LSBU shy IT Training Page 1 Managing Files

Managing Files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 2 Managing Files

Table of contents

Using My Computer To Access Data 4 Using Windows Explorer To Access Data 5 Using My Network To Access Data 6 Understanding Directory Trees 7 Storage Devices In Windows 8 Navigating The Explorer Bar Hierarchy 9 Creating A Folder10 Creating A Hierarchy Of Folders 11 Starting Windows Explorer12 Changing The Folder List View 13 Common File Types14 Counting Files15 Changing Files To Read Only 16 Changing Files To Read And Write 17 Sorting The List18 Understanding File Associations 19 Renaming A Folder20 Renaming Files21 Selecting Files 22 Selecting Folders 23 Selecting Multiple Files 24 Copying A Folder 25 Copying Files To Another Drive26 Copying Files27 Copying Folders To Another Drive 28 Burning Files To CD29 Moving Folders 30 Moving Files To Another Drive 31 Moving Files 32 Moving Folders To Another Drive33 Backing Up Data34 Deleting A Folder 35 Deleting A Folder Hierarchy 36 Deleting Files37 Deleting A Folder With Files38 Restoring Deleted Files39 Restoring Deleted Folders40 Emptying The Recycle Bin 41 Finding A File By Name 42 Finding A Folder By Name 43 Using Wildcards For Searching44 Finding Files By Date45 Finding Files By Type 46 Finding Files By Size 47 Finding Files By Content 48 Viewing Recent Documents 49 Understanding Data Compression50 Compressing Files 51 Compressing Files And Paths 52 Extracting Compressed Files 53

LSBU shy IT Training Page 3 Managing Files

MANAGING FILES

FOCUS In

In this session you will bull learn how to use My Computer Windows Explorer and My

Network to access data

bull gain an overview of directory trees

bull gain an understanding of the storage devices in Windows

bull learn how to navigate the Explorer Bar

bull learn how to work with folders

bull learn how to count files

bull learn how to change files to readshyonly

bull learn how to change readshyonly files to read and write

bull learn how to sort the files list in Windows Explorer

bull gain an overview of file associations

bull learn how to work with files

bull learn how to burn files to CD

bull gain an overview of the importance of backing up to removable storage devices

bull learn how to empty the recycle bin

bull learn how to use the Search facility

bull learn how to find files

bull learn how to view recent documents

bull learn how to compress files and folders

bull learn how to extract compressed files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 4 Managing Files

USING MY COMPUTER TO ACCESS DATA The My Computer window displays the contents of your hard disk floppy disk CDshyROM network drives and your My Documents and Shared Documents folders It also allows you to find

particular files and folders You can then open rename move copy delete and eshymail the selected files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Computer to display the My Computer window Lets display the files that are stored in the Course Files for Windows XP folder on the C drivehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Local Disk (C) under Hard Disk Drives All of the folders that are stored on the hard drive will be displayed in the pane on the righthellip

3 Scroll down to and doubleshyclick on Course Files for Windows XP to display all of the files that are stored in this folder

You can now copy and move the files between folders and drives print rename and open them for editing using the menu systemhellip

4 Click on the close button

to close My Computer

For Your Referencehellip To use My Computer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Computer 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired Hard Disk

Drive 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder then

doubleshyclick to open the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you click on a file in the right pane

the tasks that are listed under File and Folder Tasks change to display fileshyrelated tasks such as Rename this file Delete this file Eshymail this file and so on

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 5 Managing Files

USING WINDOWS EXPLORER TO ACCESS DATA

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Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of the files folders and drives (such as the hard disk floppy disk drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) on your computer Using

Windows Explorer you can open copy move rename and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer to display the Windows Explorer window

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer in the left pane

The various drives on your computer will be displayedhellip

3 Click on the plus symbol to the left of Local Disk (C) to display the folders (and files) that are located at the root of the hard drive on your computer

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP The files that are stored in this folder will be displayed in the panel on the right Note that you may have different files to those displayed in the examplehellip

5 Click on the close button to close Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To use Windows Explorer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer

3 Display the desired drive and folder then click on the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull The plus symbol to the left of a folder

name indicates that it contains subfolders Folders that dont have a plus symbol will contain only files

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 6 Managing Files

USING MY NETWORK TO ACCESS DATA My Network Places displays a list of other computers that are connected to your local area network or LAN (A LAN is a communications network connecting a group of computers

printers and other devices located in a relatively limited area) From the My Network Places window you can open copy move rename print delete eshymail and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Network Places to display the My Network Places window

Your list under Local Network in the right pane will differ from the list shown in this examplehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on one of the network folder icons to display its contents

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

3 If one or more folders is displayed doubleshyclick on a folder to display its contents

4 Repeat step 3 until files are listed in the right pane then single click on a file

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

5 Click on the close button to close My Network Places

For Your Referencehellip To use My Network Places to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Network Places 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired network folder

icon 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder and file

to open it

Handy to Knowhellip bull Notice that the tasks listed in the pane on

the left change from Network Tasks when My Network Places is first opened to foldershyspecific tasks when a folder is selected and to fileshyspecific tasks when a file is selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

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The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

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Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

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When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

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Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

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You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

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Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 3 Managing Files

MANAGING FILES

FOCUS In

In this session you will bull learn how to use My Computer Windows Explorer and My

Network to access data

bull gain an overview of directory trees

bull gain an understanding of the storage devices in Windows

bull learn how to navigate the Explorer Bar

bull learn how to work with folders

bull learn how to count files

bull learn how to change files to readshyonly

bull learn how to change readshyonly files to read and write

bull learn how to sort the files list in Windows Explorer

bull gain an overview of file associations

bull learn how to work with files

bull learn how to burn files to CD

bull gain an overview of the importance of backing up to removable storage devices

bull learn how to empty the recycle bin

bull learn how to use the Search facility

bull learn how to find files

bull learn how to view recent documents

bull learn how to compress files and folders

bull learn how to extract compressed files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 4 Managing Files

USING MY COMPUTER TO ACCESS DATA The My Computer window displays the contents of your hard disk floppy disk CDshyROM network drives and your My Documents and Shared Documents folders It also allows you to find

particular files and folders You can then open rename move copy delete and eshymail the selected files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Computer to display the My Computer window Lets display the files that are stored in the Course Files for Windows XP folder on the C drivehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Local Disk (C) under Hard Disk Drives All of the folders that are stored on the hard drive will be displayed in the pane on the righthellip

3 Scroll down to and doubleshyclick on Course Files for Windows XP to display all of the files that are stored in this folder

You can now copy and move the files between folders and drives print rename and open them for editing using the menu systemhellip

4 Click on the close button

to close My Computer

For Your Referencehellip To use My Computer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Computer 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired Hard Disk

Drive 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder then

doubleshyclick to open the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you click on a file in the right pane

the tasks that are listed under File and Folder Tasks change to display fileshyrelated tasks such as Rename this file Delete this file Eshymail this file and so on

1

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 5 Managing Files

USING WINDOWS EXPLORER TO ACCESS DATA

4

Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of the files folders and drives (such as the hard disk floppy disk drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) on your computer Using

Windows Explorer you can open copy move rename and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer to display the Windows Explorer window

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer in the left pane

The various drives on your computer will be displayedhellip

3 Click on the plus symbol to the left of Local Disk (C) to display the folders (and files) that are located at the root of the hard drive on your computer

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP The files that are stored in this folder will be displayed in the panel on the right Note that you may have different files to those displayed in the examplehellip

5 Click on the close button to close Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To use Windows Explorer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer

3 Display the desired drive and folder then click on the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull The plus symbol to the left of a folder

name indicates that it contains subfolders Folders that dont have a plus symbol will contain only files

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 6 Managing Files

USING MY NETWORK TO ACCESS DATA My Network Places displays a list of other computers that are connected to your local area network or LAN (A LAN is a communications network connecting a group of computers

printers and other devices located in a relatively limited area) From the My Network Places window you can open copy move rename print delete eshymail and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Network Places to display the My Network Places window

Your list under Local Network in the right pane will differ from the list shown in this examplehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on one of the network folder icons to display its contents

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

3 If one or more folders is displayed doubleshyclick on a folder to display its contents

4 Repeat step 3 until files are listed in the right pane then single click on a file

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

5 Click on the close button to close My Network Places

For Your Referencehellip To use My Network Places to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Network Places 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired network folder

icon 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder and file

to open it

Handy to Knowhellip bull Notice that the tasks listed in the pane on

the left change from Network Tasks when My Network Places is first opened to foldershyspecific tasks when a folder is selected and to fileshyspecific tasks when a file is selected

