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If you're going to get any work done, you have to interact with Windows. If Windows is going to get any work done, it has to interact with you. Fair 'nuff.
Computer geeks refer to the way Windows interacts with people as the human/computer interface. Windows Explorer lies at the center of this interface. When you want to work with Windows — ask it where it stuck your wedding pictures, show it how to mangle your files, tell it (literally) where to go — you usually use Windows Explorer.
If you choose Start --> My Documents or Start --> My Computer or Start --> My Pictures or My Music or My Network Places, Windows Explorer jumps to your command, pointing at whatever location you selected. When you run a search with Start --> Search, Windows Explorer takes the reins.
 | Windows Explorer takes a snapshot of your hard drive and presents that snapshot to you. If the contents of the hard drive change, the snapshot is not automatically updated, which can be a real problem. Say you're using Windows Explorer to leaf through the files in My Documents. You suddenly realize that you need to write a letter to your Aunt Emma, so you start Word and write the letter, saving it in My Documents. If you switch back to Windows Explorer, you may not be able to see the letter to Aunt Emma: The snapshot may not be updated. To force Windows Explorer to update its snapshot, you can close it down and start it again, or you can press F5. |
The following are some Windows Explorer high points:
- The name of the current folder appears in the title bar. If you click once on a file or folder, details for the selected file or folder appear in the Details box in the lower-left corner. If you double-click on a folder, it becomes the current folder. If you double-click on a document, it opens. (For example, if you double-click on a Word document, Windows fires up Word and has it start with that document open and ready for work.)
- Almost any actions that you want to perform on files or folders show up in the File and Folder Tasks list in the upper-left corner of Windows Explorer. Provided you know the secret, that is! You have to click once on a folder before the list of folder actions becomes visible; and you have to click once on a file before you can see the list of file actions. So if you're trying to copy a file, and you don't see Copy File in the list of File and Folder Tasks, click the file you want to copy first. When you do, Copy This File shows up in the list of Tasks.
- You can open as many copies of Windows Explorer as you like. That can be very helpful if you like to multitask and you want to look in several places at once. Simply choose Start --> My Documents (or My Computer), and a totally independent copy of Windows Explorer appears, ready for your finagling.
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