Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101 Logo:Jegsworks Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101
Home > Lessons > Jan's CompLit 101 > Working with Windows > Files & Folders

Jan's Working with Windows:

       Project 2: Files & Folders

Lesson Objectives

  • Know parts of the windows that show files and folders
  • Understand the folder tree
  • Manage the display of files and folders in the window
  • Create a folder
  • Open a file from the window
  • Copy, move, rename, delete, and undelete files and folders
  • Open an application using a shortcut or from the display of folders and files
  • Save a file with a proper and useful name
  • Understand 8.3 filenames
  • Use Open and Save As dialog boxes
  • Use removable media
  • Create a backup
  • Use Print Preview
  • Print a document
  • Use Search to locate a file

In the Windows Basics lessons you learned how to get around the Windows interface, using the mouse, menus, and the keyboard. You opened some applications and managed their windows. You created a drawing (though it might not have qualified as ART!). But when you closed Paint, your drawing was lost. How sad!

Next you need to learn how to save your work and keep track of where all that saved work is. That requires an understanding of the rules Windows uses to manage files and the folders they are stored in.

Basic Terms

File: 

Each document, whether it is a plain text file Icon for text file or a letter in Word Word document or music Icon for midi file  or the directions for a program Icon for program file, is called a file.

Folder: 

Files are grouped together in foldersOpen folder icon Icon: Folder (Vista), also called directories by folks who are used to certain other operating systems.

Disk/ Drive:

Technically, a disk is a circular object on which you store your files and a drive is the device that reads from and writes to storage media, including disks. Often these words are used as though they were the same thing. In addition, some 'drives' are not discs at all, like flash drives.

Your files and folders are stored on a Hard drive hard disk on your computer or on a Icon: Networkd drive network drive, or on some kind of removable media like a floppy disk Floppy drive in Win98, a CD or DVD CD drive,a USB drive Icon: Flash drive, or another kind of removable disk.

A large hard disk can be divided into several logical drives to make the space easier to work with and maintain. Older operating systems cannot handle drives larger than 2 GB unless they are divided up this way.

Drives are named with a letter plus a colon.

A:    The floppy drive is normally A: and a second floppy drive is B:. (In the olden days my family's first computer was tops - a dual floppy computer!)

C:    The hard drive is C:, if you only have one hard drive.

D:    Your CD or DVD drive uses the first letter after all of your hard drives, so it will be D: if you only have one hard disk.

Network drives are usually further down the alphabet, like M: or O:.

USB drives and other removable drives are assigned a letter when they are connected. Those letters can be reused by a different device as you plug in and remove various storage devices.

Path:

The drive and folders you must go through to get to the folder or file that you want is called the path. A path always starts with a drive letter.

Examples:
The path C:\Windows\notepad.exe  is to the file that starts Notepad.
The path C:\Program Files\Internet Explorerleads to the folder that holds Internet Explorer's program files.

Each program you have on your computer created a set of files and folders on your hard drive when it was installed, including Windows itself. You can create your own files and folders, too. The first task is to learn how these are arranged on your computer and how to view that arrangement. Then you can learn how to save your own files and create your own folders.