Microsoft is overhauling the way file operations will be handled in Windows 8 to accelerate the copying of large volumes of data and allow greater control and flexibility in file transfers.

Windows 8, which could be available as early as the first half of 2012, will feature improvements to help computer users dealing with increasingly large volumes of files, such as photos, videos and music, Microsoft said.

The company disclosed in a posting on the Building Windows 8 blog that Windows 8 will feature a unified dialogue box for all file transfer operations.

Like the download manager tools typical of web browsers, this will show the progress of multiple file operations, and provide the ability to pause, resume and stop individual file operations as necessary.

The dialog box can optionally display a real-time throughput graph for each operation in progress, giving a visual indication of what is happening with each job.

Microsoft also said that Windows 8 will make it easier to deal with file name 'collisions', when one or more files being copied has the same name as existing files in the destination folder.

Full story: V3.co.uk