course 1: Working with files and folders

Working with files and folders
A file is an item that contains information, for example, text or images or music. When opened, a file can look very much like a text document or a picture that you might find on someone s desk or in a filing cabinet. On your computer, files are represented with icons, this makes it easy to recognize a type of file by looking at its icon.

There are hidden files, Although you usually can t see a hidden file, it s an ordinary file in all other respects. You can choose whether a file is hidden or visible by changing its attribute feature of its properties to become hidden. If a file is hidden and you want to display it, you ll need to show all hidden files to see it. You can hide rarely used files to reduce clutter, but remember that hidden files still take up space on your hard disk. Although you can hide confidential files so other people can t see them, you shouldn t rely on hidden files as your only means of security or privacy
A folder is a container you can use to store files in. If you had thousands of paper files on your desk, it would be nearly impossible to find any particular file when you needed it. That s why people often store paper files in folders inside a filing cabinet. On your computer, folders work the same way. Here are some typical folder icons: