Previous Section

Level Up

Next Section

Exploring Data with My Computer Application

Contents

1 Starting a Program

2 The Appearance and the View Options

3 Moving through Drives and Folders

3.1 Moving down the Tree

3.2 Moving up the Tree

3.3 Updating the List

3.4 Sorting the List

4 The Operations with Files and Folders

4.1 Open

4.2 Rename

4.3 Copy

4.4 Move

4.5 Delete

4.6 Create

5 File Properties

6 Undo an Operation

My Computer is a very easy to use system program with which you can

• view all folders and files on your computer
• start program files or open files in their proper application
• delete, rename or create new folders and files
• make shortcuts - links for files.

1 Starting a Program

It is a shortcut icon for the My Computer program on the Desktop installed by default.

To start the program:

• Press WINDOWS+D to focus the Desktop and to minimize all applications
• use ARROW keys or "M" to select My Computer in the Desktop list
• press ENTER to activate the selection.

With the mouse:

• click the Minimize button on the Title bar of the running application to show up the Desktop
• double click the My Computer icon to start it.

2 The Appearance and the View Options

My Computer consists of:

a Title bar

with the title 'My Computer' followed eventually by the full path of the currently shown folder and the standard buttons on the right side

a Menu bar

with the options:

File

Edit

View

Switch to (eventually)

Favorites (eventually)

Help

a Status bar

on the bottom displaying the amount of currently selected files/folders

and the main window area

which shows the content of the current folder.

My Computer can display file listings in different forms and with different amount of file information. You can choose one of the available options in the View sub-menu (ALT+V).

For the speech output or Braille display users we recommend one of the options List or Details.

List: ALT+V, L

Displays the items in a multi-column list of file names without any additional file information

Details: ALT+V, D

Displays items as a single-column list with additional file information

In the menu View \ Folder Options you can choose between some more presentation methods. Two of them are very important:

1. Using single or multiple window method.
   You can choose whether the contents of the next viewed folder is displayed in a new window or they are all displayed in the same single window replacing the former folder.
2. Displaying the file name extension.
   The file extension (the part of the file name starting with "." - dot) is optional. Here are some examples:

   .txt

   for text files

   .doc

   for MS Word files

   .html or .htm

   for hypertext files on the Internet (this Tutorial consists of this type of files)

   .wav

   for natural sound files

   .gif

   for picture files

   With the information about the file-extension Windows is able to look for the appropriate application to open the file. The application is associated with the file-format (showed with the file-extension). It is possible to have various files with the same name whereby only the extension makes the difference. So it is a good idea to display the file extensions, too.

3 Moving through Drives and Folders

All computer data are stored on physical media called 'drives'. The most computers have the following drives:

One or more hard disks:

The hard disk is the main storage medium where you save your programs and documents. This disk is mostly built in.
The first hard disk has the label 'C:\', the next one 'D:\', and so on. The ':' - colon is a mandatory part of this label.

A floppy disk drive

Label 'A:\'.
Floppy disks are portable disks where you can store a small amount of data. On this way you can easily transfer data from one computer to the other.

A CD-ROM drive

In this drive you can insert Compact Disks. This medium can store a big amount of data. Almost all software is distributed nowadays on CDs.

Logical drives:

If your computer is connected to a local area network (LAN) in a firm or organization, you can map the drives from the remote computers as your own drives.

All accessible data on your computer are structured in a symbolic tree. The root of this tree is the top level list of drives in My Computer. At this level the Title bar displays only 'My Computer'.

A data tree is, other than a real tree top-down designed. The roots are on its top and you have to go down the tree to arrive at its branches and leaves.

The root of the data tree is the topmost list of all accessible drives, its branches are the drives and folders and its leaves are the files.

3.1 Moving down the Tree

To display in My Computer the drive or folder list:

select a single drive or folder

press ENTER

With the mouse:

Double click the corresponding folder or drive icon

3.2 Moving up the Tree

to display the list of the parent folder or drive:

press BACKSPACE

With the mouse:

Click the folder Upwards button on the Tool bar.

3.3 Updating the List

After you changed the floppy disk in drive A:\ or run a process that wrote new files to a folder, you have to update the list. This operation is generally called Refreshing the window.

To refresh the window in My Computer: Press F5

With the mouse:

In the Main Menu click View

click Refresh

3.4 Sorting the List

You can choose to view the folders and files sorted by name, size, or date.

To sort the list:

press ALT+V, A

Menu option: View \ Arrange Icons

select an item.

With the mouse:

Click a list header:

Name, Size or Date to arrange the list according to it.

