Technology In Action
Using System Software:
File Management
1
Starting the Computer




“Booting”
comes from “Bootstrapping”
Which comes from “pulling
yourself up by your own
bootstraps”
The first instructions the
processor sees (BIOS)
have to be stored
somewhere besides
secondary storage (HD,
CD) or ROM
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Starting the Computer
The Boot Process

Step 1: The basic input/output
system (BIOS) is activated

Step 2: A Power-on self-test
(POST) checks attached hardware

Step 3: The operating system
loads into memory from boot
device

Step 4: Configuration and
customization settings are checked
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1
3
4
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Handling Errors in the
Boot Process


Non-system disk or disk
error
 Remove the floppy
from the drive and
press any key
POST errors
 Single beep:
Everything is loading
properly
 Series of beeps:
Hardware problem
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Safe mode in booting



Safe Mode is a special way for Windows to
load when there is a system-critical problem
that interferes with the normal operation of
Windows.
The purpose of Safe Mode is to allow you to
troubleshoot Windows and try to determine
what is causing it to not function correctly.
Once you have corrected the problem, then
you can reboot and Windows will load
normally.
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Differences between Safe Mode and
normal boot

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Safe Mode does not run the autoexec.bat or
config.sys files.
Most device drivers are not loaded. A device
driver is the software that Windows uses to
interact with a piece of hardware, such as a
printer or scanner.
Instead of the normal graphics device driver,
Safe Mode uses standard VGA graphics
mode.
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If your computer boots to Safe Mode,
what do you do?



Try to determine what has changed on your
system that could have caused Windows to
fail to boot properly.
Installing new hardware or software may
cause this failure - go to the Control Panel
and remove it and uninstall the software
driver for that device. Then attempt a reboot.
If it boots normally, you have a conflict check with the manufacturer
(From computer.howstuffworks.com)
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File Management


The operating system provides an
organizational structure to the computer’s
contents
Hierarchical structure of directories:

Drives

Folders

Subfolders
 Files
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File Management Metaphors

Tree Metaphor

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Root, branches, leaves
Filing Cabinet Metaphor

Drawers, Folders, Files
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A File System Tree
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Viewing and Sorting
Files and Folders

Windows
Explorer
 "My
Computer"
 Not the same
as Internet
Explorer
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File Systems – Drives

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Every Computer has a File System
used to keep track of the files on that
machine
File Systems are based on Physical
Storage Devices, known as Drives
Drives can be local or remote
Click on “My Computer” to see a list of
your drives
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File Systems – Drives

Typical Drives

A: or B:  Floppy Disk
C:  Local Hard Drive
D:  CD Drive

L:  UK Lab Locker Space


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File path

File path


Location of the file, includes drive and all nested folders
and the file name and extension
Every drive has a root = top of the "tree" = C:\ or A:\ or D:\
Secondary
folders
Filename
C:\My Documents\Tech in Action\TIA Pics\dotmatrix.gif
Drive
Primary
folder
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Naming Files


Filename: Name
assigned plus filename
extension
Some characters are
not legal in filenames:
Bioreport.doc
or
Bio report.doc
\ ⁄ : * ? " < > ¦

All others are allowed
(including spaces)
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Filename Extensions

Filename
extensions:


Used by
programs
Indicate the
file format
Extension
Type of Document
Application
.doc or
.docx
Word processing
document
Microsoft Word;
Corel WordPerfect
.xls or .xlsx
Workbook
Microsoft Excel
.ppt or
.pptx
PowerPoint
presentation
Microsoft
PowerPoint
.mdb or
.accdb
Database
Microsoft Access
.bmp
Bitmap image
Windows
.zip
Compressed file
WinZip
.pdf
Portable Document
Format
Adobe Acrobat
.htm or
.html
Web page
Hypertext Markup
Language
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File Names, Extensions, and Formats

Extensions show



what kind of information is in the file
what program to use when reading/editing that file
Changing the file extension DOES NOT
convert the information in the file! for
example, renaming a file to have a zip
extension does not make it a zip file!
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Working with Files

