Albert

Windows Explorer Scavenger Hunt

Launch Windows Explorer as follows and complete the exercises and questions below:

Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Windows Explorer

Exercises:

1. What folder or drive are you currently looking at?

To find out, look at the folder or drive name in the blue title bar at the top of the window.

1. There are six “menus” in Windows Explorer.  What are they?  Click on each and note at least one task that can be accomplished using that menu.

1. Look at the folders and items listed in the left column.  Which one is currently highlighted?  Click on a different one to highlight it.  What happens in the blue title bar at the top?

1. Click on a + or – to the left of “My Computer.”  What happens?  Click on it again so that the contents are displayed and there is a – next to it.

1. What items are listed under “My Computer?”  Look at the area to the right.  How does it correspond with the list under My Computer?

1. Look for “Local Disk (C:).  What component of the computer does that represent?  Look to the right in the “Total Size” column; this tells the total size of the hard drive.  What is the size?  What does that mean?  Look further to the right under the “Free Space” column.  How much space is left on that hard drive?  About what fraction or percentage is that?

1. Are any network drives listed?  If not, what might that mean?  If there are, what are they for?  What other drives are listed?  (CD-ROM, DVD?  “Removable media?”)  What letters are assigned to each?  How much space does each have?

1. Click the + next to “My Documents” in the left column.  What does or doesn’t happen in the right panel?  Now click on the actual name “My Documents.”  What happens?

1. With My Documents active, right-click in the panel to the right.  Click New.  Click Folder.  What happens?  Pick a name for your new folder (e.g. Test Folder)  Click the folder’s name and type in the name you chose.

10.  Double-click the new folder.  What is in it?  To get back “out” of that folder, use the “Up” icon on the tool bar, which looks like a folder with an upward pointing green arrow.  (This icon is just to the left of the Search button.)

11.  Find a few files you think you no longer need in the panel on the right.  Click on them one at a time and drag them to your new folder on the left.

12.  Now click on the new folder name on the left.  What is in there now?

13.  If you are certain you can delete those files, now drag them to the Recycle bin on the left.  (Note:  You can also delete them by clicking each one to highlight it and the pressing the Delete button on the keyboard.  You will be prompted if you’re sure you want to move the item to the recycle bin.)  Click the Up icon to get “out” of your new folder.

14.  To move several items at once, you can Ctrl-click on them and then move them.  Locate at least two files in the right panel that you want to move to your new folder.  (You will not delete these.)  Click the first one.  Now hold down the Ctrl key as you click on each of the others with your mouse pointer.  They should all be highlighted now.  Click on any one of them and drag it to your new folder.  All of them should move to the new folder.

15.  Click your new folder name to display its contents.  Select all of the files in the folder in one of the following ways:

1. Press Ctrl-A on your keyboard  OR
2. Click the top one, hold down the shift key, then click the bottom one  OR
3. Click the Edit menu, then click Select All

Right-click on any one of the files and click Cut.  Click the Up icon on the tool bar to get out of your new folder.  On the list of files in My Documents (where you should now be,) right-click, then click Paste.  Your files should now re-appear back in My Documents.  Click your new folder again.  What is in there?

16.  Repeat items 14 and 15, but in the second part of item 15, right-click on one of the highlighted files and click Copy (rather than Cut.)  Complete item 15.  Now open your new folder again.  What is in there?  (You should have TWO copies of each file: one in My Documents and one in your new folder.  This because you COPIED the files rather than cutting and pasting.

17.  Click on a file that you think has a long, complicated name.  Wait a second, and click it again.  The name should highlight with a box around it – indicating that you can rename the file.  Type in a new name (or edit the name by deleting or adding characters).  Make SURE to keep the “extension” (the part of the file name after the .) the same as before since this indicates what type of file it is.  What file name extensions indicated what?

.doc     .xls       .exe      .pdf     .ppt

18.  With the list of the files in My Documents on the right, make sure that your files are displayed as a list with details.  If they are not, click the View menu and click Details.  Now, sort your files by date by clicking the Date Modified heading.  Click the heading again.  What happens?  Click the Date Modified heading until the oldest files are displayed first.  How old is the oldest file?  The newest?

19.  Click the Size heading to sort the files by size.  What is your largest file?  What is the smallest?

20.  Click the Type heading.  What happens?  Click the Name heading.  Note that folders always stay at the top of any list.

21.  Click the Desktop item in the left column.  Note the items on the right whose icons have small arrows in their lower left corner.  What do those mean?  Are there any items “cluttering up” your desktop?  If so, where could/should you move them? 

22.  Create a strategy to organize your files into several folders by creating folders and moving files as described above.  Organize your desktop and items in My Documents.  Remember, if you have an iFolder folder, anything inside of that gets backed up to the iFolder server; anything outside of that folder could be lost if your hard-drive crashes!