Computer Information Technology – Section 4

Desktop and Taskbar Objective: To know to create and change files and folders.

Viewing Files and Folders Two types of windows: My Computer and Explorer. Most tasks dealing with files and folders can be done using either type of window.

My Computer

The default My Computer view has two panes.  On the left is a set of Common Tasks that are often used on whatever kind of objects that are in the right pane. The list of tasks changes to fit the kind of objects shown in the right pane.  The right pane shows your drives, folders, and files. The default view uses Icons arranged by name, in alphabetical order going across the pane. The selected area of your computer shows in the Address bar.

Explorer

An Explorer view shows two panes.  The left pane contains the folder tree, which shows visually how the drives and folders are related to each other.  The right pane shows the contents of the drive or folder that is selected on the left. You can switch between My Computer and Explorer views in the same window, using the Folders button.

Explorer means that the drive or folder has subfolders in it. means that this drive or folder has been expanded in the folder tree, to display all its subfolders. The name of the selected drive or folder shows in the Address bar. In the case of a folder, the icon will change to an open folder.

Folder View Styles Using a different style can give you different information on the files and folders. The different styles are:

Thumbnails Big icons or thumbnails of images. Alphabetical across columns. Folders that have images in them will display up to 4 thumbnails on the folder, like the one at the top right of the illustration.

Tiles Alphabetical across columns. Beside each file icon is information about the file. What information depends on how you are sorting in this view.

Icons Alphabetical across columns.

List Alphabetical down the column. You can see many more items with this view. It is more natural to alphabetize down the column.

Details Alphabetical down the column. The default details are:  Name  Size  File type  Date modified

Sorting in the Detail View Normally the items in the right pane are sorted alphabetically by name, with folders being listed first. You can sort based on the name, the size, the type, or the date modified. These are the column titles in the right pane in Details view. You can just click on a column title to sort. Click again to reverse the sort.

Sorting in the Detail View Normally the items in the right pane are sorted alphabetically by name, with folders being listed first. You can sort based on the name, the size, the type, or the date modified. These are the column titles in the right pane in Details view. You can just click on a column title to sort. Click again to reverse the sort.

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