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

1 2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

4

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

1

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

1

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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6

Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 4 Managing Files

USING MY COMPUTER TO ACCESS DATA The My Computer window displays the contents of your hard disk floppy disk CDshyROM network drives and your My Documents and Shared Documents folders It also allows you to find

particular files and folders You can then open rename move copy delete and eshymail the selected files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Computer to display the My Computer window Lets display the files that are stored in the Course Files for Windows XP folder on the C drivehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Local Disk (C) under Hard Disk Drives All of the folders that are stored on the hard drive will be displayed in the pane on the righthellip

3 Scroll down to and doubleshyclick on Course Files for Windows XP to display all of the files that are stored in this folder

You can now copy and move the files between folders and drives print rename and open them for editing using the menu systemhellip

4 Click on the close button

to close My Computer

For Your Referencehellip To use My Computer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Computer 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired Hard Disk

Drive 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder then

doubleshyclick to open the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you click on a file in the right pane

the tasks that are listed under File and Folder Tasks change to display fileshyrelated tasks such as Rename this file Delete this file Eshymail this file and so on

1

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 5 Managing Files

USING WINDOWS EXPLORER TO ACCESS DATA

4

Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of the files folders and drives (such as the hard disk floppy disk drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) on your computer Using

Windows Explorer you can open copy move rename and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer to display the Windows Explorer window

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer in the left pane

The various drives on your computer will be displayedhellip

3 Click on the plus symbol to the left of Local Disk (C) to display the folders (and files) that are located at the root of the hard drive on your computer

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP The files that are stored in this folder will be displayed in the panel on the right Note that you may have different files to those displayed in the examplehellip

5 Click on the close button to close Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To use Windows Explorer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer

3 Display the desired drive and folder then click on the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull The plus symbol to the left of a folder

name indicates that it contains subfolders Folders that dont have a plus symbol will contain only files

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 6 Managing Files

USING MY NETWORK TO ACCESS DATA My Network Places displays a list of other computers that are connected to your local area network or LAN (A LAN is a communications network connecting a group of computers

printers and other devices located in a relatively limited area) From the My Network Places window you can open copy move rename print delete eshymail and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Network Places to display the My Network Places window

Your list under Local Network in the right pane will differ from the list shown in this examplehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on one of the network folder icons to display its contents

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

3 If one or more folders is displayed doubleshyclick on a folder to display its contents

4 Repeat step 3 until files are listed in the right pane then single click on a file

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

5 Click on the close button to close My Network Places

For Your Referencehellip To use My Network Places to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Network Places 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired network folder

icon 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder and file

to open it

Handy to Knowhellip bull Notice that the tasks listed in the pane on

the left change from Network Tasks when My Network Places is first opened to foldershyspecific tasks when a folder is selected and to fileshyspecific tasks when a file is selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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4

6

Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

2

4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 5 Managing Files

USING WINDOWS EXPLORER TO ACCESS DATA

4

Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of the files folders and drives (such as the hard disk floppy disk drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) on your computer Using

Windows Explorer you can open copy move rename and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer to display the Windows Explorer window

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer in the left pane

The various drives on your computer will be displayedhellip

3 Click on the plus symbol to the left of Local Disk (C) to display the folders (and files) that are located at the root of the hard drive on your computer

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP The files that are stored in this folder will be displayed in the panel on the right Note that you may have different files to those displayed in the examplehellip

5 Click on the close button to close Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To use Windows Explorer to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

2 Click on the plus symbol to the left of My Computer

3 Display the desired drive and folder then click on the file

Handy to Knowhellip bull The plus symbol to the left of a folder

name indicates that it contains subfolders Folders that dont have a plus symbol will contain only files

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 6 Managing Files

USING MY NETWORK TO ACCESS DATA My Network Places displays a list of other computers that are connected to your local area network or LAN (A LAN is a communications network connecting a group of computers

printers and other devices located in a relatively limited area) From the My Network Places window you can open copy move rename print delete eshymail and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Network Places to display the My Network Places window

Your list under Local Network in the right pane will differ from the list shown in this examplehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on one of the network folder icons to display its contents

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

3 If one or more folders is displayed doubleshyclick on a folder to display its contents

4 Repeat step 3 until files are listed in the right pane then single click on a file

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

5 Click on the close button to close My Network Places

For Your Referencehellip To use My Network Places to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Network Places 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired network folder

icon 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder and file

to open it

Handy to Knowhellip bull Notice that the tasks listed in the pane on

the left change from Network Tasks when My Network Places is first opened to foldershyspecific tasks when a folder is selected and to fileshyspecific tasks when a file is selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

1

2

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

1

4

6

Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 6 Managing Files

USING MY NETWORK TO ACCESS DATA My Network Places displays a list of other computers that are connected to your local area network or LAN (A LAN is a communications network connecting a group of computers

printers and other devices located in a relatively limited area) From the My Network Places window you can open copy move rename print delete eshymail and search for files and folders

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the desktop is displayedhellip

1 Click on [Start] then select My Network Places to display the My Network Places window

Your list under Local Network in the right pane will differ from the list shown in this examplehellip

2 Doubleshyclick on one of the network folder icons to display its contents

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

3 If one or more folders is displayed doubleshyclick on a folder to display its contents

4 Repeat step 3 until files are listed in the right pane then single click on a file

Notice the options that display under File And Folder Taskshellip

5 Click on the close button to close My Network Places

For Your Referencehellip To use My Network Places to access data

1 Click on [Start] gt My Network Places 2 Doubleshyclick on the desired network folder

icon 3 Doubleshyclick on the desired folder and file

to open it

Handy to Knowhellip bull Notice that the tasks listed in the pane on

the left change from Network Tasks when My Network Places is first opened to foldershyspecific tasks when a folder is selected and to fileshyspecific tasks when a file is selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 7 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DIRECTORY TREES Windows XP organises its drives folders and files in a hierarchical tree structure That is the structure is organised in the shape of a pyramid where each row of objects is linked to the objects

directly beneath it And because of this pyramidical shape this hierarchical structure is also known as an inverted tree

Inverted Tree From the diagram below you can see why the structure is known as an inverted tree

The root of the tree is not drawn at the bottom but is drawn at the top of the tree and then hanging down from this are the various drives folders subshyfolders and files The root of the tree can be equated to My Computer in the Windows Explorer and My Computer windows

The various drives (such as the hard drive floppy drive CDshyROM drive and network drives) are drawn in the row below the root Then folders (and possibly files if they are stored at the root level of a particular drive) are shown in the next row linked to the appropriate drive

Any subshyfolders and files which are contained in the folder immediately above them are shown in the next row

This pattern continues until the final row contains only files All of the files in the structure are known as leaves because they are at the very bottom of the tree with nothing below them The connections between the various elements of the tree are called branches

Disk drives

Branches

Subshyfolders

Folders

Files (leaves)

Files (leaves)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 8 Managing Files

STORAGE DEVICES IN WINDOWS In computer terms a device is any machine or component that attaches to a computer such as disk drives printers mice and so on A storage device is a device that is capable of storing and

retaining data even when the computer has been switched off Examples of storage devices include hard drives floppy drives CDshyROMs and network drives

Hard Disk Drives

A hard disk drive is a mechanism that reads data ndash that is it copies files and folders from the computers hard disk to main memory (randomshyaccess memory or RAM) ndash and writes data from the main memory to the hard disk

A hard disk is a magnetic disk ndash that is the data is encoded as microscopic magnetised needles on the disks surface and because of this you can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 100GB Hard disks are also from 10 to 100 times faster than floppy disks In general however hard disks tend to be less portable than floppy disks because they are usually contained inside the computer

Floppy Disk Drives A floppy disk drive is a mechanism that can read and write data to floppy disks Floppy disks are soft magnetic disks ndash although these days they tend to be contained within a rigid 3 frac12 inch plastic casing (The term floppy came about because the earliest floppy disks were housed in bendable covers)

Most floppy disks have a maximum storage capacity of 144MB

CDshyROMs A CDshyROM (compact disk ndash readshyonly memory) is a type of optical disk that is capable of storing up to 1GB of data (although the most common CDshyROMs can store up to 650MB)

An optical disk is different to a magnetic disk in that it is written to by laser Once the data has been written to the disk it is permanent and can be read any number of times but it cannot be modified

Network Drives A network is a group of two or more computers that are linked together A file server is a computer on the network that is dedicated to storing computer files Any users on the network can read and write data to the server

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

2

4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 9 Managing Files

NAVIGATING THE EXPLORER BAR HIERARCHY

1

The folders displayed in the Explorer Bar on the left side of Windows Explorer are displayed in a hierarchy The branches in the hierarchy can be either expanded or collapsed When a branch is

collapsed you do not see any of the items below it When a branch is expanded you will see at least the next level of detail below the branch Each folder may itself be a branch

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer to expand this branch

Notice that the various drives and folders are listed below My Computerhellip

2 Click on the plus sign next to Local Disk (C) to expand this subshybranch

Notice that the plus sign has now been replaced by a minus signhellip

3 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder The files that are located in this folder will be displayed in the pane on the right ready for you to access as desired

Since there is now no plus or minus sign next to the Course Files for Windows XP folder we know that this folder does not contain any subshyfolders

For Your Referencehellip To navigate the Explorer Bar hierarchy

1 Click on a plus sign to expand a branch then click on the folder name to display its files in the right pane

2 Click on a minus sign to collapse a branch

Handy to Knowhellip bull When an item in the Explorer Bar appears

without a plus or minus sign you have reached the bottom of the hierarchy path for that branch

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 10 Managing Files

CREATING AFOLDER

1

Creating a new folder is a relatively simple process Folders are easily created in Windows Explorer The only two things that you need to be aware of are where you want the folder to be

located and what you want the folder to be called In this next exercise you will create a folder called ABC Manufacturing and it will be created on Drive C

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs gt Accessories gt Windows Explorer

3 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer

4 Click on Local Disk (C) in the Explorer Bar to indicate that you wish to create a folder at this level

5 Select File gt New gt Folder to create a new folder

The new folder will be displayed at the end of the listing in the right pane The folder name is in edit mode which means that you can type something more descriptivehellip

6 Type ABC Manufacturing and press

The folder will be renamed and will be displayed in the left and right panes Incidentally it appears at the end of the list until the list is refreshed ndash you can force this to occur manually if you wishhellip

7 Press to refresh the listing

For Your Referencehellip To create a new folder

1 Start Windows Explorer 2 Click at the parent level in the Explorer Bar 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a descriptive name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also create a folder by opening a

window such as My Computer However the Windows Explorer method allows you to better see the overall folder structure of your computer and is therefore the best place to create folders

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 11 Managing Files

CREATING AHIERARCHY OF FOLDERS

1

When setting up a new computer or simply just reorganising your existing one you may want to create a series of folders ndash a hierarchy in which to store files in a logical and commonsense way

There is no right or wrong way to do this and there are no specific rules about naming conventions The most important thing is that the hierarchy makes sense and allows you to locate data

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder called ABC Manufacturinghellip

1 It is a good idea to map out a structure before you begin ndash we will create a structure as shown

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane) then select File gt New gt Folder

3 Type Correspondence and press

4 Repeat the above steps and create two more folders below ABC Manufacturing called Budgets and Accounts

5 Click on Budgets under ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar

6 Select File gt New gt Folder

7 Type Sales and press

8 Select File gt New gt Folder

9 Type Production and press

For Your Referencehellip To create a hierarchy of folders

1 Sketch out a map of your structure 2 Click on the first level 3 Select File gt New gt Folder 4 Type a name and press

1 Repeat the above steps to create the other folders in the hierarchy

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 12 Managing Files

STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

1

Windows Explorer is a Windows application And as such it is started in exactly the same way as any other application For example you can start Windows Explorer from the Start menu from a

shortcut on the desktop (if one has been placed there) and even from the folder in which its main system files are located

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the desktop currently appearshellip

1 Click on at the bottom left of the screen to display the Start menu

2 Click on All Programs to see the All Programs menu

3 Move the mouse pointer over Accessories to display the Accessories menu

4 Click on Windows Explorer to open the Windows Explorer The details on your screen and indeed even the layout and presentation on your screen may vary from that shownhellip

5 If the Windows Explorer has not opened in a maximised state click on theMaximise button

For Your Referencehellip To start Windows Explorer

1 Click on the [Start] button 2 Select All Programs gt Accessories gt

Windows Explorer

Handy to Knowhellip bull Windows Explorer is an integral part of

Windows Many users create a shortcut to it on the desktop

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 13 Managing Files

CHANGING THE FOLDER LIST VIEW

1

You can change the way that files and folders are displayed in the right pane of the Windows Explorer The different views are used for different situations When you display the files as

icons Windows will attempt to provide an icon that is appropriate to the application For example documents created in Microsoft Word will include a Word symbol in the icon

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Icons to see the list of folders as small icons in the right pane

2 Select View gt List to see the list as a list

3 Select View gt Details to see the list with information about each file and folder

Notice that the names of the folders are listed alphabetically under Name along with their Size Type and Date Modifiedhellip

4 Select View gt Thumbnails to see the list as small graphic pictures ndash this is an ideal setting for photographs

5 Select View gt Tiles to see the icons displayed in a graphical format like Icons but with more information about each file

For Your Referencehellip To change the files and folder list view

1 Select View 2 Choose either Icons List Details

Thumbnails or Tiles

Handy to Knowhellip bull The Details view is best to use when you

are working with files rather than folders It provides you with important information such as the date and time when the file was created and how large it is

bull A folders location on a drive is shown in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 14 Managing Files

COMMON FILE TYPES In the Windows environment the file type identifies the application (such as Microsoft Word) that will be used to open the file File types are associated with a file name extension For

example files that have the txt extension are of the Text Document type and can be opened using any text editor The following table lists some common file types

File Types File Extensions Details

Word Processing doc Microsoft Word Document file

rtf Rich Text Format ndash word processor file with formatting codes

Spreadsheet xls Microsoft Excel Worksheet file

Database mdb Microsoft Office Access database file

Presentation ppt Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation ndash used for creating slides and overhead presentations

Image bmp Windows bitmap format ndash opens in MS Paint or graphics program

gif Graphical Interchange Format ndash opens in web browser or graphics program

jpg jpeg 24shybit common Internet file format for colourshyrich images ndash view with web browser or image editing program

tif Tagged Image File format ndash editable in graphics program

png Portable Network Graphics ndash can work on all platforms

Audio wav sound file in Waveform format

mp3 CDshyquality sound with 10x compression

au sound file format ndash opens with Windows Media Player

Video mpg mpeg Motion Picture Experts Group movie file ndash video movie in MPEG format

avi AudioVideo Interleaved ndash movie clip that opens with mplayer Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

mov Apple QuickTime movie ndash view using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator using plugshyin

Compressed zip compressed file ndash opens with WinZip or PKZip

Temporary tmp temporary file ndash used by many programs

Backup bak backup file ndash used by many applications ndash often created automatically

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 15 Managing Files

COUNTING FILES You can use the Search Companion feature of Windows Explorer to count the number of files that you have in a particular folder (and its subshyfolders if desired) You can even count the

number of files of a particular type within the folder This can be particularly handy if you need to ensure that you have copied all of the files from one location to another

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Search tool near the top of the window to display the Search Companion

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Ensure that Course Files for Windows XP is displayed in Look in scroll down to and click on More advanced options then ensure that Search subfolders is displayed with a tick

Lets count the total number of files in the folder (including the Backup subfolder) ndash note that you may have a different number of files in your folder than that shown in this exercisehellip

4 Click on [Search] ndash notice that the number of files found is displayed at the top of the Search Companion Lets count only PowerPoint files this time (they have the file extension ppt)hellip

5 Click on [Back]

6 Type ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search] ndash notice that we have four PowerPoint files

7 Click on the Folders tool near the top of the window to redisplay the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To count files

1 Click on the Search tool then click on All files and folders

2 Select the Look in folder and ensure that Search subfolders is ticked

3 Specify a file type in All or part of the file name as desired then click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can count the number of files with two

or more file types at once For example if you wanted to count all Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations type doc ppt in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

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Tip The second Animationppt file listed above is located in the Backup subshyfolder

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 16 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ ONLY If you are working on an important document and you need your peers to peruse it prior to submission to ensure that they dont accidentally (or intentionally) alter your file you can change it

to readshyonly before sending it to them Performing this very quick and easy task may prevent later embarrassment andor frustration

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that it is readshyonlyhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint ndash notice that the words ReadshyOnly appear in the title bar

