Windows Explorer—not to be confused with the Internet Explorer Web browser—is a utility that lets you find, move, and delete files. You can launch it by pressing the Windows logo key and the E key at the same time or by right-clicking Start and selecting Explore.

Along the left side of the screen, you’ll see a hierarchical list of hard drive partitions (chunks of storage, such as Local Disk C:), yellow folders (places to store files and other folders), and shortcuts to special folders, such as My Documents (Documents in Windows Vista) and the Recycle Bin.

In Windows XP and earlier, you can click a folder or drive (or the little plus sign [+] next to its name) to expand it so that it displays the subfolders and files inside. To “drill down” to a particular folder, keep clicking the appropriate folders or their (+) signs. For instance, to see the files in C:\Program Files\ WinZip (this is called a file path), you would click the (+) signs next to Local Disk (C:), Program Files, and then the WinZip folder. The Address Bar near the top of Windows Explorer tells you which folder you’re viewing in the right panel. To collapse a folder or drive to reduce clutter on the screen, click its minus sign (-).

In Vista, a right-facing arrow replaces the (+) sign, and a down-and-right arrow represents the (-) sign. Vista automatically scrolls the view in the Folders column right or left as you expand and collapse folders and drives.

WinXP/Vista’s Windows Explorer has a Back icon to return to the previous folder you visited. There’s also an Up icon in WinXP to move up to the next-highest folder or drive.

Vista doesn’t have this icon, but you can click any part of the file path in the Address Bar to jump to it.

In Windows Explorer, you can right-click files or folders to check their Properties, Copy them, Cut them for pasting elsewhere, or Delete them. You can also drag and drop your personal data files to new locations. Be extremely careful not to move or delete files that are parts of applications or Windows, or you’ll cause problems.

Where Did It Go?

Depending on how you’ve organized your folders and files, you might have trouble digging up a particular file when you need it.

Browser downloads. Say you’ve downloaded a file from the Internet, such as an installer file, and you clicked Save instead of Run. Unless a Save As window appeared, or if you didn’t glance at the file path of the download’s destination folder, you may not know where your browser saved the file.

Some browsers such as Firefox (www.mozilla.com/firefox) save all downloads to the Desktop or a certain folder. However, with most browsers, you can change the save folder to a different one, such as My Documents. Some users prefer that the browser ask them where it should save the file every time they download something. Internet Explorer does this by default. It also returns to the last download’s folder every time, so whichever folder you choose is the new default download folder, in effect.

In Firefox 3, click Tools and Options. Under the Main tab, click Browse next to Save Files To if you want to designate a folder for all downloads; click Always Ask Me Where To Save Files to go case-by-case with your downloads. Click OK to save any changes.

Recent file lists. Some users work with the same document for so long that the only way they know how to open it is to click it in the application’s list of recently opened files (usually under the File menu). Of course, if you switch to a new application, such as Jarte (www.jarte.com) instead of AbiWord (www.abisource.com), the recent files list will be empty. Also, if you open four or more documents, your favorite one may be knocked off the list because you’ve opened others more recently.

Moreover, if you’re used to clicking Open to access files, the command usually brings up the last folder you accessed. That’s not a problem if the only folder you work with is My Videos (Videos in Vista), for instance, but if you open a file from another folder, that’s the directory that will appear the next time you click Open. You’ll need to know how to navigate back to My Videos within the Open window. Luckily, Open’s panel works the same as Windows Explorer, so you can collapse or expand folders as needed, using the Back and Up buttons if present.

Windows also keeps a master list of recently opened documents of all types, so you might be able to locate the file that way. In WinXP, click Start and Documents or My Recent Documents; in Vista, click Start and Recent Items. Click a file to open it. This will automatically launch the associated application, such as Word 2007 for a DOCX file.

Searching. If you remember part or all of your file’s name, try locating it with Windows’ Search feature. In WinXP, click Start and Search. Select all Files And Folders. Type in the All Or Part Of The File Name field and then change the Look In menu to the folder or drive you think the file is in (click Browse if you want to be more specific). Use the A Word Or Phrase In The File field to search for documents or spreadsheets with particular words or numbers in them.

In Vista, click Start and then type your keywords in the Start Search field. In either OS, you can search in a particular folder. In WinXP, right-click it in Windows Explorer and choose Search. In Vista, click the folder to highlight it and then use the Search field at the upper right.

To look for a particular file type, simply search for its extension, such as .JPG for photos or .TXT for text documents. Windows’ results will include any JPEG or TXT file in these examples.

Some users prefer the speed and flexibility of a free third-party utility, such as Copernic Desktop Search (www.copernic.com) or Google Desktop (desktop.google.com). Whichever you use, let it index your drive for a few hours after you install the search utility.

Missing Files

Sometimes, a file gets accidentally deleted, in which case you may be able to locate it in the Recycle Bin. If you find it, right-click it and choose Restore. If the file is no longer there, and you have a backup, restore the file from it. Also, see page 36 in Smart Computing’s April 2009 issue, where we reviewed several free and for-pay file recovery apps.

by Marty Sems