About Folders
My Computer, My Documents, What the heck is all this stuff?
Folders - Folders are where everything is stored in Windows, just like the manila folders in a real office filing cabinet.
There should be an icon (a little picture) on your computer Desktop that looks like a little computer with a caption beneath that says 'My Computer' (in Vista it is just 'Computer'). If you click on the little icon, you will see something like this:
Screenshot 'My Computer' (Click on the 'Screenshot')
To make all of this more easily understood, think of all of this stuff like an physical office. Windows will probably make more sense this way.
You should also have an icon on your Desktop that looks like a tiny yellow file folder. It looks like it is open and has something on the top that is supposed to look like a piece of paper. This icon is captioned 'My Documents'. Click on the icon and you will see another screen with lots of little yellow folder icons and maybe some other stuff. If your computer is new, there may be only two or three folders.
Screenshot 'My Documents'.
When you open the My Documents folder by clicking on it, then you will see more folders. On a new computer these folders are usually named 'My Music' and 'My Pictures'. There may be some other folders as well.
Don't worry if this is confusing, once you learn more about Windows folders and files you will understand it.
It is a good idea to keep files in separate folders to make the files easier to find when you want to open them. So let's make a new folder. Click the right button of your mouse anywhere on a blank spot in the My Documents folder and select 'New', click 'Folder'.
Screenshot 'Make a new folder' screenshot.
Now you need to name the folder so you know what will be stored in the folder.
Screenshot 'Name the new folder' screenshot.
Screenshot We will name this folder 'My Movies'.
Now when you save a movie, save it in the 'My Movies' folder. If you save a picture to your computer, save it in the My Pictures folder. This will make it so much easier to find what you have saved!