6 Click on the close button to close Microsoft PowerPoint and return to Windows Explorer

For Your Referencehellip To change files to readshyonly

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears with a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you change a file to readshyonly you

can open it and make changes to it but you cannot save those changes to the same file ndash you must save the file with a new name

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 17 Managing Files

CHANGING FILES TO READ AND WRITE Once you have shared your readshyonly document with your colleagues for their comments and then have received their thoughts regarding it you will now be ready to amend your document

accordingly However you cannot make any changes to your document until you change its status to read and write To do this you use the same dialog box as for changing it to readshyonly

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane

3 Select File gt Properties to display the Animationppt Properties dialog box

4 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Lets check that the file can be editedhellip

5 Doubleshyclick on Animationppt in the right pane to open it in Microsoft PowerPoint

6 Delete any word from the Outline pane on the left then click on the Close button to attempt to close the presentation

You will be prompted to save Animationppt ndash in other words you can both read and write to this filehellip

7 Click on [No] to close the file without saving any changes

For Your Referencehellip To change a file to read and write

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Properties 3 Click on Readshyonly under Attributes until

it appears without a tick then click on [OK]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also display the Properties dialog

box by rightshyclicking on the desired file and selecting Properties from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

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4

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Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 18 Managing Files

SORTING THE LIST

1

Each file in your computer will be either a data file or a program file Files are identified using a descriptive name However there is also a series of letters at the end of a filename that are used

by Windows to identify the type of file that you are working with The date a file has been created and modified is also recorded You can use this information to sort the listing of files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Select View gt Details

2 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Type to see the list by file type

3 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Modified to see the list by date

4 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Size to see the list by size

5 Select View gt Arrange Icons by gt Name to see the list by name

For Your Referencehellip To sort a file list in Windows Explorer

1 Select View gt Arrange Icons by 2 Select Name Type Modified or Size

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also click on the column headings

(Name Size Type and Date Modified) to sort the list accordingly Repeated clicking acts as a toggle between highestshylowest and lowestshyhighest ndash for example clicking on Name will sort the list from A to Z and then clicking on Name again will sort from Z to A

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

2

4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

3

4

5

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 19 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING FILE ASSOCIATIONS All files have a file extension (that is the suffix that is preceded by a dot separator and is appended to a filename) For example with the file My Documentdoc the file extension is doc

A file association is the relationship between a particular file extension and the application in which a file with that extension will open by default when you doubleshyclick on it in Windows Explorer

File Extensions Files Associations And File Types The file extension is also used to identify the file type (such as image audio database spreadsheet and so on) because all file types are associated with particular file extensions

So looking again at the example My Documentdoc the extension doc tells us that sect the file type for this file is a doc file (Microsoft Office Word document)

sect because of its file association this doc file will open in Microsoft Office Word by default

A Few Words Of Warning When Renaming Files Because of the importance of file extensions with regards to file types and file associations it is imperative that you do not alter or accidentally leave off the file extension when renaming a file

For example if you are using Windows Explorer and you want to rename the file My Picturebmp to My Imagebmp ensure that the extension bmp is still present once you have renamed the file

If you leave off the file extension (for exampleMy Image) you will not be able to open the file at all as Windows needs the extension to recognise the file type and then to determine which application to use to open the file

If you change the file extension you will not be able to open the file correctly (if the extension is a valid file extension but just not appropriate for the file type such as My Imagedoc) or not open the file at all (if the file extension is not a valid extension such as My Imagedop)

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

2

4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

3

4

5

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 20 Managing Files

RENAMING AFOLDER

1

You can return to a folder at any stage and rename it without causing any problems in Windows It is sometimes necessary to rename a folder to make it more descriptive or

understandable to other users Other times you may wish to restructure your folders ndash rather than delete unwanted folders you can simply rename them and recycle them

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

1 Click on ABC Manufacturing to display its subshyfolders in the right pane

2 Click once on Budgets in the right pane to select it

3 Click on Budgets again to place it into edit mode

When a folder or file name is in edit mode the entire entry is first selected and the edit cursor is at the end of the text As soon as you start typing the entire text will be replaced by what you typehellip

4 Type Forecasts and press to completely change the name of the folder

For Your Referencehellip To rename a folder

1 Click once on the folder name in the right pane then click again to place the name in edit mode

2 Type the new name and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can rename a folder even if there are

subshyfolders below it and even if the folder or its subshyfolders contain files No data will be lost

2

4

1

Our aim is to have this structure by the end of this topichellip

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

3

4

5

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

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LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 21 Managing Files

RENAMING FILES There will be many times when you will find it handy to rename files If you have an old file that is similar to a new document that you need to produce you could just rename the old file to a

more appropriate name and then modify it as desired Renaming files in Windows Explorer is a cinch However you must ensure that you do not alter the file extension during the renaming

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTest2doc in the right pane

3 Select File gt Rename ndash notice that the filename changes to edit mode

4 Type FileTest2 and press

Windows will display a warning since we have forgotten the file name extensionhellip

5 Click on [No] then press four times to move the cursor to the left of the full stop

6 Press then type 3 and press to rename the file FileTest3doc

7 Repeat the above steps to rename the file back to FileTest2doc

For Your Referencehellip To rename a file in Windows Explorer

1 Click on the desired file in the right pane 2 Select File gt Rename 3 Type the new filename (including the

correct extension) and press

Handy to Knowhellip You can also place a file name in edit mode by

bull clicking on its name once in the right pane and then slowly clicking on it again

bull rightshyclicking on its name and selecting Rename from the dropshydown menu

3

4

5

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 22 Managing Files

SELECTING FILES

1

Before you can do anything with a file you need to tell Windows which file you want to do something to This is done by selecting the file When you select a file it appears highlighted in

the reverse colours of the screen This is sometimes known as reverse video You can select a file simply by clicking on it

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open in Details Viewhellip

1 Click on the plus sign next to My Computer then click on the plus sign next to Local Drive C

2 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar (left pane) to see our course files in the right pane

Note that the files displayed in your course files folder may differ to those shown in this examplehellip

3 Click on the maximise button to display Windows Explorer in full screen

4 Move the mouse pointer on to Blue Skyjpg in the list on the right

A tool tip will display information about the file In Thumbnails and Tiles views the contents of this file will actually be previewedhellip

5 Click on Blue Skyjpg to select the file

For Your Referencehellip To select a file in Windows Explorer

1 Display the appropriate folder 2 Click on the file to select it

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can switch between pointshytoshyselect

and pointshytoshyclick in the Folder Options dialog box To change this setting select Tools gt Folder Options click on the General tab and select the desired option under Click items as follows

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 23 Managing Files

SELECTING FOLDERS Before you can copy move or delete folders using Windows Explorer you will need to know how to select them The method that you will use will depend on what you are selecting If you

want to select only a single folder you can select it from wither the left or right pane However if you want to select multiple folders simultaneously you must display and select them in the right pane

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Create a new folder called Marketing in the Accounts folder

Lets select a single folderhellip

3 Click on the Sales folder in the right pane to select only a single folder

This time well select a contiguous range of foldershellip

4 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select all three folders

Now lets select two nonshyadjacent foldershellip

5 Click on the Production folder press and hold down

and click on the Marketing folder to select only the two folders

For Your Referencehellip To select folders

1 Click on the folder in the Explorer Bar 2 For a contiguous range click on a folder in

the right pane press [Shift] and click on the last folder OR For nonshyadjacent folders click on a folder press [Ctrl] and click on the other folders

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also select a single folder (or a

single branch ndash a folder with its underlying subfolders) by clicking on its folder name in the Explorer Bar

bull You can only select multiple folders from the right pane of Windows Explorer

1

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 24 Managing Files

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILES

1

There are a number of file operations that can be performed on more than one file at a time In Windows you can select multiple files both in a continuous and nonshycontinuous arrangement To

select multiple files you need to click on the first file then hold down the or keys and select the other files

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer in Details View Lets start by selecting a contiguous range of fileshellip

1 Click on About Alpheiusrtf to select it

2 Press and hold down the

key and click on Back Me Uptxt to select all files between and including About Alpheiusrtf and Back Me Uptxt

3 Press and hold down the

key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to extend the selection to this point

4 Click on Bookmarksdoc to cancel all previous selections

Now lets select nonshyadjacent fileshellip

5 Press and hold down the

key and click on Document Reviewdoc then Flashy Movie Clipavi to select only the three files

6 Click on Great Holidaysppt to select this file and at the same time cancel all previous selections

For Your Referencehellip To select a contiguous range of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on the last file to select all files between the first and the last

