Windows 7 / Getting Started

Disk Management

In Windows 7, the Computer window (Start Computer) is the place to go when you need access or information about all the drives (including non-physical - or virtual - drives mapped to network folders) and disks connected to your computer system.

Figure below shows the Computer window for my laptop computer running Windows 7. As you can see, Windows 7 automatically separates the various drive icons into the following:

Computer Windows
  • Hard Disk Drives
  • Devices with Removable Storage, of which there is one connected to the computer: DVD-RW Drive

Tip The Preview pane at the bottom of the Computer window gives you valuable statistics about any drive that you select, including the total size, the amount of free space (which is also shown visually in the Space Used indicator), and the type of file system (the older FAT32 supported by Windows 95, 98, and Me or the newer NTFS also supported by Windows XP, 2000, and Vista).

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In this tutorial:

  1. Computer Management
  2. Disk Management
  3. Opening folders on drives in the Computer window
  4. Mapping a network folder as a local drive
  5. File, Folder, and Library Management
  6. Creating new files, folders, and libraries
  7. Customizing a window's folder options
  8. Changing how you select and open items
  9. Creating compressed (zipped) folders
  10. Extracting files from a compressed folder
  11. Selecting files and folders
  12. Copying (and moving) files and folders
  13. Deleting files and folders
  14. Renaming files and folders
  15. Searching for files
  16. Program Management
  17. Removing or repairing a program
  18. Changing the program defaults
  19. Restart, Sleep/Hibernate, Lock, Log Off, and Shut Down
  20. Windows 7 Explorer
  21. Changing the display of an Explorer window
  22. Sorting and filtering items in an Explorer window