You can look at just about anything on your computer through the My Computer icon.  In earlier versions of Windows, this icon was on your Desktop.  With Windows XP, this icon is on the Start menu, but it works pretty much the same way.

1. Single-click on the My Computer icon on the Start menu. The window shows you an icon for everything on your computer.



2. Double-click on C-drive icon. This shows you the contents of your C-drive.



3. Look for  the Documents and Settings folder and double-click on it. This shows you the contents of the Documents and Settings folder.



4. Look for either the Owner folder of one with your name on it.  If there is a folder with your name on it, double-click on it.  Otherwise double-click on the Owner folder.  This will show you the contents of this folder.

5. Double-click on the My Documents folder.  This will show you the contents of this folder.  This is where your data files will be stored by default.  This folder is also available from the first screen that you saw up at the top of this page.  Although you can get to it quickly once you bring up My Computer, I wanted to let you know where this folder really resides on the system.

As you work with My Computer, you'll notice that the left side of the screen shows functions you can perform wherever you are.  Windows XP is good about letting you know what you can do and providing links to those functions.

You should see the My File file that you created earlier. See if you can locate it and double-click on it. You created this file using WordPad, but when you double-click on it, Windows will bring up Word instead if this application is available on your system. The reason is that Word is a more powerful word processor than WordPad. If Word is not installed on your system, Windows would bring up WordPad.

Windows knows about file types and will automatically associate files that have a particular extension with the appropriate application. The extension on the My File file is DOC which is associated with the Word application if Word is present; otherwise it is associated with the WordPad application. For more information, see File Association.

CAUTION: Don't attempt to use the file name extension for your own purposes or Windows will not be able to associate the file properly.

 Hughes Glantzberg