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STEP 2: CREATING A FOLDER IN WINDOWS EXPLORER, DESKTOP CLUTTERED WITH ICONS, DOWNLOADING, FINDING A FILE, ERRORS, CONTROL PANEL
 

 
CREATING A FOLDER IN WINDOWS EXPLORER
  1. Open Windows Explorer
  2. Click on File
  3. Click New
  4. Click Folder
An icon will appear on the right side labeled new folder, it is enclosed within a box and flashing. This allows for typing the title label of the folder with any title you wish. Just start typing and it will be named. When finished naming the new folder exit out of Windows Explorer. When you reopen the program your new folder will now be displayed on the left-hand side, in alphabetical order. See: DOWNLOADING, SAVING GRAPHICS, and WINDOWS EXPLORER.
DESKTOP CLUTTERED WITH ICONS
I have downloaded fine art to use as Screen Savers and the Wallpaper on my desktop, from www.secondnaturecd.com, (Charge a small fee for each of 140 different collection CDs, like as nature, space, sports, pop art…). The company donates all after-tax profits to The Nature Conservancy. A personal preference is to view a painting not icons, but still have the shortcuts to access the programs, available readily from the desktop, I created a folder to keep most of them in. (Some icons will not allow movement into a folder especially Microsoft OSs).

To do this, point your cursor at any spot that does not presently contain an icon and click the right mouse button. Click on New, then Folder, and then name the new folder anything you wish. You can then start dragging the desktop items in there. When you want to load a program, just click on your folder, and then click on the program you wish to start. If you don’t close the file on the desktop, it will be visible on the task bar. To access another program without going back to the desktop simply click on the task bar. (See CONTROL PANEL, DISPLAY).
DOWNLOADING
Downloading is copying a file; it can be text, sounds, graphics, or a combination thereof from another computer or network to yours. Files can be downloaded from the Internet, LANs, WANs, or e-mail. Before downloading from the Internet read the instructions provided by the website that sometimes program instillation is necessary thus; finding and running a file can be required. This type of file usually has an extension of .exe, which is the set of commands the computer needs to make the program operate.

 
  1. Click on Download, a dialog box will appear asking you where you wish to download the file.
  2. This dialog box contains a default location telling you where the file will be stored on your computer. It is important to remember this location if you wish to find the file later without doing a search. You may also change the default location to any folder on the hard drive or in many cases a floppy disk. (In cases where you can’t download to the floppy, you can later move or copy the file to the floppy disk using Windows Explorer and delete it from your hard drive). Generally, the default location is the most logical place to put the file.
  3. It is important to download certain types of files to the right place in order for them to work the way you wish them to. For example in America Online (an Information Service Provider), if you download a sound file the default location will be America Online/download, which means that it will go to the sub folder of Download in the main America Online folder. The sound file that you downloaded will now open and play from Windows Explorer, but you will not be able to play it in a chat room, because it has to be in the main folder of America Online itself.
  4. The time it takes to download a file depends on its size and the speed of the CPU and modem. Most downloads display their size, (how much space it will use on your hard drive) and how much time it will take, depending on the speed of your modem. File size is given in KB (kilobytes) or MB (megabytes). See Glossary.
  5. Follow the instructions, if any, to execute it.
FINDING A FILE

Computers have a built in logical system for organizing files and folders. To find a specific file you have to know where to look. The descending order of organization of the filing system is called the file path. The first letter of the file path tells you which drive a file can be located. Most computer drives are configured with

"A" representing the 3.5 floppy disk drive

"C" the internal hard drive

"B","D", "E", "F" as the CD, CDRW, ZIP or DVD drives.

This can vary slightly with other letters assigned to additional drives. For illustration purposes the "C" drive will represent the large internal hard drive in most CPUs. This is the largest storage area within the computer and where you will store most files. Each folder on the computer may contain subfolders or files. To take a peek at this filing system, click on Start, then Programs, then Windows Explorer. Once accustomed to the Windows Explorer Program, you may find yourself using it regularly. Files can be moved around easily, view file contents, rename files for easier access.

