The My Computer window is the starting point to access every disk, folder, and file on your computer. You can access the My Computer window from the Start menu. The My Computer window displays several types of local, removable, and network drives. Drives and folders are represented by icons. Each drive is assigned a drive letter, denoted with parentheses and a colon , such as Local Disk (C:), to make it easier to identify. Typically, the floppy is drive A, the hard (also known as local) disk is drive C, and the CD is drive D. If your computer includes additional drives , your computer assigns them letters in alphabetical order. Once you open more than one drive or folder, you can use buttons on the Standard Buttons toolbar to help you move quickly between folders. Open and View My Computer -
| Click the Start button, and then click My Computer. | -
| Click a drive to select it. | -
| Review the tasks you can do with the selected drive. | -
| Click to display details about the drive. | -
| Double-click the drive to open it. | -
| Click the Back button or Forward button on the toolbar to return or move to a previously visited window. | TIMESAVER You can press the Backspace key to go back to a previous folder you visited. -
| When you're done, click the Close button. | Did You Know? You can add the My Computer icon to the desktop . Right-click the desktop in a blank area, click Properties, click the Desktop tab, click Customize Desktop, select the My Computer check box, and then click OK. You can find Windows system information in My Computer . Click the Start button, click My Computer, click View System Information in the task pane, and then click the General tab. | Typical Disk Drives on a Computer Icon | Type Description | | Local A hard magnetic disk (or hard disk) on which you can store large amounts of data. The Local Disk (C:) stores all the files on your computer. | | Floppy A soft removable magnetic disk that comes in a 3 ½-inch size, which stores up to 1.44 MB of data. Floppy disks are slower to access than a hard disk, but are portable and much less expensive. | | Zip A soft removable magnetic disk on which you can store 100 MB to 500 MB of computer data. Zip drives are not standard on all computers. | | Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM ) An optical disk on which you can stamp, or burn, up to 1 GB (typical size is 650 MB) of data in only one session. The disc cannot be erased or burned again with additional new data. | | Compact Disc-Recordable (CD-R) A type of CD-ROM on which you can burn up to 1 GB of data in multiple sessions. The disc can be burned again with new data, but cannot be erased. | | Compact Disc-Rewritable (CD-RW) A type of CD-ROM on which you can read, write, and erase data, just like a floppy or hard disk. | | Digital Video Disc (DVD) A type of CD-ROM that holds a minimum of 4.7 GB, enough for a full-length movie. | | See Also See " Changing the Window View " on page 56 for information on changing the display of a folder's contents. | Window Toolbar Buttons Button | Name | Function | | Back | Moves to the previous location you visited | | Forward | Moves forward to the previous location you visited | | Up | Moves up one level in the file hierarchy | | Search | Lets you search for folders or files | | Folders | Displays a list of folders on your computer | | Views | Displays the contents of a folder using different views | | |