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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
January 3, 2010
Before we get into the question, it is time
to make your New Year resolutions. Please
include one short but very important
resolution and make this one that you do not
break. Back up your important data
regularly!!
Due to the large quantity and size of most
users documents, music, pictures, videos,
etc. backing up to CDs or even DVDs may no
longer be practical. However, large external
hard drives are relative inexpensive and do
offer a great source for backups.
Windows XP has a relative antique and
limited back up program, but Vista has a
good one and Windows 7 has an excellent full
featured one. Windows 7 even has the
facility to create a complete image of your
hard drive(s) making restoration of a
computer a breeze.
Most external hard drives come with a built
in backup program varying from the very
basics to very full featured. All of these
can be programmed to perform automatic
backups, so there is no good reason for not
doing one on a regular schedule.
Q.
I see many references to Windows Explorer in
Windows 7. Just what is Windows Explorer and
is it available in Windows XP and Vista?
A.
By definition, Windows Explorer
is a file manager application that is
included in Windows from Windows 95 onwards.
It provides a graphical user interface for
accessing the file systems. It is also the
component of the operating system that
presents the user interface on the monitor
and enables the user to control the
computer.
Windows
Explorer is just an application that allows
you to see the contents of your hard drive's
folders and files. It is the application
that is used to navigate through all the
folders and files on your computer.
In one
way Windows Explorer could be called a file
manager. In Windows 3.0 up to Windows 95 it
was actually called "File Manager". Windows
Explorer was introduced in Windows 95 and
has undergone several modifications and
revisions since. There was even a time when
it wasn't even called Windows Explorer.
That
occurred with the release of Windows XP.
This was an effort to make it more user
friendly and to prevent it from being
confused with Internet Explorer. So, in XP,
when you open My Computer, My Documents, My
Music, My Pictures, or My any thing, you are
actually opening Windows Explorer with the
selected folder already displayed.
Starting
with Vista, the word My was dropped from the
folder names, but Windows Explorer was still
pretty well hidden. In Windows 7, Windows
Explorer is back in favor, and can actually
be opened as its own application. Windows
Explorer is even one of the default icons in
the Task bar. It can also be opened by
clicking on the Start orb, All Programs,
Accessories, then Windows Explorer.
When
Windows Explorer is opened, it displays
Windows 7's four default libraries,
Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos.
Libraries are new to Windows 7 and will be
covered in another article.
There are
also some modifications and additions to
Windows Explorer in Windows 7. Things like a
preview pane with the major sections;
Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer,
and Networks. Homegroups are also new to
Windows 7 and provide a very easy way to
automatically share files and devices like
printers on your network. Although the
homegroup feature is only available on
Window 7 networked computers, networking
with any version of Windows is possible and
very easy to set up.
Windows
Explorer has been around in one form or
another since the early versions of Windows.
If you have used Windows, you have used
Windows Explorer whether or not you knew it.
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