4 The Operations with Files and Folders

My Computer program displays items - files and folders - as a list view. For the most operations you have first to select one or more files or folders on which you wish to execute an action.

The execution of all following operations except the creating of new files and folders requires one or more items in the list to be selected before.

4.1 Open

 

select an item

press ENTER

With the mouse:

Click an item to select it

Double click the corresponding file/folder icon.

• On a folder this opens the folder and displays the new contents.
• On a document file this opens the file in the application which created it or which is registered to open it.
• On a program file this executes a program.

4.2 Rename

 

Select an item

press F2 or ALT+F, M

edit the name

then press ENTER.

With the mouse:

Click an item to select it

click the selected item again to open the Edit field

edit the name

press ENTER.

4.3 Copy

To copy one or more files or folders from one location to another:

select the item(s)

press CONTROL+C

to copy the item to the Clipboard

find the desired destination

press CONTROL+V

to paste the copy of the item(s) here

or press ALT+E, S - Edit menu \ Paste Shortcut option

to paste only a shortcut to the item rather than an actual copy of it.

With the mouse:

select the item(s)

click the Copy button on the Tool bar,

to copy the item to the Clipboard

find the desired destination

click the Paste button on the Tool bar

to paste the copy of the item(s) here

or click Edit \ Paste Shortcut

to paste only a shortcut to the item rather than an actual copy of it.

4.4 Move

To move one or more files or folders from one location to another:

select the item(s)

press CONTROL+X

to cut the item(s) to the Clipboard

find the desired destination

press CONTROL+V

to paste the copy of the item(s) here

or press ALT+E, S - Edit menu \ Paste Shortcut option

to paste only a shortcut to the item rather than an actual copy of it to the selected location.

With the mouse:

select the item(s)

click the Cut button on the Tool bar

to cut the item(s) to the Clipboard

find the desired destination

click the Paste button on the Tool bar

to paste the copy of the item(s) here

or click Edit \ Paste Shortcut

to paste only a shortcut to the item rather than an actual copy of it.

4.5 Delete

To delete one or more files and folders:

select item(s)

press the DELETE key

the Delete Files Confirmation dialog appears with the text: 'Are you sure you want to send the item to the Recycle Bin (press Y for Yes, or N for No)'.

press Y or ENTER

to confirm the deletion.
The items are cut from the original location and saved into the Recycle Bin folder from where they can be restored.

Press N or ESCAPE

to cancel the command.

With the mouse:

select items

click the Delete button on the Tool bar

the Delete Files Confirmation dialog appears.

click Yes

to confirm the deletion.
The items are cut from the original location and saved into the Recycle Bin.

click No

to cancel the command.

If you want to delete items without saving them in the Recycle Bin, halt SHIFT while pressing DELETE or clicking the Delete button. So deleted files can not be restored.

4.6 Create

To create a new file or folder:

Open drive or folder you want to create the new item in

press ALT+F, W - File menu \ New option

A simple list pops up where you can choose what type of object you want to create:

• Folder
• Shortcut
• Empty file for various installed applications as
  • Text document
  • LaTeX source file
  • Microsoft Word document.

Edit the name.

The Naming Edit Box appears with a default name which you have to change to fit your wishes.

5 File Properties

File properties are as follows:

• which application will open it
• full path to the folder the file is in
• the size of the file in bytes
• the date of the creation
• the date of the last change
• the date of the last opening.

With the Menu option: View \ Details checked you can see some of these properties shown in the files/folders list.

To display the full extent of properties:

Select files

press ALT+ENTER

Properties Sheet dialog box appears.

press ENTER or ESCAPE

to close the box after viewing which will confirm or cancel the changes you eventually have made.

With the mouse:

Select file(s)

click the Properties button on the Tool bar.

Properties Sheet dialog box appears.

click OK or Cancel

to close the box after viewing which will confirm or cancel the changes you eventually have made.

You can undo up to 10 file or folder operations in succession.

If you have moved, copied, pasted or renamed files or folders and want to reverse your changes and return items to their original state, you can use the Undo command.

To Undo a File Operation:

press CONTROL+Z or ALT+E, U - Menu option: Edit \ Undo

Undo will be called:

• Undo Rename
• Undo Copy
• Undo Move,

depending on the last command executed.

 

Comments

 

If you have comments, suggestions or a bug report for the supporting team concerning this Tutorial section, please fill in the following form:

 

Sender's Name:

E-mail address:

Type of the Comment:  A mistake on the page Staff Suggestion Addition Suggestion Something Else

Comment:

   

 

Previous Section

Level Up

Next Section