ICT151

Computing Skills
Fundamentals

Lecture 2 – Windows and File Management

 Outline

• Desktop
• Desktop icons
• Adding, deleting, moving, hiding
• Window functionality
• Recycle bin
• Files, File attributes
• Folders
• File management tips
• Back-up
• Pathnames
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 Windows Desktop

• Main screen area that you see after you turn on

your computer and log on to Windows
• Windows main working surface area
• Like the top of an actual desk
• Resources can be accessed from the desktop
• All opened programs or folders appear on the
desktop (on the Taskbar)
• You can arrange desktop items (e.g. files and
• folders) however you want.

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Windows Desktop features
(windows 7)
Windows Desktop features
(Windows10)
 Desktop icons
• Small pictures on the desktop representing files,
folders, programs, and other items
• When you first start Windows, at least one icon
appears on your desktop:
• The Recycle Bin
• Below are some examples of desktop icons

How to open/start the item it represent?

- Double-click the desktop icon 6
 Notification area
 At the far right of the taskbar
 Has a clock and a group of icons

 Moving mouse over any icon will display icon-

specific information

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 Adding and removing icons

• Which icons should appear on the desktop?

• Add or remove icons at any time
• Most people
• Keep clean uncluttered desktop with few or no icons
• But others place dozens of icons on the desktop for
quick access to frequently used programs, files, and
folders
• Want easy access from the desktop to your favourite
• files/folders/programs?
• Create shortcuts to them.

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 Shortcut
• An icon that represents a link to an item,
rather than the item itself.
• When double-clicked, a shortcut item opens.
• Shortcut identification?
• By the arrow on their icon.

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 Adding shortcut to the desktop
1. Locate item you
want to create a
shortcut for.
2. Right-click the
3. item
4. Click Send to
5. click Desktop
(create shortcut).
6. The shortcut
icon appears
on your
desktop.
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 Removing an icon from desktop

• Right-click the icon

• Click Delete
• Click Yes to confirm
• Or No to cancel

• If icon is actual item

• item is deleted
• If icon is a shortcut
• shortcut is removed
BUT
• original item is not deleted
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 Adding/removing common
desktop icons
1. E.gs. Of common desktop icons:
1. Computer, Recycle Bin & your personal folders
2. Right-click an empty area of the desktop,
3. Click Personalize.
4. In the left pane, click Change desktop icons.
5. Under Desktop icons, select the check box for each
icon that you want to add to the desktop,
6. Or clear the check box for each icon to be removed
7. Click OK.

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 Moving icons around
• By default, Windows space icons evenly on an
invisible grid.
• Icons are stacked in columns on the left side.
• Not rigid: we can move icons by dragging them

• BUT you can have automatic icon arrangement

• How?
• Right-clicking an empty area of the desktop,
• Click View
• Then click Auto arrange icons.
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 Selecting multiple icons
• To move or delete a group of icons at once:
• First select all of them
• Click an empty desktop area
• Drag the mouse.
• Surround icons that you want to select with
the rectangle that appears.
• Release the mouse button.

• Selected icons can be dragged or deleted.

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 Hiding/Showing Desktop Icons
1. Right-click on any
blank portion of the
Desktop.
2. In the menu that
appears click View
3. Click Show
desktop icons.
If there was a tick next to this
option: it will disappear and the
desktop will display no icon BUT if
there was no tick, a tick will appear
and icons will be displayed

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 The Recycle Bin
• When a file/folder is deleted
• it doesn't get deleted right away
• it goes to the Recycle Bin.
• Brilliant isn’t?,
• We can recover accidentally deleted items
• BUT if you won't need the deleted items again
• You can empty the Recycle Bin.
• Item will be permanently deleted & disk
space is reclaimed

Empty Not empty 16

 Window functionality
• Title Bar
• Window control
buttons:
• Minimize
• Maximize
• Restore
• Close
• Scroll Bars
• Menu Bar
• Toolbar
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Window Basics
 Some Basic Concepts
• File: A resource for storing information
• Available to a computer program
• Usually based on some kind of durable storage.
• Is "durable"
• Remains available for other programs to use after
the program that created it finishes executing.
• It is a counterpart of paper documents which
traditionally are kept in office and library files

