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More Articles
Sept. 1998 - "Now is the Time"
Oct. 1998 - "What is the Internet?"
Nov. 1998 - "It's an Email World"
Jan. 1999 - "Little Help from a ..."
Jan. 1999 - "Is the Internet Safe?"
Mar. 1999 - "Desktop Clutter"
Apr. 1999 - "Searching the Net"
May 1999 - "What's in Domain Name?"
June 1999 - "Inernet Chaperones"
July 1999 - "Mind Your Online Manners"
Aug 1999 - " Chasing the Porsche"
Sept. 1999 - "Buying Hardware"
Oct. 1999 - "Buying Software" |
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(This article was originally published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune)
Help! My desktop is a cluttered mess! How can I find anything?
The lament of every office worker now plagues them twice; organizing
their physical desk and their computer desktop. As any office
worker can attest, keeping all that paper organized is a monumental
task. The computer desktop is probably harder because computer
files are so easy to create and equally easy to lose.
Those who do not work in an office are now faced with an unfamiliar
chore; how to find files they created in their computer. The new
computer user shakes his head right after hitting the Save or
Save As key. Now where is it?
Although I have restricted my previous six columns to the internet,
it occurred to me that many users, new and old alike, need help
organizing their files.
I’m no expert at this, but thought I might have a couple pointers
to share in the hopes you may get out from under all those folders
and files. Though files and folders sound physical, they are really
a mirage until you involve a printer.
All computer desktops begin with a Hard Drive icon, a couple others
(normally a My Computer icon) and a bunch of emptiness. I fill
a small part of that emptiness with a folder called In Progress.
This is where I put all work that is, funny thing, in progress.
As I complete projects or documents, I build other folders.
As an example, let’s imagine you are going to catalog items in
your home. You plan to write a short paragraph about everything
outside of toothbrushes, hair ties, etc.
This project is, in fact, In Progress so that is where we begin.
I make a file titled Home. I do this by going to the File Menu
at the top of the screen and choose Create New Folder. Within
the Home folder I add more folders: Kitchen, Living Room, Study,
Master Bedroom, Bathroom, Billy’s Bedroom.
Since I’m making this list, I’ll begin in the Study. I open my
word processing program, Open a new document. I type at the top
of that document the location of this folder and the name of the
file I will create: In Progress: Home: Study: Computer. This is
called the hierarchy.
I hit the return and list the first item: Computer iMac with
printer, scanner. Owned since December 7, 1998.
I place my mouse pointer on File (the pull down menu across the
top I used to create a new folder), drag down to Save As.
The first window that opens is a list of folders from my Hard
Drive. In Windows operating systems, you will see files called
C Drive, D Drive, etc. The C Drive is your Hard Drive, so let’s
open that folder. There I locate the In Progress folder.
Choose the In Progress folder, and inside that is the lone Home
Folder. Open the Home Folder and you will find 6 folders previously
developed: Kitchen, Living Room, Study, Master Bedroom, Bathroom,
Billy’s Bathroom.
Since this document file is about my Study, I choose study and
hit Save. The small blurb about my computer is now placed where
it can be found and used at a later date.
Two hours later, having completed much of my project, I remember
that I need to list the desk to my Study folder. I open a new
file and begin writing about my desk. When completed, I follow
the Save As procedure like before. It prompts me to name the file,
which I call desk, and it is now saved. Both times I have used
the Saved As command. So what is the Save command?
Let’s say I want to add something to the Computer file within
my Study folder.
Using the File pull down, I click on Open File. A box comes up
listing my Hard Drive, and following the hierarchy, I locate the
Computer file within the Study folder and open it.
I begin typing more information, let’s say, the qualities of the
computer: 233 MHZ, 32 RAM, Bondi Blue, 4.3 GB Hard Drive. Now
comes the difference between the Save and Save As option.
If you want to simply add the information to the previous information,
choose Save. If you want to make a second, updated document, choose
Save As and name it differently, let’s save Computer 1.1. You
now have both the original document and the new document with
updated information.
Remember that everything within the computer world is done in
hierarchy format. It is similar to going to the library
.
First you find the library, then you find the location of non-fiction
books, then the computer section, and finally the book on Windows
98 that you need to find out how to operate that computer you
just purchased. That is a hierarchy and is similar to that which
the computer uses to keep things organized.
Imagine going to the library and having all those books put on
shelves in no particular order. Now that would be clutter..
Rick Langford is founder of Tahoe Mall, The Tahoe Net and Cache-World
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