Computer Fundamentals #3

File managementDesktop

File associations, File Options

NAVIGATING THE DESKTOP

Parts of the Desktop – System Tray• Bottom right corner – system

tray– Includes the time– Tray includes icons showing

status of items running on your computer• Safely remove hardware• Network connections (including

LAN, wireless LAN)• Antivirus/security programs• Speaker volume

– Can customize through Taskbar properties

• Reference: Page 102 Computer Fun book

Desktop – Task Bar

• This is where you can see most active programs that are currently running

• Vertical tiling of documents running in the same application (instances of the same program)

Desktop – Start Button

• Frequently-used shortcuts show up on the left-hand column– Email usually at top

• Standard shortcuts like My Documents, My Computer, Printers, etc. on the right-hand column.

• Note you can change the appearance of the start Menu

• Note that on the Taskbar tab, you can:– Auto-hide the taskbar– Lock the taskbar– Enable/disable grouping

of taskbar buttons• Note that if grouping

turned on, it is easier to close a group of programs/documents

Desktop – Arrange by…

• If right-click – Arrange• Auto-Arrange – forces

everything to the left side of the screen

• Align to Grid – forces icons to only occupy certain positions on screen

Show on Desktop

• Available for:– My Documents– My Computer– My Network Places

• Can force the icon to show up on desktop as well as in the Start Menu

Setting Desktop Background• If you have a picture (either

on the Internet or a file on your computer), can right-click and set it as (Desktop) Background

• Alternative – right-click on desktop > Properties > Desktop can choose from background gallery– Can browse to pick a picture

from Gallery– Note difference b/w Position:

Tile, Stretch, and Centre

NAVIGATING FILE SYSTEM AND FILE ASSOCIATIONS

Windows Explorer

• Accessible when right-click to Explore…

• Note that the left-hand pane allows expansion of folders; right-hand pane shows contents

File Extensions• With every file, there is a file

extension• This tells the computer which

program to use to open a particular file

• E.g. *.doc – opened with Word; • *.xls – opened with Excel• These file extensions can

hidden/shown– Tools Folder Options View

• Can also show/hide hidden folders and files

File Extensions cont’d

• The file extension is necessary to figure out which program to open a file with.

• If you try to open a file without a file extension, you may be prompted to choose a program to open it with.

• Right-click on icon open with…

File Extensions/Associations

• In Folder Options, you can also choose/add new file extensions

• You can specify which program opens which type of file– Picture files – jpgs, gifs,

etc,– Music – mp3s, videos –

Windows Media Player vs. iTunes

FILE MANAGEMENT

Views

• Details view offers most information– Can sort by clicking on

the column header

• If want to keep a particular view all the time, use Folder Options– Tools > Folder Options >

View > Apply to all Folders