If you know a file’s name but forgot where it is located, click on Start, then Find. A dialog box will appear asking where to look. Make sure the Look In box contains the letter "C" if you wish to search the hard drive. This may be changed to My Documents or another drive letter if you want to look elsewhere. There is also a box called Include Subfolders, which is advisable to check when a thorough search is required. By typing in the files name and clicking on Find Now, the computer will search and enlarge the dialog box displaying the file, its location, size, type of file, and last modification date.

These individual boxes can be enlarged or reduced so you can see more of the type of information required. Just place the cursor on the file boxes title until the curser changes into a double arrow and drag it in the direction desired. It is necessary to see a whole file path name if it is a long one. Each division will be separated by a forward slash and if the box is not large enough to display the whole path the last division will be followed by an ellipsis, or three dots, indicating more information is available that can’t be displayed in the current box size.

If you know the type of file such as a bitmap image file, you will know the extension of the file’s name is. bmp. To find all files of this type just type in an asterisk (*) followed by a dot then the files extension (*.bmp). Find will locate all files of this type, show how many files found, and then follow the path to locate the particular file or open it directly in Find by double clicking the title.

ERRORS
You may hit a variety of "hang ups" or "crashes," from fairly innocuous error messages.  Such as "An error has occurred in your application..." through the 
infamous, but usually harmless "illegal operation" notice; to the more serious "blue screen of death" with its "fatal exception" message, all the way to instant blackouts and lockups. Hang tight, don't panic, and don't turn off your computer. Often the computer will let you use a Close Program box that shuts the offending program down and returns you to your desktop, or at least lets you shut the computer down safely. Before you do anything, if the computer gives you a Details box, click it and write down everything that appears on the screen, even if it is gobbledygook. In the case of a serious problem, a technician may well need to know what happened. In the case of persistent problems, a written record will aid in finding the problem and fixing it.

When a program freezes and you can't get any response from the keyboard or the mouse, try Ctrl+Alt+Del, (holding down all three keys together at the same time is called the infamous "warm boot". Hitting this once will bring up a Task List. Look to see if the program is listed as Not Responding. If so, click once on it, (highlight it) and hit End Task. This should shut the program down, ALL UNSAVED WORK WILL BE LOST! Restart the computer and try again. Give the computer time to realize what's going on before rebooting. Delays of 15-30 seconds or more before anything comes up from Ctrl-Alt-Del are not unusual. Hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del twice will restart your computer. Most of the time this will work. Windows hung up and Ctrl+Alt+Del won't do anything? Try Ctrl+Esc. It should open your Start Menu, where you can shut down the computer. If this doesn't work at all turn the computer off, wait 60 seconds, and restart it.

Any time you run into any of these problems, if you're able to get the computer back to normal operating mode, close everything down and restart the computer. Just because everything looks OK doesn't mean that instabilities aren't lingering out of sight. Restarting the computer gives it a chance to clear itself of temporary glitches. Should the computer hang at the "Please wait while your computer shuts down" screen, wait at least a minute before doing anything. Then, if nothing happens, turn the computer off and wait a few minutes turn it on again.
CONTROL PANEL
The Control Panel is the dialogue box that holds most of the Windows switches where the customization apps are located. The control panel can be accessed either by going to Start, Settings and Control Panel or double click on the My Computer icon on the desktop, then double clicking on Control Panel. The options are many. Here are a few. Go there and see all the options already installed by Windows. There are sites on the WEB where you can download other options for mouse pointers, screen savers, sounds and wallpaper. Many are free; some require a small fee.

However, there are a few sections where it is advisable to avoid until you know your way around hardware and have learned some troubleshooting skills – System for example. Most of the others won’t disturb system settings. That may be why there are so many options. If you don’t like the results, original restoration is easy. Many changes require shutting down and rebooting the computer for the change to take effect. Most changes can be previewed.

 
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