1. Practical PC, 7 th Edition Chapter 4: File Basics

2. File Basics FAQs – What is a computer file? – What are file properties and tags? – What do I need to know about file names and extensions? – How do I open data files? – How does Windows know which application to use when I open a file? – How do I create and save files? Technology: Hard disk drives 2Practical PC, 7th Edition

3. What is a computer file? A computer file is a collection of data that has a name and is stored on a hard disk or portable media Two types of files: executable and data – Executable file Computer program containing instructions written in a programming language – Data file Contains words, numbers, and pictures that can be manipulated, i.e., a word processing document Practical PC, 7th Edition3

4. What is a computer file? Practical PC, 7th Edition4 Figure 4-1

5. What are file properties and tags? Every file has file properties that describe its name, type, location, and size Additional properties are assigned to certain types of files – JPEG files have a dimensions property – Music files have a length property Properties and tags can generally be viewed from the operating system’s file manager – Utility for Windows 8 is called File Explorer Practical PC, 7th Edition5

6. What are file properties and tags? Practical PC, 7th Edition6

7. What is a file? Practical PC 6th Edition

8. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? Every computer file has a file name – Effective file names describe their contents – File names in Windows are not case sensitive – Some words and symbols cannot be used in file names Practical PC, 7th Edition8 Figure 4-3

9. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? A file extension is a set of characters added to a file name to indicate the file’s contents and origin – Windows does not display file extensions by default – Software automatically adds the correct file extension when a file is saved Practical PC, 7th Edition9

10. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? Practical PC, 7th Edition10 Figure 4-4

11. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? – Operating systems usually hide file extensions because novice users find them confusing Files extensions can be easily revealed Practical PC, 7th Edition11

12. What do I need to know about file names? Practical PC 6th Edition

13. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? Practical PC, 7th Edition13

14. What do I need to know about file names and extensions? Practical PC, 7th Edition14 – Windows displays a file type (or file format) based on the extension Figure 4-6

15. How do I open data files? Open files from: – Start screen Practical PC, 7th Edition15 Figure 4-7

16. How do I open data files? – Desktop Double-click file’s icon – Application software Use the Open command – File Explorer Practical PC, 7th Edition16

17. How does Windows know which application to use when I click a file? Windows keeps a list of file types and their corresponding default programs – A default application is the one Windows uses when a particular type of file is opened XLSX file type identifies an Excel file – The link between a file type and its default application is sometimes called a file association Practical PC, 7th Edition17

18. How do I open files? To view or modify a file, you have to first open it – Open command in application software – Double-click icon on Windows desktop – Type all or part of a file name in the Start menu’s Search box – Click a file located on the application’s jump list on the Start menu Practical PC 6th Edition

19. How do I open files? Practical PC 6th Edition

20. How does Windows know which application to use when I click a file? – You can open files using an application other than the default by: Right-clicking the file name and selecting the Open with option Changing the default application that Windows uses Practical PC, 7th Edition20

21. How does Windows know which application to use when I click a file? Practical PC, 7th Edition21 Figure 4-9

22. How do I create and save files? The most common way to create files is by using application software – Click New to open the work area – Enter desired data – When ready to save, use Save or Save As to give the file a name and specify a storage location Practical PC, 7th Edition22 Figure 4-10

23. How do I create and save files? – Save As also allows user to save a file using a different name or in a different place while retaining the original file – Once a file has been named, using Save will replace the currently saved version of the document with the new version Practical PC, 7th Edition23

24. How do I create and save files? Practical PC, 7th Edition24 Figure 4-11

25. How do I create and save files? Practical PC 6th Edition

26. Technology: Hard Disk Drives A hard disk is a circular, rigid storage medium typically made of aluminum or glass and coated with metallic particles –The hard disks and their read/write heads are stored inside the drive and are called platters –Most PCs have two to four platters Practical PC, 7th Edition26

27. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Practical PC, 7th Edition27

28. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Hard disk drives use magnetic storage technology – Utilizes a read/write head that magnetizes tiny metallic particles on the disk’s surface – Is fast and inexpensive Typical hard drives hold 500 GB of data—500 billion letters, numbers, symbols They can fill up quickly – Access time How long it takes the read/write head to locate and retrieve data from the disk—average is about 9 milliseconds Practical PC, 7th Edition28

29. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Drive icon’s Property window – Shows how much used/free space is on the hard drive Practical PC, 7th Edition29

30. Technology: Hard Disk Drives External hard disk drives – Connect to a USB port – Best option for portable and all-in-one computers – Can be used to transport large amounts of data from computer to computer – Cost a little bit more than a hard drive Practical PC, 7th Edition30

31. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Hard disk drive efficiency – Decreases over time – Each disk is divided into tracks – Each track is divided into sectors Each sector is a fixed size PC must use more than one sector for large files and sometimes those sectors are non-adjacent sectors This can result in data being scattered all over the disk A file stored in non-adjacent sectors is referred to as a fragmented file Practical PC, 7th Edition31

32. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Hard disk drive efficiency continued: – A disk containing many fragmented sectors is known as a fragmented disk and is not operating at peak efficiency – Run a defragmentation utility to reorganize the disk and put data for each file in adjacent sectors This enables the read/write head to locate and retrieve the data much more quickly Practical PC, 7th Edition32

33. Technology: Hard Disk Drives Practical PC, 7th Edition33

34. Hardware: Hard disk drives Practical PC 6th Edition