UNDERSTANDING THE COMPUTER WINDOW

The Computer window (called My Computer in earlier versions) is a Windows Explorer interface that starts at the top level of your system's file hierarchy. The Computer window shows icons for each of the available drives, plus an icon for accessing shared folders and any Web sites you've set up (for example, via a Web editor such as Microsoft FrontPage). Figure 2-7 points out some of the parts of the Computer window.

Figure 2-7: The Computer window enables you to access your system's drives and folders.
Figure 2-7: The Computer window enables you to access your system's drives and folders.

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This Computer window is actually a Windows Explorer window that displays the Computer level of the file system hierarchy. Windows Explorer is the generic name for file and folder management windows. Many of the shortcuts on the right side of the Start menu are shortcuts to various folders that open in Windows Explorer windows, such as Documents, Pictures, and so on.

No matter which location you're looking at, the Windows Explorer window itself is fairly consistent in its interface. For example, in Figure 2-7, notice the following parts of the window:

  • Favorite Links list: This list provides shortcuts to common locations. You can add your own favorite locations to this list by dragging a folder to the list.
  • Address bar: This shows the current location, and if it's within some other location, the path appears here as well. (You'll see a better example of this later in this lesson.)
  • Search box: You can use this to do a quick search at any time, so you don't have to open up the full Search window.
  • Details pane: You can get information about the selected location, folder, or file here.
  • Folders list: By default, the Folders list is collapsed; click its arrow, as indicated in Figure 2-7, to open it, as shown in Figure 2-8. It provides a tree-like structure, similar to that of the folder tree in previous Windows versions, from and to which you can drag-and-drop.
Figure 2-8: The Folders list is expanded.
Figure 2-8: The Folders list is expanded.

You can customize which of the previously listed elements appears in a file management window. Click Organize, point to Layout, and then select the element to turn on/off. The Favorite Links and Folders areas are collectively called the Navigation pane in this area.

Now that you're familiar with the Windows Vista interface, learn how to navigate in Windows Explorer.