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Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition
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Browsing the File Explorer
To keep your programs and files neatly arranged,
Windows cleaned up the squeaky old file cabinet met-
aphor with whisper-quiet Windows icons. Inside File
Explorer, the icons represent your computer’s stor-
age areas, allowing you to copy, move, rename, or
delete your files before the investigators arrive.
To see your computer’s file cabinets — called drives
or disks in computer lingo — open the Start screen’s
File Explorer tile. The Start screen vanishes, and the
Windows desktop appears, with your files and folders
listed in File Explorer. File Explorer can display its
contents in many ways. To see your computer’s stor-
age areas, click the word Computer from the pane
along the left edge.
The File Explorer image shown in Figure 3-1 will look
slightly different from the one on your PC, but you’ll
still see the same basic sections, each described in
the upcoming list.
The File Explorer window comes with these main parts:
Navigation Pane: The handy Navigation Pane,
that strip along the left edge, lists shortcuts to
special folders called libraries that hold your
most valuable computerized possessions: your
Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos.
Hard Disk Drives: Shown in Figure 3-1, this area
lists your PC’s hard drives — your biggest storage
areas. Every computer has at least one harddrive.
Double-clicking a hard drive icon displays its files
and folders, but you’ll rarely find much useful
information when probing that way. No, your most
important files live in your Documents, Music,
Pictures, and Videos libraries, which live one click
away on the Navigation Pane.
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