For Your Referencehellip To select a nonshycontiguous set of files

1 Click on the first file press and hold down the key and click on all subsequent files to be selected

2

3

4

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 25 Managing Files

COPYING AFOLDER

1

You can also make duplicates of folders in your system For example if you need to duplicate a subshyhierarchy in another location the copying process is far easier than creating the folders

again The copying process is essentially the same as for the move process except that you copy the selected folders rather than cut them

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder in the Explorer Bar so that you can see Production in the right pane

3 Click on Production in the right pane

4 Select Edit gt Copy

5 Click on Accounts in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to paste a copy of the Production subshyfolder into the Accounts folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you copy folders from one folder to

another the contents of the folders are also copied If the folders contained data or program files then they too would be copied

1

2

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 26 Managing Files

COPYING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE Whether you need to take important files home with you so that you can continue working on them or you are simply backing up your files and taking them offsite for security purposes it is

important to learn how to copy files correctly to another drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down then click on Eastern Region_1doc

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the files to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To copy files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the keyboard shortcuts of

+ to copy the selected files to the clipboard and + to paste the files to the new drive

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 27 Managing Files

COPYING FILES

1

Windows allows you to duplicate files Files are duplicated by copying them from one folder into another This is particularly useful for making backup copies of your data files ndash a backup copy

is an exact replica of a file at a particular point in time While there are many ways to create backup files the easiest way is simply to copy them ndash and that is why the copying process is so important

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on Animationppt in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on Black amp Whitejpg to select all of the files between

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the files into the clipboard

4 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar ndash if it is not visible click on the plus sign next to Course Files for Windows XP

5 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To copy a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the location where the files will be

copied 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also copy a file by dragging To do

this press and hold down the key while you drag the file from one location to another

2

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 28 Managing Files

COPYING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE One of the most important reasons for learning how to copy folders to another drive is so that you can backup important information And copying folders ndash rather than the files that are

held within the folders ndash ensures that you maintain the folder hierarchy on the backup disk

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar By selecting this folder you will also select all of its subshyfoldershellip

3 Select Edit gt Copy to copy the folder hierarchy to the clipboard

4 Place an empty formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk in the floppy drive

5 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to copy the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

7 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To copy a folder to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folder to be copied

2 Select Edit gt Copy 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you try to copy folders to an unformatted

floppy disk you will be asked whether you want to format the disk first After formatting the disk you can then continue pasting the folders onto the disk

6

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 29 Managing Files

BURNING FILES TO CD Whatever files you are working with on your computer you should always back them up so that you have a recent copy of them if anything goes wrong with your computer And believe us

things do go wrong A quick way to backup files is to copy them from your hard drive to a CD and you can do this using Windows Explorer (as long as you have a CD burner installed on your computer)

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Rightshyclick on About Alpheiusrtf to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt CD Drive (D)

A balloon message will appear pointing to an icon in the system trayhellip

4 Click on the balloon message to display the window for CD Drive (D) The file ready to be burned to CD will appear at the top of the screenhellip

5 Select File gt Write these files to CD to display the CD Writing Wizard Wersquoll accept the date as the name of the CDhellip

6 Click on [Next] to write the file to CD

When the file has been written the CD will be ejectedhellip

7 Click on the close button to close the CD Drive (D) window

For Your Referencehellip To burn files to CD

1 Rightshyclick on the desired files in the right pane of Windows Explorer

2 Select Send To gt CD name 3 Select File gt Write these files to CD

Handy to Knowhellip bull If any files already exist on the CD they will

be listed in another section below the files to be written to the CD

bull You can elect to replace any files on the CD that have the same name as the files you are copying

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 30 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS

1

Windows allows you to relocate one or more folders to a different part of your computer This is done using the move process Generally this process involves selecting the folder to move

cutting the folder to the clipboard using one of the cut methods selecting the destination location and choosing one of the paste operations to place the cut folder into the new location

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on ABC Manufacturing in the Explorer Bar (left pane)

3 Ensure that the tree has been expanded ndash you can click on the plus sign to expand it if necessary

4 Click on Forecasts to see its two subshyfolders in the right pane

5 Click on Sales in the right pane to select it

6 Select Edit gt Cut

A faint outline of the folder will appear around the folder to indicate that it will be cut from this locationhellip

7 Click on the Accounts folder in the Explorer Bar ndash this will be the location to which we will move Sales

8 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder to this new location

For Your Referencehellip To move a folder

1 Click on the folder in the right pane 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Select the location for the folder 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move a folder by dragging it

with the pointing device (such as a mouse) to a new location ndash this takes a little bit of experience but is much faster than cutting and pasting

1

4

8

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 31 Managing Files

MOVING FILES TO ANOTHER DRIVE If you want to copy files to another drive and then delete them from the source drive rather than copying them and then deleting them you should use the move or cut feature During the move

Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Ensure that the 3frac12 inch floppy disk is still in the floppy drive from the previous exercise

2 Click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

3 Click on Budget Restaurantxls in the right pane press and hold down

then click on Eastern Region_1doc

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the files to the clipboard

Notice that the icons appear to fadehellip

5 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

6 Select Edit gt Paste to move the files to the hard drive

If these files are already on your floppy disk Windows will display a message boxhellip

7 Click on [Yes to All] to replace the files click on 3 frac12 Floppy (A) to confirm that the disk is empty then click on Course Files for Windows XP

For Your Referencehellip To move files to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the files to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also move files to a new drive in

Windows Explorer by selecting the desired files and then dragging them to the new drive

2

4

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 32 Managing Files

MOVING FILES

1

Windows allows you to move files from one folder to another or even to another drive or computer on the network The process requires you to select the file or files to move and then to use

one of the operations that cuts the file or files from the folder and pastes them into the new location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorer Lets begin by creating a folder into which we will move a filehellip

1 Click on the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

2 Select File gt New gt Folder type Backup and press to create a new folder

We are now ready to move a file into this folderhellip

3 Click on TestFile3doc in the right pane to select it

4 Select Edit gt Cut to cut the file to the clipboard ndash it will still appear in the folder for the moment

5 Click on the plus sign for Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar to expand the folder so that you can see the Backup folder

6 Click on Backup in the Explorer Bar

7 Select Edit gt Paste to paste the file into this folder

For Your Referencehellip To move a file

1 Click on the file to select it 2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the location where the files will be

moved 4 Select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you cut a file to the clipboard but no longer

wish to proceed with the move operation press to cancel

bull You can also drag a file from one location to another using the pointing device

2

5

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 33 Managing Files

MOVING FOLDERS TO ANOTHER DRIVE When you move folders to another drive Windows deletes them from the source drive and places them on the new drive This process will save time if you need to work on a different

computer and rather than copying the folder hierarchy to a floppy disk and deleting it from the old computer you can simply move it to a floppy disk and then move it to the new computer

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Forecasts folder on the Local Disk (C) drive in the Explorer Bar Lets move this folder branch to the floppy drivehellip

3 Select Edit gt Cut

4 Ensure that a formatted 3frac12 inch floppy disk is in the floppy drive

5 Select Edit gt Paste to move the folder hierarchy to the floppy disk drive

6 Click on ABC Manufacturing under Local Disk (C)

For Your Referencehellip To move folders to another drive

1 Open Windows Explorer and select the folders to be moved

2 Select Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the drive then select Edit gt Paste

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you move a folder and then realise that

you have moved the wrong folder you can easily rectify this using the undo feature To use this select Edit gt Undo Move

5

1

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 34 Managing Files

BACKING UP DATA One of the most important rules that you must remember when using computers is to back up your files regularly By this we mean to copy your files to a removable storage device such as a

floppy disk or CD so that for instance in the case of your computer crashing you will minimise data loss

Many professionals recommend that you make two or even three backups of all your files And to be particularly sure you should keep one backup in a different location from the others

If you think that this is a little over the top consider the following scenario

Imagine that you have been working on some very important documentation Youve been doing the right thing and have been making two backup copies to CD each night (just to be sure that at least one would work correctly if needed) and placing them in a locked drawer of your desk One day when you come into work you discover that your nextshydoorshyneighbours office in your building caught fire overnight but your office was saved by the very effective sprinkler system However your computer notes and lockedshyaway CDs have been destroyed by the water and smoke

If you had simply taken one of those CDs home with you each night you could have collected it and copied the files onto a new computer and continued working on your document right where you left off

Types Of Removable Storage Media Removable storage ndash which is sometimes called portable storage ndash can be broken down into three categories based on the technology used by the device to record and store data on the removable media

