When you've visited the links on the page
Getting Comfortable with Your Laptop, you'll understand what everything on your desktop
is and what it's for, and you'll understand how to make your desktop look and behave the way you want it to. The next step, then, is to become familiar with what's underneath the desktop--what's in the drawers, as it were.
The sites below discuss file and
folder
management for both Windows and Macintosh in depth. Studying the materials on these site will help you organize your work logically and locate it quickly. See also, of course, Nancy Hopkins's presentation on file management on the Materials page.
- Windows 98/2000: File Management
http://help.unc.edu/cgi-bin/getdocs?docnumber=dws17
If you don't read any of the other documents below, read this one. It's more
text-oriented than several of the others, but it's very clear and has a nice conversational tone. Good definitions of files, folders, and drives; covers Windows Explorer, My Computer, shortcuts, and
other useful topics. About 11 pp.
Windows 95/98 File Management
http://phoenix.liunet.edu/~it/cwp/003/fileman/filemanrw.html
This document is a hefty 19 pages, but it's only that long because it's
written in bullet points rather than in prose. In regular prose it'd probably be half that length or less. In Section V, File Management, you'll learn about My Computer and Windows Explorer and how
to perform basic file and folder functions--such as copying a file or creating a new folder. This document also provides quite a lot of more advanced information about formatting disks, choosing good
filenames, protecting files, compressing files, and so on; you might choose to skip that.
How to Save Your Files and Your Sanity
http://www.geekgirls.com/windows_saving_files.htm
You may recognize this site; I linked to it on the other page as well. I like this
article's reassuring tone of voice, at the beginning, and there are some useful tips for file management from within an application (as opposed to managing files with My Computer or Windows
Explorer). There is not, however, much explanation of what files and folders actually are. About 5 pp.
Windows Explorer: Managing Your Files
http://www.duke.edu/~dhewitt/tutorials/explorer/explor.html
This 8-page document is a great in-depth tutorial for using this particular
method of finding, saving, copying, moving, and deleting files, as well as creating folder directories. It includes not only great graphics, but also practice exercises. Personally, I almost always
use My Computer instead, though.
Computer Basics
http://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2001/modules/compbasics/index.html
For the purpose of this page, the most useful sections are those dealing
with files and folders in both Macintosh and Windows. This site really is a nice short overview; it was created for the Web Institute for Teachers (WIT), which sounds like an initiative we can relate
to.
Macintosh Structure (PDF file)
http://computing.vassar.edu/documentation/macdirectorystruct.pdf
Great graphics in this document--the Mac's strong point. A clear
illustration of what directory structure is (the concepts would apply equally well to Windows machines), but no explanation of how to create or work with folders and files. 4 pp.
File Management for Macintosh
http://computing.vassar.edu/documentation/FileManagement.html
Assumes that "You understand the basic functions of the Macintosh
Operating System. (Examples include: Renaming files and folders, clicking and double clicking, moving files and folders, cut, copy, paste, etc.)." This document does explain how to create a new
folder on a Mac and how to save files to it from within an application, but not much else. About 5 pp.
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