

If you don't like TeraCopy taking over Windows' built-in functions, you can turn off this behavior by launching TeraCopy from the Start menu, clicking on the Menu button and then Options..., and then unchecking the "Use TeraCopy as default copy handler" option. Thereafter in order to use TeraCopy you can launch it from the Start menu or right-click on the files you want to transfer and click on TeraCopy...

The basic version of TeraCopy is free and has no nags apart from an unobtrusive "Get Pro Version" link. If you want a bit more functionality, you can purchase the Pro version for $19.95 at the Code Sector site, which allows you to select files by extension or folder and selectively remove files from the queue, and comes with live online tech support.