Files and Folders
In your computer you will find files and folders. There are many different types
of files contained in different folders. Windows operating systems represent all
files as icons. So for example, when you turn your computer on, you will see on
your screen different icons that point to different programs. These programs are
contained as files on your computer. By clicking on any of them, the program the
icon points to will be started up.
As well, all files have what is called an extension to its name. This extension
tells the computer and windows operating system what type of file it is. There
are many different types of files. For example, files with the extension exe,
com and sys are programs which you would click on to run different applications
or programs.
It is these files that do the work in your computer, and make it run. To
organize your computer, different folders are used to hold files that are
similar in nature or part of a whole software package.
By having different folders, you can organize your computer to make it easier to
find files. So if you have a lot of different photos on your computer, you could
make up a folder called Photos or something like that.
To make a new folder, left click on the mouse, either on the main screen or in a
hard disk drive or other folder. In the pop-up window, click on new then on
folder, this will make your new folder. Rename it to what you want.
Now you can place all of your different pictures into the new folder. In the
future you only have one place to look for them when you need them. When you
save them on your computer, always place them into the same folder if possible.
Some of the special folders on your computer are windows, My Documents, Program
Files and My Music.
To get to these folders, click on my computer, from there you should see an icon
with C: underneath it. Click on that icon and you will see the different folders
and files contained on your C hard disk drive (HDD). The special folders your
computer uses should be see here as well.
The windows folder contains most of the operating system and functionality of
the windows operating system. The Program Files folder is where programs you
install on your computer are placed. Click on it to open this folder, inside you
will see most of the different programs you have installed on your computer.
The My Music is a great place to keep all of your different music you have on
your computer, and the My Documents is the default folder for many different
programs.