The first and oldest technology is in the form of magnetic drives which includes removable media storage such as floppy drives hard drives Zip and Jazz drives On magnetic disks the data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disks surface You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times

Secondly we have optical drives which are a collection of removable storage options such as CDshyROM DVD and MagnetoshyOptical Drives Optical disks record data by burning microscopic holes in the surface of the disk with a laser To read the disk another laser beam shines on the disk and detects the holes by changes in the reflection pattern The rewritable CDshyROM is currently the most popular backup and fileshysharing removable storage device

And thirdly we have Flash Memory (or SSD) This solid state disk is a highshyperformance plugshyandshyplay storage device that contains no moving parts Flash memory commonly found in digital cameras is considered a type of removable solidshystate storage Flash memory is small light and fast Due to its cost and capacity however it is used mainly in laptops digital cameras digital audio players handshyheld computers and video game consoles Flash memory works a lot like your computers memory but acts like a hard drive in terms of being able to store data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 35 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER

1

Folders can be deleted by selecting them and then using one of the appropriate deletion options ndash either the menu system or pressing the

key When you attempt to delete a folder

you will be prompted for confirmation to ensure that you havent accidentally chosen the wrong folder

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the Correspondence folder in the Explorer Bar

3 Select File gt Delete Since deletion needs to be carefully considered you will be prompted to confirm your intentionhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder

1 Click on the folder in either the right or left pane to select it

2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you delete a folder its contents will

also be deleted ndash so take care bull Fortunately deleted files and folders go to

the Recycle Bin where they may be recovered

1

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 36 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER HIERARCHY

1

Deleting a hierarchy is achieved the same way as deleting a folder Remember that when you delete a folder its contents including other folders within it are deleted also Therefore to

delete a folder hierarchy (or an entire branch) you only need to go up to the highest level and delete that folder

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder in the Explorer Bar

3 Select File gt Delete

Since deletion needs to be carefully considered you will now be prompted to confirm your intentionhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder

5 Click on the close button of the Windows Explorer

1

3

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder hierarchy

1 Click on the folder that represents the top level of the hierarchy to be deleted

2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you delete a folder with a hierarchy

below it the entire structure ndash contents and all ndash will be deleted This is a very efficient way of cleaning up a hard disk ndash or losing a lot of valuable data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 37 Managing Files

DELETING FILES

1

Files can be deleted by selecting them and then using one of the deletion options When you delete a file you will be prompted for confirmation to ensure that you havent accidentally chosen

the wrong file When you delete a file it is placed into the Recycle Bin ndash a temporary storage area Providing you are quick enough you can generally recover a deleted file from here if necessary

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTestdoc in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on MyTestFiledoc to select both of these files

You may need to scroll down the pane to see MyTestFiledochellip

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A message will be displayed asking you to confirm your intentionshellip

4 Click on [Yes] and the files will be removed from the folder and placed in the Recycle Bin

For Your Referencehellip To delete a file

1 Select the file or files to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Most problems with data deletion occur

when people think they know what they are doing and choose a wrong option ndash such as answering yes when they really should have answered no Always doubleshy and tripleshy check confirmations where data deletion is involved

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 38 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER WITH FILES

1

In Windows you can delete both files and folders If you wish to remove an entire folder and its contents you can quickly do this by deleting the folder The files that it contains will

be automatically deleted for you as well In fact everything in and below that folder is deleted in the process so you should exercise care when deleting a folder

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on the Backup folder in the right pane

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A confirmation message will be presented to youhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder and its contents

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder

1 Select the folder to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Be careful when deleting folders

Remember that folders can contain a deep hierarchy of other folders and files When you delete a folder all of its hierarchy will also be deleted

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 39 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FILES When you delete files from Windows Explorer or the My Computer window they may not be deleted permanently When you delete files Windows places them temporarily into the

Recycle Bin If you change you mind (in the not too distant future) you can display the contents of the Recycle Bin and from here you can restore any of the contents back to their original location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on MyTestFiledoc press and hold down and click on FileTestdoc

3 Select File gt Restore

After a moment the files will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the files to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar then scroll down the right pane to check that the files have been restored to the Course Files for Windows XP folder

For Your Referencehellip To restore a file from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the file or files to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull As a default 10 of the space on your hard

disk is used to store deleted files When the 10 capacity has been reached the oldest files in the Recycle Bin are purged by Windows ndash so dont expect to find your files there forever

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 36 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER HIERARCHY

1

Deleting a hierarchy is achieved the same way as deleting a folder Remember that when you delete a folder its contents including other folders within it are deleted also Therefore to

delete a folder hierarchy (or an entire branch) you only need to go up to the highest level and delete that folder

Try This Yourself

1 Before you begin ensure that the Windows Explorer is open and that you have a folder hierarchy as shownhellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder in the Explorer Bar

3 Select File gt Delete

Since deletion needs to be carefully considered you will now be prompted to confirm your intentionhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder

5 Click on the close button of the Windows Explorer

1

3

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder hierarchy

1 Click on the folder that represents the top level of the hierarchy to be deleted

2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you delete a folder with a hierarchy

below it the entire structure ndash contents and all ndash will be deleted This is a very efficient way of cleaning up a hard disk ndash or losing a lot of valuable data

LSBU shy IT Training Page 37 Managing Files

DELETING FILES

1

Files can be deleted by selecting them and then using one of the deletion options When you delete a file you will be prompted for confirmation to ensure that you havent accidentally chosen

the wrong file When you delete a file it is placed into the Recycle Bin ndash a temporary storage area Providing you are quick enough you can generally recover a deleted file from here if necessary

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTestdoc in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on MyTestFiledoc to select both of these files

You may need to scroll down the pane to see MyTestFiledochellip

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A message will be displayed asking you to confirm your intentionshellip

4 Click on [Yes] and the files will be removed from the folder and placed in the Recycle Bin

For Your Referencehellip To delete a file

1 Select the file or files to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Most problems with data deletion occur

when people think they know what they are doing and choose a wrong option ndash such as answering yes when they really should have answered no Always doubleshy and tripleshy check confirmations where data deletion is involved

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 38 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER WITH FILES

1

In Windows you can delete both files and folders If you wish to remove an entire folder and its contents you can quickly do this by deleting the folder The files that it contains will

be automatically deleted for you as well In fact everything in and below that folder is deleted in the process so you should exercise care when deleting a folder

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on the Backup folder in the right pane

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A confirmation message will be presented to youhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder and its contents

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder

1 Select the folder to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Be careful when deleting folders

Remember that folders can contain a deep hierarchy of other folders and files When you delete a folder all of its hierarchy will also be deleted

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 39 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FILES When you delete files from Windows Explorer or the My Computer window they may not be deleted permanently When you delete files Windows places them temporarily into the

Recycle Bin If you change you mind (in the not too distant future) you can display the contents of the Recycle Bin and from here you can restore any of the contents back to their original location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on MyTestFiledoc press and hold down and click on FileTestdoc

3 Select File gt Restore

After a moment the files will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the files to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar then scroll down the right pane to check that the files have been restored to the Course Files for Windows XP folder

For Your Referencehellip To restore a file from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the file or files to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull As a default 10 of the space on your hard

disk is used to store deleted files When the 10 capacity has been reached the oldest files in the Recycle Bin are purged by Windows ndash so dont expect to find your files there forever

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 37 Managing Files

DELETING FILES

1

Files can be deleted by selecting them and then using one of the deletion options When you delete a file you will be prompted for confirmation to ensure that you havent accidentally chosen

the wrong file When you delete a file it is placed into the Recycle Bin ndash a temporary storage area Providing you are quick enough you can generally recover a deleted file from here if necessary

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on FileTestdoc in the right pane press and hold down the key and click on MyTestFiledoc to select both of these files

You may need to scroll down the pane to see MyTestFiledochellip

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A message will be displayed asking you to confirm your intentionshellip

4 Click on [Yes] and the files will be removed from the folder and placed in the Recycle Bin

For Your Referencehellip To delete a file

1 Select the file or files to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Most problems with data deletion occur

when people think they know what they are doing and choose a wrong option ndash such as answering yes when they really should have answered no Always doubleshy and tripleshy check confirmations where data deletion is involved

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 38 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER WITH FILES

1

In Windows you can delete both files and folders If you wish to remove an entire folder and its contents you can quickly do this by deleting the folder The files that it contains will

be automatically deleted for you as well In fact everything in and below that folder is deleted in the process so you should exercise care when deleting a folder