• Note: Almost all information stored in a computer

must be in a file.
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 File Names
• A collection of data or information that has a
name, called the <filename>.
• name part dot extension part e.g. lecture2.pptx
• In Windows <= 255 characters
• None of these allowed: \ / : * ? ” < > |
• Different types of files: data files, text files,
program files, directory files etc.
• Different types of files store different types of
information.
• E.g. program files ➔ programs, text files ➔ text
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 File Name extensions
• Extension gives type of contents
• Some examples of file extensions:
• .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word
document)
• .ppt and .pptx (PowerPoint)
• .xls and .xlsx (Excel)
• .htm (HTML file)
• .exe (executable)

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 File Attributes

• Settings associated with computer files

• They grant or deny certain rights to how
a user or the operating system can
access the file.
• E.g.
• computers running Microsoft Windows
have capabilities of having read, archive,
system, and hidden attributes

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 File Attributes cont.

 Read - File can only be read, nothing can be written

to the file
 Archive - Tells Windows Backup to backup the file.
 System - A file used exclusively by the operating
system. Should not be altered or deleted
 Hidden - File hidden from view under normal
viewing conditions
 Directory: This attribute is tagged to folders or sub-
folders to differentiate them from ordinary files
 Compressed: reduced file size (e.g. x.zip)
 Encrypted: prevent unauthorized access
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 Viewing File Attributes
1. Right-click filename
2. Select Properties

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 File Properties
• File properties. To view information about a file or
folder, right-click it and select Properties.
• Name
• Location
• Type
• Associated program
• Size
• Date created , modified, and
• accessed
 File Management
• File Management refers to organizing and
arranging files in a computer
• Can be done through a File Manager
• e.g. My Computer or Windows Explorer
• Used to navigate the file system and manage
Files and Folders
• Perform basic file operations
• View File properties
• Search for files
 Basic File Operations
▪ Create – create a new file
▪ Copy – Make copy of a file. If stored in the same
folder they cannot have the same name
▪ Move - Move file from original location to a new one
▪ Delete - Delete a file, i.e. move to the Recycle Bin.
Empty the bin to permanently delete the file
▪ Rename – Change the name of the file e.g. to reflect
changes made to the contents of a file e.g.
homework1.doc may be renamed to
homeworkFinal.doc.
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 Some tips for managing Files

 Give all files meaningful names

 All file revisions should be indicated on the
filename by adding the revision date/time
 Group all related files and store them in one
folder/directory
 Sort files by type, name, date etc. for easy
access
 Assign appropriate attributes to files
 Always have a backup

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 File Backup

• Files with extremely important data require back-

up
• Backing up files
• Means making copies of the files in a separate
location so that they can be restored if something
happens to the computer, or if deleted accidentally.
• A back-up process is used to protect against
disasters that might destroy the files

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 Folder/Directory
• A location that stores multiple files and
other folders
• Containers that are used to organize files
• They can contain regular files as well as other
folders
• Generally don’t have extensions just a name
• When in a command line, folders are referred
to as directories

• Icons of folders in Microsoft Windows

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 Creating Folders

1. Right-click on any
blank portion of
the Desktop.
2. Click New in the
menu that appears
3. Click Folder.

4. A new folder will

appear, given the
name New folder
by default.
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 Renaming Folders

1. Right-click on the
Folder you wish to
rename.
2. Click Rename
3. Type new name
4. Press ENTER
5. Type the new folder
name

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 File System
 Tree-like structure
 Disk storage space partitioned
 Disk drives are assigned letters e.g. C, D, etc.
 At the top of the structure is a root folder
showing the disk drive
C:(Root)

Documents Programs

ICT121 MAT111 Microsoft Office

Assignment1.docx …. 33
Basic Folder Structure

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 Pathnames
• Pathname:
• Path taken through a file system to reach a file
• Types:
• Absolute pathname: From the root E.g.
C:\Documents\ICT121\letter1.docx

• Relative pathname: From some given

location
• Not specified from the root but from a specified location
• Suppose you are currently in directory Documents
• Relative path to week1.doc can be specified as
ICT121\week1.docx
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 Finding a File

• Can use
1. Search box on Start menu
• search results are based on text
in the file name, text in the file,
tags, and other file properties

2. Search box in a folder (using File Manager)

 Finding a File
• Options Used
• Name
• Date
• Type .e.g. jpg, txt, exe
• Size (at least most)
Computing Skills 38