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More on Windows Explorer

 

Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is the file manager application for the Windows operating system. It can be accessed in a number of ways. If you get to it through 'My Computer', it will start with a list of the drives on your computer and will look similar to the following image:

If you get to Windows Explorer through 'my pictures' (from the START menu), it will look something like the following image. Notice that it reads 'My Pictures' on the blue title bar at the top of the page.

If you get to it through 'my music', it will look similar to the following image. If you look at the address bar below, you can see that the music and pictures folders are in the 'My Documents' folder. You can also see that the 'My Documents' folder is in the 'a1' folder ('a1' is the active user name). The 'a1' folder is in the 'documents and settings' folder which is stored on hard drive C. Now, you don't have to remember this. I'm simply trying to get you to be aware of the general directory structure on a computer.

And if you get to Windows Explorer through 'My Documments', it will look a little like the following image.

If you want to see the full hierarchical structure, look at the image below. The 'My Documents' section at the top of the left pane is essentially a shortcut to the 'my documents' folder shown in the expanded view of the folders below it. If you access Windows Explorer by going to START >> ALL PROGRAMS >> ACCESSORIES >> WINDOWS EXPLORER, it will look much like this image.

I know that, for some people, this page may seem like overkill on the whole 'Windows Explorer' thing but I've found that too many people have far too much trouble understanding and navigating through files. If you still have trouble understanding some aspect of navigating through the files and folders on your computer, email me. If there is something that is commonly misunderstood, I will try to cover it in the tutorial.

The Scrollbar

I didn't realize it but some people don't know how to use all of the features of the scrollbar. Here they are:

  • If you click on the scrollbar 'handle' and drag your mouse (while the left mouse button is held down), you scroll the page. If no handle is present, the entire contents of the page are displayed.
  • The size of the handle is representative of the percentage of the entire page that you see on the screen. If the handle is ~90% of the window height, you're viewing ~90% of the total content of the page. Only when the page is VERY long is the handle a fixed size (you wouldn't want it to get too small to grab).
  • If you click above the handle, you go up one full page. Click below it and you go down one full page. If you click and hold above or below the handle, the page scrolls at about 2-3 times a second until you release the mouse button or until the handle falls under the mouse.
  • If you click on the scrollbar arrows, you move up/down one line. Holding the arrows down will also scroll at 2-3 steps per second as above except the steps will be single lines.
  • Of course, you can also use your scroll-wheel on your mouse. If it won't scroll, click on a clear area in the window.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

If you have any suggestions for this page or for the computer pages in general, please Email me.
If you're interested in electronics or car audio, you may be interested in my car audio site. It has lots of graphics and covers virtually everything associated with car audio.
If you're interested in macro photography basics or want to see lots of close-ups of insects and spiders, you may be interested in my macro-photography site.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Perry Babin 2005
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