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on the Backup folder in the right pane

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A confirmation message will be presented to youhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder and its contents

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder

1 Select the folder to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Be careful when deleting folders

Remember that folders can contain a deep hierarchy of other folders and files When you delete a folder all of its hierarchy will also be deleted

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 39 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FILES When you delete files from Windows Explorer or the My Computer window they may not be deleted permanently When you delete files Windows places them temporarily into the

Recycle Bin If you change you mind (in the not too distant future) you can display the contents of the Recycle Bin and from here you can restore any of the contents back to their original location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on MyTestFiledoc press and hold down and click on FileTestdoc

3 Select File gt Restore

After a moment the files will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the files to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar then scroll down the right pane to check that the files have been restored to the Course Files for Windows XP folder

For Your Referencehellip To restore a file from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the file or files to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull As a default 10 of the space on your hard

disk is used to store deleted files When the 10 capacity has been reached the oldest files in the Recycle Bin are purged by Windows ndash so dont expect to find your files there forever

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 38 Managing Files

DELETING AFOLDER WITH FILES

1

In Windows you can delete both files and folders If you wish to remove an entire folder and its contents you can quickly do this by deleting the folder The files that it contains will

be automatically deleted for you as well In fact everything in and below that folder is deleted in the process so you should exercise care when deleting a folder

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

2 Click on the Backup folder in the right pane

3 Select File gt Delete (or press )

A confirmation message will be presented to youhellip

4 Click on [Yes] to delete the folder and its contents

For Your Referencehellip To delete a folder

1 Select the folder to delete 2 Select File gt Delete 3 Click on [Yes] to confirm the deletion

Handy to Knowhellip bull Be careful when deleting folders

Remember that folders can contain a deep hierarchy of other folders and files When you delete a folder all of its hierarchy will also be deleted

2

3

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 39 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FILES When you delete files from Windows Explorer or the My Computer window they may not be deleted permanently When you delete files Windows places them temporarily into the

Recycle Bin If you change you mind (in the not too distant future) you can display the contents of the Recycle Bin and from here you can restore any of the contents back to their original location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on MyTestFiledoc press and hold down and click on FileTestdoc

3 Select File gt Restore

After a moment the files will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the files to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar then scroll down the right pane to check that the files have been restored to the Course Files for Windows XP folder

For Your Referencehellip To restore a file from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the file or files to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull As a default 10 of the space on your hard

disk is used to store deleted files When the 10 capacity has been reached the oldest files in the Recycle Bin are purged by Windows ndash so dont expect to find your files there forever

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 39 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FILES When you delete files from Windows Explorer or the My Computer window they may not be deleted permanently When you delete files Windows places them temporarily into the

Recycle Bin If you change you mind (in the not too distant future) you can display the contents of the Recycle Bin and from here you can restore any of the contents back to their original location

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on MyTestFiledoc press and hold down and click on FileTestdoc

3 Select File gt Restore

After a moment the files will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the files to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar then scroll down the right pane to check that the files have been restored to the Course Files for Windows XP folder

For Your Referencehellip To restore a file from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the file or files to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull As a default 10 of the space on your hard

disk is used to store deleted files When the 10 capacity has been reached the oldest files in the Recycle Bin are purged by Windows ndash so dont expect to find your files there forever

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 40 Managing Files

RESTORING DELETED FOLDERS In addition to files folders are also placed in the Recycle Bin when they are deleted As a result once you have displayed the Recycle Bin you can also restore deleted folders When you

restore deleted folders they will be recreated in the location from which they were deleted

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin Your contents will probably be different from those shown herehellip

2 Click on the ABC Manufacturing folder

3 Select File gt Restore After a moment the folder will disappear from the listing and you may notice that Windows displays a message telling you that it is restoring the folder to the Course Files for Windows XP folder Lets checkhellip

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar Notice that the ABC Manufacturing folder has appeared above the Course Files for Windows XP folder in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To restore a folder from the Recycle Bin

1 Select the folder or folders to restore in the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Restore

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you restore a file that was previously in a

folder that was subsequently deleted the file and the folder will be restored

2

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 41 Managing Files

EMPTYING THE RECYCLE BIN

1

The Recycle Bin should be emptied periodically to reclaim wasted disk storage space If your hard disk space is becoming critically low you can cheat and get a small reprieve by purging the

Recycle Bin and reclaiming the space currently occupied by deleted files You may also want to purge the Recycle Bin so that sensitive files cannot be restored by other people

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that Windows Explorer is openhellip

1 In the Explorer Bar (left pane) scroll down to and click on Recycle Bin to see the contents of the Recycle Bin

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin

You will be asked to confirm your intention of deleting the contents of the Recycle Bin Note that your message may specify a different number of items to be deletedhellip

3 Click on [Yes] to empty the Recycle Bin

4 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar

For Your Referencehellip To empty the Recycle Bin

1 Display the Recycle Bin in the Windows Explorer

2 Select File gt Empty Recycle Bin 3 Click on [Yes]

Handy to Knowhellip bull You should ensure that there is nothing in

the Recycle Bin that you wish to keep Once you empty the Recycle Bin there is no way of recovering the contents

2

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 42 Managing Files

FINDING AFILE BY NAME Sometimes it is easier to remember what we called a file than where we put it If this is the case you can use the file name or a part of it as the basis for your search The search facility in

Windows allows you to specify part or all of a file name and it will then use that name to locate the file (if it exists) in the location area that you specify

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search]

A list of files with the word temp in their name will appear in the white pane on the right Since the search is checking the hard disk it may take a while to finishhellip

6 After a few moments click on [Stop] to stop the search

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a file name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull The more information that you provide in All

or part of the file name the tighter the search will become For example if you type Contemporary Faxdot in All or part of the file name you will display many less search results than by typing only temp

2

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 43 Managing Files

FINDING AFOLDER BY NAME We can use the same method for locating a particular folder as we do for finding a file by name When you enter a keyword in All or part of the file nameWindows will use those words

to search for both files and folders that contain the keywords in their names

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu

2 Select Search to display the Search Results window

3 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for Lets look for the folder that contains our course files We know that its name starts with course files so lets start with thathellip

4 Type course files in All or part of the file name

5 Click on [Search] A list of files and folders with the words course files in their name will appear in the white pane on the righthellip

6 Click on the close button to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a folder by name

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders 3 Type a folder name and click on [Search]

Handy to Knowhellip bull When you hover over a folder that is listed

in the right pane Windows displays a summary about the folder in a large tool tip For example it tells you how big the folder is lists the names of any subfolders and begins to list the files that are in the folder

5

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 44 Managing Files

USING WILDCARDS FOR SEARCHING The role of a wildcard character is similar to that of the joker in card games You use it as a substitute The computer has two wildcard characters They are the asterisk () and the

question mark () You use these characters to help you when searching by name Whilst the asterisk substitutes for any number of characters the question mark replaces one character only

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on the drop arrow for Look in then click on My Computer

4 Type temp in All or part of the file name then click on [Search]

Now lets narrow down this search by asking for only those files whose name begins with temphellip

5 If the search has not finished click on [Stop] to stop it then click on Change file name or keywords under No refine this search and

6 Type temp and press to begin the search

The search results will return only those files or folders beginning with temphellip

7 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To use a wildcard character in a search

1 Type an asterisk () to substitute more than one letter

2 Type a question mark () to substitute a single letter in the current position

Handy to Knowhellip bull Remember replaces one letter while

replaces all remaining letters For example searching for files named Wat would find any files beginning with Wat such as Watsonia Watson Wattle However if you changed the search to Wat it would return only Watson and Wattle

6

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 45 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY DATE Sometimes the clearest memory we have of a file is not of its actual file name but more of when we worked on it For instance we may remember that we worked on it within the last few days or

at the time when a large order came in which was three weeks ago You can set conditions for your search on the basis of such dates

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click on When was it modified to display the date search options

4 Click on the Within the last week radio button

5 Click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results dialog box will return all of the files that were modified in the previous week and hopefully someone will have been creating or modifying files during that timehellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To search for a file by date

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on When was it modified then

specify the desired date option 3 Press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can also use the My Recent

Documents command on the Start menu to display the last 15 documents that you have worked on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 46 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY TYPE You may be asked to find a file that you have not worked on previously For example you might want to look for some clipart or a budget that you have seen in a papershybased format but never

electronically You have no idea what it is called or where it is stored In these cases you can search by file type

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on More advanced options to display additional search options

