If you’ve used an earlier version of Windows, you’ll notice that one of the big differences in Windows Explorer windows in Windows Vista is that there’s no menu bar. Instead, the main commands appear as command buttons and drop-down buttons on the toolbar. If you want to add the menu bar to Windows Explorer windows so that you can give commands much as you used to in earlier versions of Windows, click the Organize button, choose the Layout item on the menu, and then choose Menu Bar from the submenu. If you prefer to display the menu bar only momentarily when you need it, press the Alt key. You can then issue menu commands using either the keyboard or the mouse.

Understanding Links, Objects, and Properties

Windows presents information and folders to you in a variety of formats, including links, objects, and properties:

• The Favorite Links area contains links to folders. When you click a link once, Windows displays the linked folder.

• The items displayed on the right side of the screen are objects. An object is a general descriptor for a distinct entity on a computer - a file, a folder, a computer, and so on. Everything that you see in Windows Explorer is an object. A file is an object; a folder is an object; a computer you can see across the network is an object. Even the links displayed in the Favorite Links area are objects.

• Each object has properties - attributes - that you can view and, in some cases, set. For example, most objects have a name property that contains the name of the object. Many also have a read-only property that can be turned on and off and that determines whether a user can change the object if the property is off or not if the property is on. Most objects also have methods - actions associated with the object. For example, many objects have a click method that determines what takes place when you click the object. Link objects execute when you click them, whereas objects such as files and folders become selected when you click them and execute when you double-click them.

Explore Mode

The Computer window you opened in the previous section is pretty straightforward, but there’s one complication:

You can open Windows Explorer windows in two different modes:

Open mode and Explore mode. Open mode is the standard mode and doesn’t display the folders in the Folders bar in the left pane of the window; you can click the Folders bar to display the folders. Explore mode displays the folders, making moving up and down the directory tree easy. To open a Computer window in Explore mode, click the Start button, right-click the Computer item, and then choose Explore from the context menu.

Explore mode is easy to use, but the following details are worth knowing:

• Click a drive or folder in the Folders bar to display its contents in the right pane.

• You can select only one drive or folder at a time in the Folders bar, whereas you can select multiple drives or folders in the right pane.

• When you move the mouse pointer into the area of the Folders bar, Windows displays a little triangle next to each expandable item. Click the triangle to expand the item. Click the result- ing triangle to collapse the item again.

• You can move folders by dragging them about in the left pane or the right pane.

• To move an item to a folder that’s currently collapsed, drag the item to the parent and hover the mouse pointer there until Windows Explorer expands the collapsed folder.

• If you accidentally move a folder by dragging it when you intended only to select it, choose Organize Undo to put the folder back where it belongs.

Understanding Windows’ Folder Structure

This section discusses the folder structure that Windows creates on your hard drive. You don’t need to understand the folder structure in order to use Windows effectively, because the Favorite Links list provides an easy way to navigate among the folders that Windows wants you to use for the files you install, create, and use. But if you want to administer the computer and make the best use of Windows’ management features, understanding the folder structure is helpful. Windows places all these folders on the same drive on which Windows itself is installed.

Your Folder Structure May Be Different Than that Shown Here

The folder structure discussed in this section is the one you get when you install a fresh copy of Windows on your computer without changing any settings. If anyone has customized your computer, or if you’ve upgraded from a Windows XP installation that was itself an upgrade from an earlier version of Windows, your folder structure may be different. To start looking at the folder structure, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start Computer. Windows opens a Computer window showing your computer’s drives.

2. Double-click the hard disk drive that contains Windows. This drive’s icon includes a Windows symbol, as on the C:

drive shown here.

3. Windows displays a Local Disk window containing folders named Program Files, Users, and Windows. Depending on your computer manufacturer and administrator, you may see other folders too. But that’s not all the folders. By default, Windows hides what it calls protected operating system files - translation, any files or folders it would prefer you not to see or mess with. It also hides hidden files and folders - files and folders marked with the Hidden attribute. Windows and some programs mark some files with the Hidden attribute automatically to keep them out of your view, but you can also mark files as Hidden yourself if you feel you’ll benefit from doing so. To display hidden files and protected operating system files, follow these steps:

1. Choose Organize Folder and Search Options. Windows displays the Folder Options dialog box. 2. Click the View tab. Windows displays the View page 3. In the Advanced Settings list box, select the Show Hidden Files and Folders option button. By default, the Do Not Show Hidden Files and Folders option button is selected. 4. A little further down the Advanced Settings list box, clear the Hide Protected Operating System Files check box. Windows displays the Warning dialog box shown next when you clear this check box. 5. Click the Yes button. Windows closes the Warning dialog box and returns you to the Folder Options dialog box. 6. Click the OK button. Windows closes the Folder Options dialog box and applies the changes. The folder structure contains the Windows folder, the Program Files folder, the ProgramData folder, and the Users folder. The following sections discuss these folders. There’s also the $Recycle.Bin folder, which controls the Recycle Bin, and the System Volume Information folder, which Windows keeps locked against user intrusion to protect its contents. If Microsoft Office is installed on your computer, you may also see an MSOCache folder, which contains instal- lation files for the Office applications. You’ll also see several files, including autoexec, config.sys, hiberfil.sys, and pagefile.sys. You’ll learn about these files later in this article.

