Finder+Windows

The Finder is the desktop area of your computer (exactly the same as a PC).**

Opening your Hard Drive:** (so you can see all the files and folders inside!) 1. You will see the Hard Drive icon on your Desktop. 2. Double Click it to open it. 3. Now you will see the contents of your Hard Drive - in the window in the middle you will see the files and folders. The folders are the blue squares. Folders have something (files) inside them as well. 4. To go into a folder - double click on it 5. To go back to where you just came from, use the BACK arrow.


 * The side bar of the Finder Window**
 * 1) The side bar of the window has a number of parts. You will see DEVICES, SHARED, PLACES and SEARCH. We will look at each of these.You will see the little arrow to the left of the name. Click on this arrow and it will point down and show you what is inside this aspect.
 * 2) [[image:finderwindowleftside.gif]] You can see the SHARED arrow is circled. If you were to click this it would open and you see the contents. PLACES is open and you see all the places available.
 * 3) DEVICES - the things attached to your computer - e.g. thumb drive, CD, Hard Drive, external hardrive etc. They will appear as small icons. A CD icon will let you know you have a CD in the machine. (Note- on a Mac, if you put in a CD or a thumb drive [Memory stick] into the computer, it will appear on the desktop too!)
 * 4) SHARED - where you will see all the other machines on the network.
 * 5) SEARCH - allows you to quickly look at what you have been working on today, yesterday etc.


 * Customising your Finder Window**
 * 1) You are able to change the look and feel of the Finder window.
 * 2) If you want extra things in the PLACES side bar - just drag them into the side bar - you will see it highlight a name (like Documents) which means it will go into documents. OR you will see a line in between the items - let go of the file or folder and it will appear in your PLACES - quite handy for getting quickly into folders you use a lot. I don't do this - I put everything into DOCUMENTS.
 * 3) If you want to change the icons at the top of your window - go up to VIEW and click on CUSTOMISE TOOLBAR.
 * 4) [[image:cutomisefinder1.gif width="280" height="165"]]
 * 5) Now a window will come down and you just drag the icons you want up into the top of the window. Good ones are DELETE, BURN, NEW FOLDER and GET INFO
 * 6) [[image:customisewindow2.gif width="321" height="275"]] Click DONE when you have finished.
 * 7) Other things to try
 * Experiment with the VIEW - you will find 4 different ways of viewing your files and folders.
 * In the main window, click ONCE on a file - this chooses it (goes blue)
 * Try hitting your space bar - the chosen file will POP out and you will be able to see what it is about (without having to open it) - this won't work for every file, but most.
 * Double Clicking on it will open it into the program that it was made in (e.g. Word doc will open Word)
 * Try connecting to the server that is listed in SHARED - you may do it as a guest or you may need a username and password.