Files rapidly accumulate on your hard drive. If you're like most people, your files are scattered across your hard drive. Some are in logical places. Others aren't. With a little planning, you can centralize your files.The key is two folders: one named My Documents and the other named My Images. These are (or at least should be) the default repositories for your documents and graphics. Don't just dump your files these folders. You should create sub-folders for the different types of files you use. Under My Documents, you can create a folder called Docs for your word processor files and one called Web for your Web publishing projects. Apply the same logic to the My Images folder.
If you download a lot of files off the Internet, use the My Downloads folder for those files. Check your Web browsers online help to find out how to point the browser to My Downloads when grabbing online files.
Finding Files
Even if youve organized your files, you can't expect to know where all of them are. As you collect more and more files, finding them becomes a chore.
The Windows Search utility is a useful little tool for tracking down those hard-to-find documents. In Windows Explorer, right-click a folder in the left-hand pane of Explorer. Type your search criteria, and then click Find Now. For example:
Type *.htm to find all HTML files.
Type letter*.doc to find all Word documents whose names start with "Letter".
Type *index*.* to find all files whose names contain the word "index".
The names of the files that match your search criteria appear in the search window. You see not only the name of the file, but also the path to the folder containing the file, the type of file, and its size. Double click the file to open it.