Windows XP Tutorial Part 5 - copy/delete/rename files/folders

In this 5th part of our Win XP tutorial, we will look at how to create, copy, rename and delete folders, as well as how to rename, copy and delete files.

Creating a new folder or folders
As mentioned there are numerous ways to create a new folder in Win XP, we will look at only one method here.

Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the drive or folder in which you want to create your new folder, for our example we are going to create a new folder in our pc courses folder.

The steps are:
1. right click anywhere in the white space (fig 1.1) and hover the mouse over new
2. then click on folder from the sub-menu that appears as shown in fig 1.2 below.





You will then be prompted to name the folder (as shown in fig 1.3 on the left), simply type in the name and then press the enter (return) key, we are going to name our folder example C.

Try and be as descriptive as you can when naming folders, and avoid using any punctuation symbols in the names.

Copying, Deleting, and Renaming Files and Folders

All of these tasks are straight forward and can all be achieved using the same method. First, navigate to the folder where the file or folder is stored, then right click on the file/folder of interest, you will be presented with a menu similar to that shown in fig 1.4.

Your menu may vary, we have pointed out 3 options:

1. copy - clicking on this option will copy the file or folder into (the clipboard) memory, you can then navigate to the folder where you want to copy the file to, right click (as if making a new folder) in the right hand pane and select paste from the menu that appears.

2. delete - this option will delete the file or folder (send it to the recycle bin), Windows XP will prompt you for confirmation first.

3. rename - this option allows you to rename the file or folder, simply type in the new name and press the enter (return) key.

For quicker ways of achieving the above tasks, see our guide to Keyboard Shortcuts.

The Windows XP Explorer using My Computer - Tutorial Part 4

Welcome to the 4th part of our Windows XP tutorial, in this section we will give you an introduction to Windows Explorer and how to open it, and look at a method for navigating through your file system.

Opening Windows Explorer
An integral part of using your PC is file management, at some point you will want to make a new folder or delete a file. Windows Explorer has been around since Windows 95 and is a very handy tool for managing your files and folders.

Windows Explorer is basically the same environment as My Computer except it has a folders list shown by default (which can be turned on anyway in the My computer environment, making them exactly the same), so all of the tasks in this section can be achieved using either Windows Explorer or the My Computer enviroment.

To Open Windows Explorer
There are a few ways to open Windows Explorer, here are 4 different methods:

Method 1
Click on the START button, hover your mouse over the All Programs (or programs in classic view) and then hover over Accessories, finally click on Windows Explorer.

Method 2
hold down the START button and press the E key.

Method 3
click the START button, click run, type explorer into the box and press enter.

Method 4
open My Computer and click on the Folders button at the top of the My Computer environment.
Whichever method you choose to use it has the same results.

Navigating through your drives and folders
When you have opened Windows Explorer (or opened my computer and then clicked the folders button) you will see something similar to that shown in fig 1.1 below:

You can see Windows Explorer is split into two parts, the left hand side which is called the folders list (A in fig 1.1) and the right hand side (B in fig 1.1) which is where you will be managing your files and folders.

First let's concentrate on the folders list, you may have noticed the small plus sign (+) next to some of the icons, these indicate that the drive/folder has more folders inside it.

The file system of your PC is organised in a hierarchical way, below is an example:
The Disk or Device is the upper hierarchical level and is known as the root.

Notice how the folders are organised, this type of structure can facilitate a very organised PC !

In the following example the disk or device is Local Disk (C:).

In fig 1.3 below we have navigated to the pc course folder on Local Disk (C:).

1. First we clicked on the small arrow next to the My Computer icon
2. then clicking the arrow next to Local Disk (C:)
3. and finally left clicking on the pc courses folder in the left pane.

Now that we have navigated to it, if we wanted we could make some changes to our pc courses folder, which is exactly what we are going to do in the next part of our tutorial.

Note: you can also navigate through your folders by double clicking a folder in the right hand window

The Windows XP Desktop & Icons - Tutorial Part 1

The first part of the tutorial we will have a look at the Desktop, introduce you to icons and the taskbar.

Below in fig 1.1 you can see an example of the Windows XP desktop, when you first switch on your machine and Windows XP loads it usually looks similar to that shown in our example, although Windows XP by default has a picture for the desktop background.

Desktop refers to the main background area (in our example the white area), you can customise your desktop by adding background pictures, changing the background colour, changing the size of the icons, and more.

Introduction to Icons
Icons are small graphical images that can represent your computer's programs, files, folders and printers amongst other things (see fig 1.1).

To activate the program/file/folder that an icon represents you simply double click (two clicks in quick succession) on it with the left mouse button, this will activate the icon and either start a program or open a file/folder.

The icons on your desktop can be renamed by right clicking on them and selecting rename, similarly they can be deleted by right clicking and selecting delete.

It's possible to create your own icons for programs, files, folders, etc.
See our guide to creating desktop shortcuts in our tips and tricks section.

In our example we have two icons, the outlook icon is for example purposes only, by default you will usually just have the recycle bin icon which is explained below:

Recycle Bin
When you delete a file, Windows XP will place the file into the recycle bin instead of deleting it altogether, this allows you to restore the file in case you deleted it by mistake. For example say you deleted a file by accident you could double click on the recycle bin icon to see its contents, and then restore the file back to where you deleted it from by right clicking on it and then selecting restore from the menu that appears.

Note: some files may be too big to be stored in the recycle bin, but Windows XP should warn you if you delete a file that cannot be restored.

Keeping the Desktop tidy
The more you use Windows XP the more your desktop may start to fill up with icons, either because you install more software or you create your own icons.

Windows XP can automatically align and sort your desktop icons to keep the desktop tidy, to achieve this click the right mouse button anywhere on the desktop and a menu will appear (similar to that shown in fig 1.2), hover the mouse pointer over Arrange Icons By and a submenu will appear, from here you can sort your desktop icons by name, size, type and last modified date. Selecting the Auto Arrange option will automatically align your desktop icons every time you add one to the desktop.

The Desktop Cleanup Wizard will remove any desktop shortcuts that have never been used to a new folder on your desktop called Unused Desktop Shortcuts.