Exploring Your Computer
Now that you have the basic skills to work in the Windows desktop, as well as any dialog boxes that pop
up, it’s time to turn our attention to the one Windows program you’re likely to use more than any other.
Its name is Windows Explorer (or just Explorer, for short). As its name implies, its purpose is to enable
you to explore the contents of your computer.
There are lots of ways to start Explorer, as you’ll learn. For starters, either of these methods will do:
Click the Start button and choose My Documents.
Or, click the Start button and choose All Programs › Accessories › Windows Explorer.
Either way, Explorer will open, looking something like Figure 2-18. Like all windows, Explorer has a title
bar with Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close buttons, a menu bar, toolbar, and so forth. Unlike most
programs, however, Explorer doesn’t display its own name in its title bar. Instead, it displays whatever it
is that you’re exploring at the moment. In Figure 2-18, for example, Explorer’s title bar shows the
contents of the folder named My Documents. As you’ll learn shortly, My Documents is a folder on your
computer’s hard disk where you’ll store all your personal files.
Figure 2-18: Windows Explorer currently showing the contents of the My Documents folder, as indicated in
its title bar