File management
actions:
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

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Open
Copy
Move
Rename
Delete
Recycle bin
Saving files
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File Sizes and Dates

A file contains data, stored as a group of bits


File size is usually measured in bytes, kilobytes, or
megabytes
The file date indicates the date that a file was
created or last modified
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Units for measuring file sizes

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One byte = one character, pretty small
1 Kilobyte = 1024 bytes, about a page of text
1 Megabyte = 1024 Kbs, a 1000-page book
1 Gigabyte = 1024 Mbs (more than 1 billion
bytes), about 1000 books, a library
1 Terabyte = 1024 Gbs (more than 1 trillion
bytes), like 1000 libraries
1 Petabyte = 1024 Tbs (more than 1
quadrillion bytes), like 1 million libraries
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File Sizes and Dates

Why is the file size important?


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Memory and Storage Capacity
“How many songs can I fit on my MP3 player?”
"How many movies can I fit on my Hard drive?"
Why is the file date important?


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History of File Creation and Last Modification
"Which file is the latest version of my paper?"
“Did I submit my lab test on time?”
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File Management Utilities

Windows Particulars

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“My Documents” is the default location for saving
files, opening files, creating files, etc…
The “Desktop” is simply a folder located on your
machine whose contents are shown on the main
screen of the operating system
“Send To” can be used to perform advanced file
activities
 Zip, create shortcut, move files
 Be Careful using “Send To Desktop”!
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File Management Tips

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Use descriptive names
Maintain file extensions
Group similar files
Organize your folders from the top down
Use the My Documents default directory
carefully!
Do not mix data files and program files
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File Management Tips

Don’t store very many files in the root
directory
Follow copyright rules
Delete or archive files you no longer need

Be aware of storage locations

Back up your files in case of file system
failure

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File Compression Programs

Reduce the size of a
file:

Removes redundancies
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The Indexing Problem

In general, it refers to having
such a large amount of
information available that
finding any one piece of
information becomes
difficult.



Example: Thousands of hits
from a search engine
File systems can also suffer
from the indexing problem.

Example: Every file you have
ever downloaded or created is
located in “My Documents”
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What do you do about the Indexing
problem?

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Being aware of where you put files, so you
don’t have to download or create them again
Give files meaningful names
Create meaningful folders to store files in so
not everything is in one huge list
Erase files or archive them when they are no
longer needed
Windows has search function on Start button
menu
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5.
If you had picture files that were each 512 Mbs in size,
how many could you fit onto a device with a capacity of 6 Gbs?
A 8
C none, it isn’t big
enough for one file
B 1
D 12
28
In the tree metaphor for a computer
file system, the leaves correspond to
A the folders
C the drives
B the files
D the file
extensions
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The root of the file system on a device
A
is where the deleted files are moved to
B
is the device name (letter) followed by : \
C
D
must be a file, it cannot be a folder
is always shown at the bottom of the file system
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Windows Explorer
A
B
will not allow you to delete files
shows only the names and sizes of files
C
D
is a web browser program
allows a user to copy files from one place
to another
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The best way to organize your computer files is
A to keep every file in the My Documents folder
B to put each file in its own folder
C to keep related files together in one folder
D to name all files like ‘file001’, ‘file002’, ‘file003’, etc.
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A filename
A
is not important, the operating system can find
whatever you need
B
in Windows is not allowed to have spaces in it
C
cannot be changed once it is assigned
D
cannot use a colon (:) in it, in Windows
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A file extension
A indicates what format the file contents are written in
and what application will probably read it
B cannot be used if the filename has a space in it
C appears at the left of a path, right after the drive
name
D is extra space allocated on the storage device
when a file needs it
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If a machine is starting up and a message appears
on the screen of “Non-system disk or disk error”,
what should you do?
A check the floppy drive to see if a disk was left in it
B check the keyboard to see if it has been
unplugged
C call a technician, there is nothing a user could do
for the problem
D check the hard drive to see if it is still valid
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A file with a path like B:\myfiles\Spring10\newreport.doc
A is a file stored in a folder stored in a folder
B would be stored on the hard drive
C would be a compressed file
D would be stored at the root of the B drive
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