Windows Explorer

Windows comes with some programs built into it.  Many useful and helpful programs, some of which you need to get used to using. First, we'll discuss Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer is a program you can use to look at what is on your computer's hard drive and any removable drives, camera memory, etc.  To start Windows Explorer in Windows 95, 98, or ME, go to the Start button, Programs, and go down the list to find Windows Explorer.  In Windows XP, go to the Start button, Programs, Accessories, and go down the list to find Windows Explorer.

The left pane gives a listing of the folders first, then the files on the C Drive. If you have a floppy disk, that is the A Drive, any disk partitions will follow the order of first partition is C, the next D, etc. The next drives listed are CD-ROM, camera memory readers, ZIP drives, etc.

Each folder in the left pane has a + symbol next to it. If you click on the + with the mouse, it will change to a - and you will see any sub-folders listed below the folder you just clicked on.  Whatever folder you have highlighted (selected) in the left pane, the sub-folders and files will show up in the right pane.  As with any Windows program, you first highlight whatever it is you want to work with, then you go to the menus and click on what you want to do.

For instance, if there is a file you want to copy, you first find the folder it is in on the left pane, find the file on the right pane, highlight it, then go to the Edit menu and click on copy.

You can decide how you want the files to be displayed by Going to View, the you can select the following:

Thumbnails - If you have pictures, etc, they will have an icon of the
                    picture itself.
Tiles - Gives Icons shown in columns across the right pane.
List - Gives a list of the files with no data.
Details - This is the one I prefer since it gives a list of all the files
             with all the information on each file.

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