The Windows Folder

The Windows folder contains most of the files needed to keep Windows running. If you open this folder, you’ll see dozens of subfolders and files. You’ll seldom need to use any of these folders or files directly, as Windows manages them for you.

The Program Files Folder The Program Files folder is designed to hold almost all the files for all the programs on the computer. The setup routines for most programs know that they’re supposed to install the programs in the Program Files folder, and do so unless you explicitly specify a different location. There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, Microsoft puts some applications, including Notepad a limited text-editor program included with Windows in the Windows folder rather than in the Program Files folder. You’ll need to work with the contents of the Program Files folder only seldom - for example, when something goes wrong with an uninstall routine, or when you’re trying to perform a special tweak on a program. But you may well want to look through this folder to see what it contains.

The Users Folder

The Users folder contains the documents and settings for each user for whom you create an account on the computer and who has logged on at least once, together with a Guest folder for the Guest user if you’ve enabled the Guest account and a user has logged on to it. Windows recommends that each user put his or her own files and folders in the folders in his or her user account, which the user can access quickly via the links on the Start menu. For example, the Documents link on the Start menu takes the user to the Documents folder in his or her user account. Double-click the icon for the Users folder. The number of folders you see in your Users folder depends on the number of user accounts you set up on the computer. You see the following folders:

• User folders. Lily, Mick, and Will each have a folder.

• Guest folder. The Guest user has its own folder.

• Public folder. Windows provides the Public folder for sharing files and folders among users of this computer or on the network.

• All Users shortcut. This is a shortcut to the ProgramData folder. ProgramData contains items that are used for all users, such as Microsoft digital rights management DRM settings, user account pictures, and Windows Defender definitions and quarantined files.

• Default folder. This folder contains settings that are applied to all new users created until the user customizes them.

• Default User shortcut. This is a shortcut to the Default folder and is there for compatibility with programs that look for a Default User folder. Windows XP used a Default User folder.

Each user’s folder contains the same folder structure until the user changes it.

What Are All the Shortcuts in My User Folder?

As well as the folders explained in Table 5.1, your user folder also contains various shortcuts, such as Application Data, Cookies, Local Settings, My Documents, NetHood, PrintHood, Recent, SendTo, Start Menu, and Templates. Windows Vista includes these shortcuts for compatibility with applications designed for Windows XP, which used folders with these names. For example, NetHood contained information about the computer’s mappings to network drives, and PrintHood contained information about mappings to network printers.

These shortcuts are for programs rather than users. Windows Vista doesn’t let you access the folders to which these shortcuts are mapped via the shortcuts. If you double-click one of these shortcuts, you see a Location Is Not Available message box such as this:

The Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos Folders

The Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders are where Windows suggests you keep all your data files, music files, pictures, and video files except those that you share with other people. You can rename any of these folders if you choose. There are two main advantages to using these folders:

• You have a central point of administration that you can protect or back up easily.

• All Windows Vista–aware programs know where to look for files.

The Documents link, Pictures link, and Music link on the Start menu displays the Documents, Pictures, or Music folder respectively for the user who is currently active. For example, when Paula is logged on and active, choosing Start Documents causes Windows Explorer to display the Users\Paula\Documents folder rather than any other user’s Documents folder.

As with the shortcuts in the user’s folder, these shortcuts are for the use of programs rather than users.

Moving Your Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos Folder

You can move your Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos folder from its default location. For example, you may need to move a folder to another drive that has more space available or gives bet- ter performance; or you may want to place a folder on a networked drive so that you can access your files from any computer connected to the network. To move one of these folders, take the following steps:

1. Click the Start button, and then click your username on the Start menu. Windows opens an Windows Explorer window showing your user account.

2. Right-click the Documents folder, the Music folder, the Pictures folder, or the Videos folder, and then choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Windows displays the Properties dialog box.

3. Click the Location tab. Windows displays the Location page. The text box shows the current folder that contains the folder.

4. Click the Move button. Windows displays the Select a Destination dialog box.

5. Select the folder, and then click the Select Folder button. Windows displays the Move Folder dialog box, as shown here asking if you want to move all the files from the old location to the new location. It’s best to move all the items; if you don’t, your user folder displays two fold- ers of this type, one for the new folder and one for the old one - for example, two Documents folders. Having two folders can be confusing.

6. Click the Yes button if you want to move the documents; otherwise, click the No button.