This is one of the most useful tips I’ve found on CNET yet, and I’ve been through just about all of them. (Feel free to recommend a hobby, as clearly I’m in need of suggestions.)

“Unless you really have a lot of time on your hands, I doubt you want to go through the massive folder that contains your European vacation photos and rename them Europe_1.jpg, Europe_2.jpg, and so on down the line. If you're running Windows XP on your computer, you don't have to do this. Simply apply this hack to quickly apply a meaningful label to every picture in the folder.

• First, open the folder and select View > Thumbnails.
• Click the last picture in the folder you want to rename, hold down the Shift key, and click the first picture; this will select them all.
• Right-click the first photo, and select Rename from the drop-down menu.

Windows XP will highlight the filename for the first photo, enabling you to give it a descriptive name. After you type in the name, click the white space outside of the photo and watch as Windows applies the name with a sequential number to each picture in the folder.”

Photo CC 2.0, Foraggio Fotographic