Computer Lesson 3

Lesson 3, Organizing Your Computer
Jay D Weaver
Organizing your data: Data should be kept separate from the programs except in a few rare instances. To my knowledge, Quicken does not allow you to set up your data any place but with the program. A convenient place for storing data is in the folder “My Documents”. This is that folder which has a little piece of paper sticking out the top. It is located in your Windows folder. You can move it to any location you like. It would be preferable to have it as a folder in your “root” directory. Then it is easier to find.

Within that folder you can create separate folders for the various applications. You should also create a shortcut on your desktop for “My Documents”. That way if you want to open any document, you can simply browse through “My Documents”, and double click on the file you want, and the appropriate program will open it.

The reason for all this is obvious. If you have files containing various pieces of data such as letters, photos, essays, etc. scattered throughout your program folders, you’ll never be able to find them. Secondly, if you want to uninstall a program, you will lose all those files which you worked so hard to create.

When you name folders and files, use names which you will understand 6 months from now. You might also include dates in your file names. E.G. You write a letter to Uncle Joe about his upcoming visit on Feb. 27, 1999. A good name for the file would be “Uncle Joe visit 023799.wps” (Your word processor assigns the 3-letter extension.)

Assignment: If you want to move it, use cut and paste, or use drag and drop to move your folder “My Documents” from c:\Windows directly to the c:\ drive. Create or update a shortcut for it on the desktop. Set up folders for the various applications and transfer the data files you have saved to those folders. You can also put sub-folders in some of your folders. For example, you want a folder for your word processor. You might make sub-folders for letters, poems, etc. If your storage of data is a real mess, this is a long-term project. It will be necessary for you to search for the particular 3-letter extensions in each application to find your stuff.

Organizing your Start Menu: The problem is that you probably have way too many items in your start menu. It is hard to work with them when they cover your screen when you click “Programs” in the Start Menu.
1. Click on Start, Settings, and then Task Bar and Start Menu.
2. Click on the tab “Start Menu Programs” and then on the button “Advanced”.
3. You should now see a window entitled “Exploring-Start Menu. There are two panes in that window. On the left you should see the word “Programs” with a plus sign to the left. Click on that plus sign.
4. Now you will see a list of folders in the left pane. If you single click on any of them, you will see folders and icons appear in the right pane. Some of the folders on the left may have plus signs in front. If you click on those, the sub-folders will appear. This can go on until you have displayed every folder in the left window.
5. Suppose you have several programs that work with finances. Highlight programs and create a new folder called Finances. You do this by right-clicking on the right pane, and selecting New and Folders. When the new folder comes up, rename it as “Finances”.
6. Re-highlight “Programs” in the left pane. Simply drag all the folders in the right pane that have programs dealing with finances over unto the folder called “Finances” in the left pane.

Assignment: Create new folders in the Start Menu for various categories and drag and drop various programs into them. Usually each application has several items in their folders. Keep those in the folders. Simply drag the whole folder over. That way everything for a certain application is still together in one list. Some examples of categories I use are “Office Stuff”, “Graphics and Scanning Programs”, “Financial Programs”, “Internet & Online”, “Multimedia”, “System Stuff”, “Tools”, Accessories”, etc.
It’s your computer, organize it the way it is most convenient for you. Try to set it up so that there are not too many items in each list and yet not too many nested lists. This takes a little trial and error to find a good balance. I think a limit of 10-15 items on a list is a good starting point. I would suggest making a few changes and going back to the Start Button and checking them out before you make a lot of changes. When you are finished, simply click the window closed. Your changes will be automatically saved.

Organizing Your Disk Space: Most Applications including Windows have folders already chosen in which to install their stuff. It is usually best to go along with the choices they offer. The only time I would use something different is if my main disk is full and I wanted to install the application on another drive.

There are other things you want to store on your hard drive. Most of these things would be saved in folders under “My Documents”. For example besides data and results from applications, you need a folder in which to store downloaded stuff until you have properly disposed of it. I would name this folder “Download”. If you always download into that folder, you know exactly where to find it. Incidentally if you download stuff, most of it is compacted into Zip files. You will probably need a program to unzip them. A good one is Winzip. You should regularly move the stuff you have downloaded into their own folders. You might have one for Clip Art, one for Photos, one for saved pages from web sites, etc. These should all be in your “My Documents” folder.

Another major folder should be one in which you store backups that are made on a daily basis. Such things as Quicken, etc. which should really be backed up every time an entry is made. Then once a week, backup to an external medium. If your computer has 2 physical drives, put the “Backup” folder on the other drive. That way if you have a “head crash” on your main drive, your data is safe on the other drive. Programs can always be re-installed. When you lose data files, they are gone forever. That’s why they should be backed up. Store all your backups of data in this folder. If it is on your “C” drive, by all means, backup at least once a week onto an external medium. Either tape, or a Zip drive, or an LS-120 drive is necessary for stuff that is too big for floppy disks. You might also consider installing a second hard drive. That is the cheapest form of mass storage. However, really critical files should still be backed up externally. Who knows when the lightning might zap your computer. We will discuss “Full System Backups” during the last class.

This is one advantage for having all your data files in “My Documents”. To back up your data, simply copy the whole folder over onto external storage media.
Using Data Files to Create Shortcuts for Applications: Suppose you have a calendar program that has your information installed in a file called “mycal.cms”. Every time you use your calendar program, you have to first open the file “mycal.cms”. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an icon on the desktop to simply click and open the program with the file in it together. You can do this. Instead of creating a shortcut for the program, create it for the data file. You can even use the program to get the icon for the shortcut. Here’s how to do it. Let’s use the Calendar Program in Windows as an example.
1. Create a folder in “My Documents” called “Windows Calendar”.
2. Run the Calendar Program from the Start Menu. It is found under “Accessories”. Enter something on today’s date. and do a “save as” to “mycal.cal”.
3. Close the calendar program and right click on the desktop. Choose New and Shortcut and browse to the file “mycal.cal”. Name it My Calendar and click OK.
4. You now have a shortcut on your desktop. When you click it will open the Windows Calendar Program and have it open automatically to mycal.cal.
5. To give it the proper icon, right click on the icon. Left click on “properties” and click the button “Change Icon.”
6. Browse to the file “Calendar.exe” in the Windows folder. Click on it. and click on open. Then click OK twice. Wa-la you have a nice icon of the calendar on your desktop.
7. Double-click on your brand new shortcut and you have exactly what you want.

Assignment: Do the above yourself.

Setting Up the Options for the Windows under “My Computer”. First, put a toolbar on the top if you do not already have it. This is very useful. Second, be sure that all extensions are visible and that all files are displayed. This is the only way you can be sure everything is Hunkey-Dorey. Third, be sure that Auto-arrange is checked. This keeps your icons in nice order. Learn how to use the various options for arranging the files in the display for various purposes. There are some major differences between W95 and W98 on the view of windows under “My Computer”.

Assignment: Try out the various options and see how they work.

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