How Your Computer Stores Information

Your computer stores information on a hard drive. This is usually called drive C: If you insert a floppy disk (which isn't floppy), that is called drive A:. If you have a CD-ROM drive, that is usually called drive D:. However, if you have more than one hard drive or your hard drive is partitioned, it could be a letter after that.

A file is a way to store some sort of data or information. A file always has a name and a type. It has a picture icon which helps identify the file type. A file can be a document you created or it can be part of a program you use to create documents. A document file can contain text, pictures, sounds, or a combination. A program file can be used only as part of the program. You usually can't open it up and see what's inside because it's written in programming code. Everything on your computer is stored in files.

Most program files are already organized for you when you install the program. It's up to you to organize your document files so you can find them when you need them. For that reason, you create folders for them and possibly folders inside of folders.

Most versions of Windows come with a folder called My Documents where you can put files that you create. You can create subfolders inside that folder or anywhere else you want to organize your document files.

To manage your files, use My Computer or Windows Explorer.