Computer Lesson 2

Lesson 2, Working With Files, Folders, and Paths
Jay D Weaver

Quick Review of files, folders, and paths.
1) Think of a file as a sheet of paper, or a document stapled together.
2) Think of a folder as a manila file folder.
3) In this filing system you may put folders and/or files inside folders.
4) Think of each hard drive as a drawer in your filing cabinet. It can contain folders or individual files.
a) Just as in a file cabinet, you can use different hard drives (drawers) for different purposes.
b) You can even name them similar to the way you put labels on the front of the file drawers.
5) Think of all your hard drives together as the filing cabinet.
6) A path is simply a list of the order in which you open folders to get to your file. The path begins with the letter of the drive the file is on. For example: The file "mshearts.exe" has the following path: C:\Windows\mshearts.exe. Another example; if you had the file Johnny.jpg in the folder "family" in the folder "photos" in the folder "mystuff" on drive D, it would have the path, d:\mystuff\photos\family\Johnny.jpg

Browsing to locations on your hard drive, using MY COMPUTER.
1) Double Click on My Computer.
2) Double Click on the drive you want to work on.
3) Double Click on any folder you would like to select, until you have located the file you want. You may have to use scroll bars to find the file you want.
4) Once you have found the file you want, you can then delete it, copy it, rename it, run it, open it, or perform any other task you have in mind. To run it or open it, you may double click, otherwise, simply singe click and highlight it. Then select the task to perform.
5) To rename the folder or file, you click on the box with the name, then click again. The name will now be highlighted, and the cursor is blinking. Simply type in the new name, the old one will disappear, and the new one will be created.
a) All file names have extensions. Change extensions with care. You may destroy the utility of the file by changing the extension.
b) If you do not see extensions, you can display them as follows:
1) Double Click on My Computer
2) Click View menu
3) Click on Folders
4) Click View tab at top of panel.
5) Uncheck "Hide all extensions" (This is preferred)
6) While you are there, put check on "Show all Files" (So is this)

Browsing for folders and files with Open, Save, Save as, etc.
When using some program in which you can open or save data files,
1) Click on File menu. (upper left corner of window)
2) Select open, save, or save as (whichever you want to do.)
3)When window opens, you can select the drive you want by clicking on the little arrow to the right of that slot at the top of the window.
4)Step by step select the folder you want by either double-clicking it or by highlighting it and clicking on "Open" or "OK".
5)Once you have found your file, do the same as in step 4.
6) What is the difference between "save" and "save as". You always use "save as" unless you want to resave a file with the same name and location.
a) When you use "save", it will save the file under an existing name and at the existing location.
b) When you use "save as", you will be given the option of browsing to the location you desire and naming the file as you will.
c) In most programs it is unnecessary to type in the extension. There is usually a choice available under the slot where you type the file name. Select the form you want to use.

Creating new folders.
1) Using "My Computer", browse to the drive or folder in which you want to create the new folder.
2) Right click your mouse on the open window.
3) On the popup menu, select "NEW" (just like when you create a shortcut)
4) Select folder instead of shortcut.
5) A new folder will appear with the name new folder. Notice the cursor is still blinking in the box, and the box is highlighted. Simply type in the name you want to use.

Deleting a file or folder.
1) Whenever the folder or file is visible, click on it to highlight it. On the FILE menu, select delete and it is gone. You might also have a symbol on the tool bar which you can use to delete it. You can also right click on it and click on delete on the popup menu.
2) You can use the right click method to delete a file or folder in the "open" and "save" windows.
3) If you should accidentally delete a folder or file by mistake, do not panic. Remember it is still in the recycle bin. Simply double-click the "RECYCLE BIN" icon on your desktop. You will see the file or folder listed there. Highlight it and click on restore from the file menu or from the right-click popup menu. The file or folder will go back to where it was before you deleted it. (Nb: If it is not in the recycle bin, you didn't delete it. You might have accidentally moved it somewhere else.)
4) Periodically, (like at least once a week), you should open your recycle bin and see if there is anything that should be restored. If so, restore it. When you are sure there is nothing you want, click on File menu, and then on "Empty Recycle Bin."

Assignments:
1) Creating New Folders
1) Double-click on My Computer.
2) Click on C: drive.
3) Right click on open window, and from the popup menu, select NEW and then "folder". Rename the new folder with the name "mystuff".

2) Using the Open, Save and Save as features.
1) Click on Start button, programs, accessories, and Word Pad. (This will open Word Pad)
2) In the body, type the phrase "This is my first try."
3) Click File and then "save as". When the save window opens up, browse to folder c:\mystuff and type the name as "trial". (be sure the extension chosen is .doc). Now exit "Word Pad."
4) Use my computer to find c:\mystuff\trial.doc
5) Double click on it. This should open Word Pad with trial.doc opened in the body of the word processor.
6) Highlight the word first and type second.
7) Click File and save. Exit Word Pad and then use Start, programs, accessories, to again open it.
8) Click file and open, when the window comes up, select the file "trial.doc"
9) Notice that it now has the sentence of the revised version.
10) Change the word "second" to the word "third".
11) This time use "save as" to save it in the folder "mystuff" as "newtrial.doc".
12) There are now two files in the folder "mystuff", namely "trial.doc" and "newtrial.doc".
13) Using My Computer, browse to "mystuff" and check it out. You can verify by double-clicking on these files and seeing what is in them.

Deleting files and folders.
1) Find "trial" in "mystuff" and double-click.
2) Your word processor should have the sentence displayed, "This is my second try".
3) Click on FILE menu and then open. When the open window comes up, find "mystuff". You should now see "trial.doc" and "newtrial.doc".
4) Right-click on "newtrial.doc" and when the popup menu appears, click "delete."
5) Now you should only see "trial.doc."
6) Exit Word Pad.
7) Using My Computer, find the folder "mystuff". Open it. Highlight "trial.doc" and delete it.
8) Using My Computer, Double-click on C: drive. Find the folder "mystuff" and delete it.
9) Go to the Recycle Bin.
10) Among other stuff you may have there, you will find the folder "mystuff". Highlight it and click "restore".
11) Now do the same thing to the two files, "trial.doc" and "newtrial.doc"
12) Use My Computer to verify that these items have been restored.
13) If you want to get rid of them, delete them again.
(If it has been a long time since you emptied your recycle bin, now is a good time to do it.)

Return to Computer Goodies