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I hate filing my income taxes, I can never find anything I need. Well, had I
actually filed my receipts somewhere I wouldn't have so much trouble finding
them. Computers don't have this problem, they store everything in files and a
they know exactly where those files are. Every file is in a directory and
every directory is in a drive. Computers have
drives
,
directories
and
files
.
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Drives
in Windows computers come in three basic flavours:
a:
,
c:
, and
d:
.
Typically, the
a:
drive reads from and writes to diskettes and is called the
floppy drive. The
c:
drive is the Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or simply the hard
drive. The
d:
drive is the CDROM. There are many, many variations. In case
you were wondering, the b: drive went the way of the passenger pigeon and the
dodo, you still see some in museums, but they're dead.
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Directories
are so much like file folders that the terms “directory” and
“folder” are used interchangeably. Directories have a unique property; they
can contain other directories, called sub-directories.
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Files
have two parts separated by a dot, the file name and the file
extension. The extension which tells you what kind of file it is. For example,
your tax file might be called
2000.
tax
. The file name is
2000
.
The
file extension,
tax
tells us that
2000
is a file of the type called
tax
.
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If I had actually put away last year's tax return and I wanted to see it, I
would go to the file cabinet, open the drawer marked
A – Z
, pull out the folder
marked
Revenue Canada
and remove the papers marked
2000
.
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I could describe this
task in a kind of short-hand:
A-Z
\
Revenue Canada
\
2000
.
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Suppose that my tax file was stored in my computer instead of the filing
cabinet or on top of the piano. I would go to the filing cabinet by
double-clicking
My Computer
. I would open the A – Z drawer by double-clicking
C:
. I would pull out the file folder marked Revenue Canada by double-clicking
the folder
Revenue Canada
. Finally, instead of pulling out the envelope marked 2000, I
would double-click
2000.tax
.
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In our special shorthand we would say:
C:
\
Revenue Canada
\
2000.tax
.
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Our special shorthand is really a step-by-step set of instructions that tells
the computer where to find our file. The step-by-step set of instructions is
called the
file path
or, more simply, the
path
.
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You can use Windows Explorer to see all the drives, directories, and files on
your computer. Click on the Start button, select Programs, and click
Windows Explorer. Try clicking on the plus and minus icons, or double-clicking
a folder to see what happens. Windows Explorer is a very powerful tool and
should be treated with caution. To undo anything that makes you nervous by
select Edit from the menu bar, then click Undo in the drop down menu.
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Understanding the way that computers handle files is the single most important
step you can take toward understanding computers.
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