Chapter 5: Everything About Files, Folders, and Icons

How to…

• Understand different types of icons

• Open files in several ways

• Copy and move files and folders

• Work with compressed files

• Burn your files to a CD or DVD

The objects you move around on your computer screen are called icons: some represent files, some represent folders, and others are used for applications or programs. If you’ve used a computer before, there is nothing unfamiliar about these basic objects of the Mac OS X interface. Apple was the first to adopt these objects as a metaphor for the items stored on your computer, and whether you’ve used earlier versions of Mac OS or Microsoft Windows, these objects work pretty much the same. But there are some differences between Mac OS X 10.3 and other operating systems, and if you’re new to computers, this chapter will help you understand what all these icons on your screen represent.

In this chapter, I’ll show you the different types of icons you’ll see in Mac OS X, and I’ll explain how to copy and move files and folders. I’ll tell you how Mac OS X works with files, folders, and their icons, and show you how to work with aliases. I’ll also show you how to find anything on your Mac, in two different ways, and I’ll tell you how you can burn your files onto a CD-ROM, if you have a CD writer either built into your Mac or connected externally.