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Jim Rader's Web site www.rader.org |
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Creating, Editing, and Deleting Files and Folders Each application on your computer creates files of a particular type.
You can also create and edit simple text documents and graphics using the tools that come with Windows XP. As you create these files, you will want to create folders in which to organize the files for easy retrieval.
When you buy a computer these days, it likely comes with a hard
disk that will store more than 20 gigabytes (GB) of information. Some of your files will be very small—1 to 2 kilobytes (KB), or 1000 to 2000 bytes—and others might be quite large—several megabytes (MB), or several million bytes. In this exercise, you will create a new folder and two new files: a text document and a picture. Follow these steps: 1. Log on to Windows, if you have not already done so. 2. If the Address toolbar is not open on the taskbar, open it by right-clicking the taskbar, pointing to Toolbars on the shortcut menu, and clicking Address. Then resize the toolbar by dragging the dotted line to the left. 3. Click in the Address box, and type C:\My Documents 4. Click the Go button. The window for the specified folder opens in Windows Explorer. The folder is empty. 5. Click the Views button, make sure that Tiles is selected on the drop-down menu, and then click away from the menu to close it. 6. Read the list of tasks currently available on the File and Folder Tasks menu. Because the folder doesn’t contain any files, all three available options are related to folders. 7. On the File and Folder Tasks menu, click Make a new folder. A new folder is created with the name New Folder. The file name is selected so that you can change it: 8. Type My Folder, and then press Enter. 9. Double-click your new folder to open it. 10. Right-click the empty right pane, and on the shortcut menu, point to New, and then click Text Document. A new text document is created with the name New Text Document. The file name is selected so that you can change it. 11. Type My Text File, and then press Enter. The file is renamed, and the file name, file type, and file size are displayed next to the file’s icon. Because the file is empty, the size is 0 KB. The File and Folder Tasks menu changes to reflect the addition of your new file. 12. Double-click the file icon. The text document opens in the Notepad program, where you can edit it. 13. Type This is a text file that I created in Windows Notepad. 14. Click the file’s Close button to close the file, and click Yes when you are prompted to save your changes. The file information changes to reflect a new file size of 1 KB. 15. Right-click an empty area of the right pane, and on the shortcut menu, point to New, and then click Bitmap Image. A new graphic file is created with the name New Bitmap Image. The file name is selected so that you can change it. 16. Type My Graphic File, and then press Enter. The file is renamed, and the file name and file type are displayed next to the file’s icon. 17. Right-click the graphic file, and click Edit on the shortcut menu. The file opens in the Microsoft Paint program: Because it is a new file, the canvas is empty. 18. Click the Maximize button to make the window fit the screen. 19. Experiment with the Paint tools as you paint a picture of any kind. (Click a tool, move the pointer over the blank canvas, and drag the pointer to use the tool.) When you’re done, click the Paint window’s Close button, and click Yes when you are prompted to save your changes. The file information changes to reflect the size of the graphic; in this case, the file is 400 pixels wide x 300 pixels high. 20. Click the My Folder folder to select it.
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