4 Click on the drop arrow for Type of file Lets look for JPEG fileshellip

5 Scroll down to and click on JPEG Image then click on [Search] to begin the search

The Search Results window will return all items that are JPEG pictureshellip

6 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by type

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on More advanced options then

click on the drop arrow for Type of file 3 Select the desired file type and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull In the Search Results window (just like

other Explorer windows) you can click on the various column headings to sort the resultant files by name folder size type or date modified To see all of these columns you may need to maximise the window or drag to reduce the widths of the columns

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 47 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY SIZE Size does matter If your network administrator keeps sending you reminders about cleaning up your files because you are close to exceeding your capacity you can use the Search facility to

look for largeshysized files Once found you can then decide whether or not to delete them

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Scroll down the search criteria pane on the left and click on What size is it to display size options

4 Click on the Medium (less than 1 MB) radio button then click on [Search]

The Search Results window will display all of the files on your computer that are smaller than 1 MBhellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by size

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Click on All files and folders then click on

What size is it 3 Select the desired file size and press

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can remove the dog from the Search

Results window To do this select Start gt Search click on Change preferences then click on Without an animated screen character under How do you want to use Search Companion

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 48 Managing Files

FINDING FILES BY CONTENT Well when all else fails and you cant remember a files name or when you last worked on it or even its approximate size perhaps you can remember some of the pertinent information that

it contains And if you can remember some of the key words in your document you can base a search on these

Try This Yourself

Ensure that Windows XP has started and that the desktop appearshellip

1 Click on to display the Start menu then select Search to display the Search Results window

2 Click on All files and folders under What do you want to search for

3 Click in A word or phrase in the file and type help

4 Click on [Search]

A list of files will appear All of these files contain the word help somewhere within their texthellip

5 Click on to close the Search Results window

For Your Referencehellip To find files by their content

1 Select Start gt Search 2 Type the text in A word or phrase in the

file 3 Press to begin the search

Handy to Knowhellip bull If the search takes too long you can

interrupt it by clicking on [Stop]

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 49 Managing Files

VIEWING RECENT DOCUMENTS A quick way to open a file that you have been working on very recently is via the My Recent Documents list This listing is available on the Windows Start menu You will find that opening a

file using this listing is much quicker than by first opening the application that you were using and then using the applications open menu command to open the file

Try This Yourself

Before you begin ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder appears in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the Explorer Bar so that you can see the files in the right pane

Before displaying the My Recent Documents list lets ensure that at least one of the course files is displayed in the listhellip

2 Doubleshyclick on Back Me Uptxt to open the file in Notepad then click on the close button to close Notepad

3 Click on to activate the Start menu then select My Recent Documents to display the My Recent Documents list This pane displays a listing of the files that you have opened most recently (Note that your list will look different to our example) Lets open a file from the listhellip

4 Click on Back Me Uptxt to again open the file in Notepad

5 Click on the close button to close Notepad

For Your Referencehellip To display the My Recent Documents list

1 Click on [Start] then select My Recent Documents

Handy to Knowhellip bull The My Recent Documents list displays

alphabetically the last 15 files that you have been working on

3

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 50 Managing Files

UNDERSTANDING DATACOMPRESSION Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual Data compression is particularly useful in communications For example it can dramatically

reduce eshymail transmission time because it enables the same amount of data to be transmitted but in fewer bits Data compression is also widely used in backup utilities as it efficiently archives documents

ZIP FilesWhen files are compressed their format will change according to the application that is used to create the compressed file As a result the compressed file typically needs to be read by the same or similar program as the one that was used to create it ndash the application can then interpret the format and present the data to the user

An example of a common file compression format is ZIP Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are known as ZIP files and they usually end with a ZIP extension

For example you may have a file photobmp (691KB) that when compressed using a data compression utility becomes photozip (444KB) And as you can see the file size has been significantly reduced during the compression

Windows XP provides its own data compression utility for creating ZIP files which we will be using for the following exercises This utility is known as the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature

The Compressed (zipped) Folders utility is accessible via the My Computer or Windows Explorer windows However if you have installed another data compression utility such as WinZip the Compressed (zipped) Folders utility will no longer be the default utility for handling ZIP files Instead you may see other ZIP menu options which you will be able to use to create and work with ZIP files

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 51 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES Compressing files is a breeze with Windows XP You simply open either the Windows Explorer or My Computer window select the files that you want to compress and then select the

appropriate menu option In this exercise we will use the Windows XP file compression utility If you have installed another utility you will need to modify the exercise to use your utility

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Click on Animationppt press and hold down and click on Fireworksavi and Flashy Movie Clipavi

2 Rightshyclick on one of the selected files to display a dropshydown menu

3 Select Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

4 Scroll down to the bottom of the window

Notice that the Animationzip folder has been created ndash it has a zipper in its folder icon It is 595KB which is smaller than the total of the three uncompressed files ndash 887KBhellip

5 Click on Windows Printing 1doc and drag it down onto Animationzip ndash notice that the folder has increased to 597KB

6 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to check that it contains four files

7 Click on to close the Animationzip window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired files 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull If you have installed WinZip on your

computer select Add to Zip at step 3 to open WinZip and then follow your nose

2

4

Tip You can create an empty zipped compressed folder by rightshyclicking on the desktop and selecting New gt Compress (zipped) Folder You can then rename it and drag in the desired files folders and programs via Windows Explorer ndash the new zipped folder will be on the Desktop so to see it click on Desktop in the left pane of Windows Explorer

Tip If you intend on sharing compressed folders with other users you may want to limit their folder names to eight characters followed by a zip file extension

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 52 Managing Files

COMPRESSING FILES AND PATHS In addition to compressing files by adding them to a compressed zipped file you can also compress entire folders and their content If you already have a compressed zipped folder you can simply

add the desired folders to this folder by dragging them onto the zipped folder Alternatively you can create a new zipped folder by selecting the folder and then using the menu system

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorer Lets start by creating a new folderhellip

1 Click on Course Files for Windows XP in the left pane then select File gt New gt Folder

2 Type Test then press

3 Click on Windows Printing 1doc press and hold down

then click on Windows Printing 4doc

4 Select Edit gt Copy click on the Test folder then select Edit gt Paste

Now lets zip both a folder and some fileshellip

5 Click on the Test folder press and hold down then click on My Booksmdb and My Librarymdb

6 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed (zipped) Folder

Notice that a new folder called My Bookszip has been created

7 Open My Bookszip to check that it contains a folder and two files then close the window

For Your Referencehellip To compress files and folders

1 Open Windows Explorer or My Computer

2 Select the desired folders (and files) 3 Select File gt Send To gt Compressed

(zipped) Folder

Handy to Knowhellip bull To view percentage of compression and

other file information for a compressed folder select View gt Details

6

7

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 53 Managing Files

EXTRACTING COMPRESSED FILES Although you can work with a Windows zipped folder and the files programs and folders that it contains just as you can with any other folder there will be times when you will need to extract

the files first Eg if a compressed folder contains a program that is dependent on other files that are contained in the folder before you can run the program you will first need to extract the files

Try This Yourself

Before starting this exercise ensure that the Course Files for Windows XP folder is open in Windows Explorerhellip

1 Doubleshyclick on Animationzip to display the Animationzip window Lets extract the four fileshellip

2 Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks to display the Extraction Wizard

3 Click on [Next] to display the second screen on the wizard ndash we need to change the folder to which the files will be extracted

4 Click on [Browse] to display the Select a destination dialog box navigate to the Course Files for Windows XP folder then click on [OK]

5 Click on [Next] ndash the Confirm File Replace box will be displayed For the sake of this exercise we wont replace any files

6 Click on [No] for each of the four files then click on [Cancel]

7 Close the Animationzip window

8 Repeat the previous steps to extract My Bookszip to the Course Files for Windows XP folder choosing to replace only the files in the Test folder

For Your Referencehellip To extract compressed files

1 Doubleshyclick on the zipped folder 2 Click on Extract all files to display the

wizard 3 Click on [Browse] to change the folder to

which the files will be extracted then follow the wizard prompts

Handy to Knowhellip bull You can open files directly from a

compressed folder or you can extract the files first before opening them

bull To extract a single file or folder doubleshyclick on the compressed folder click on [Folders] to change the view then drag the file or folder to a new location

2

3

Tip When you extract a file a compressed version remains in the compressed folder To delete the compressed version rightshyclick on the file and select Delete

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4

LSBU shy IT Training Page 54 Managing Files

NOTES

1

4