The Windows Folder System

Has it ever happened to you that you download a file and have no clue where to find it? Have you noticed that window that shows you a bunch of folders and the name of your file but don't pay attention to it and just click save? Well those folders are part of a not-as-complex-as-you-think system of storage. It's the windows way of organizing your files. It starts with the basic drives. Most computers have A: (the floppy disc drive) C: (the hard drive) and some other letter--usually M: or D:--  (the CD-Rom Drive). 

Here is a shot from Windows Explorer which can be accessed by clicking the start menu with the RIGHT mouse button and selecting 'Explore'. The A: is the floppy. The C: is the hard drive. The M: is the CD-Rom and the D: is the Zip drive which is another form of floppy and has nothing to do with WinZip or .zip files, but I'm getting too far ahead of myself. 

Notice the +'s next to each drive. If you click on this or double click on the drive name, the drive will expand and you will see it's contents.

Inside of the drive are folders. And inside the folders are probably more folders. And maybe more folders in those folders! But in each of those folders there are also files.

If you used AOL to download a file, most likely it's in the download folder inside of the AOL folder. Here's how to get there...

Start by opening up 'My Computer' (it's probably the first thing on your desktop.) 

Go to C:

Go to America Online 5.0 or 6.0 or whatever version you have

Go to download.

If you want to go back from a file into the previous file, just hit when using My Computer or the button when downloading a file.

The Folder Address Method:

When you want to tell someone where to put a file, instead of typing "go to __, now go to ___, now ___..." you can do it in a simple address.

Addresses start with the drive letter and a slash.

C:/

After the slash you put the folder you go into next.

C:/Program Files

If the destination folder is inside this folder, then you add a slash and the new folder.

C:/Program Files/AOL

And when you want to show a file in the folder, you use yet another slash.

C:/Program Files/AOL/aol.exe

Remember to always put the extension of the file.

Now instead of typing "Go to the C: drive. Now go to Program Files. Now go to AOL. Now click on AOL.exe" you can just type "Go to C:/Program Files/AOL/aol.exe"

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