The Chronicles
June 2007
Salutations dear readers and fellow Laurentian neighbors,
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ... and we're off! Spring has finally sprung. Along with spring comes cleaning and so, in honour of this purifying act, we will focus this month on organizing our computer. This is the first principle to adhere to: in order to work efficiently with our computer, best be well organized! Let's take as an example a cook - if all the utensils and produce are kept in their place the creation of a splendid meal goes smoothly and easily; if not the experience is torture. The same applies with your computer: if you know where to find your Documents, your Photos or your favorite Internet links, you will be able to work quickly and efficiently. Otherwise, you will waste your time and loose patience.
In other words, not only is your computer a tool used to accomplish various tasks, it is also a "filing cabinet" to organize your work. This filing system can contain many drawers and each in turn can contain many "manila folders". In technical language these "manila folders" are simply called Folders (or Files). Within each Folder it is possible to place as many sub-folders as is necessary to follow one's own logic. So, let's look at some of these folders which are important (or should I say imperative) to get organized.
* My Documents - Surely you noticed the item "My Documents" when you clicked on the "Start" button (May chronicle). So let's get started and create your first Folder: Start (click) / My Documents (click); a window opens and you find yourself in your "drawer". I propose that here you create a Folder which carries your name: Menu >> File (click) / New (click) / Folder (click). You now have before you a folder named, for example, Jennifer or Jack and to validate this name, hit (be nice now...) your "Enter" button. Let's open this Folder now (double-click on the folder with the left button) to create some sub-folders; the first "Personal" (like Insurance, Hobbies, Pets, Miscellaneous) and the second "Professional" (Sales, Marketing, Client_Services ... ). It's always the same process: Open (double click) / File (click) / New (click) / Folder (click) / name. Note that these Folders are empty at this point and remain to be filled; either by your existing, but misplaced, documents, either by those that we will create together through future chronicles.
* My Pictures - (if you have a digital camera). Start (click) / My Pictures (click). Now make some Folders (e.g. Family and Friends) + make sub-folders (e.g. GrandaMa_Pa, Siblings, Eloise_Sasha, Byanca_Tristan) + inside these, sub-sub-folders (e.g. Christmas_2006, Bbq_060824 ... ).
* In Internet Explorer, the same concept exists. Here, the Folders reside in Menu >> "Favorites". Instead of containing documents or photos, these Folders contain Internet Links (pointing towards Web sites or "addresses") which you keep for repeated future reference. Open Internet Explorer, click on Favorites / Organize Favorites / New Folder (Gardening, Recipes, Travel, Languages ... ).
* Your E-mail box will also require your attention and how to proceed will depend on your Internet provider ... I'd be interested to hear your questions regarding this subject: you can contact me by e-mail at my address found below.
In conclusion, I'd like to draw your attention to the very special way of naming the Folders and Documents given as examples above: remember not to use spaces or punctuation (or accents if you write in French); and to try to get into the habit of only using the - or the _ to separate words visually. Furthermore, when adding dates, do it by year-month-day (e.g. 20070510) so that the computer can perform its job of listing your Folders and Documents chronologically.
Take good care of yourselves and happy computering!
questions.monamilordi@gmail.com
DID YOU KNOW:
Every year approximately 60 million computers are manufactured in the world. That's 2 every second!
This article originally appeared in Main Street – The Laurentians' English Language Community Newspaper.
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