Chapter 7: Using Files and Folders

Chapter Introduction

Computers are tools for working with information--creating it, accessing it, and rearranging it. Windows stores information in files and organizes those files into folders. Everything you do with your computer involves files and folders.

This chapter describes the basic file-and-folder skills you need to operate your computer. The next chapter discusses the longer-term issues involved in managing your files efficiently. This chapter explains the anatomy of the Explorer windows in which you manipulate files and folders, and their toolbars. It tells how to use Windows Explorer to create, select, name, open, move, copy, and delete files and folders. You also learn the easiest ways to undo or recover from common mistakes, as well as how to burn your own CDs.

This chapter assumes you are working with the default settings of Windows Explorer--the way Windows Explorer works before you change anything. The next chapter covers how to adjust Windows Explorer to suit your tastes and habits.