Everything in your
computer is either a folder or a file and the files are sorted into the
folders just as if they were paper files being sorted into manila folders
in a metal file cabinet. Each file in the folder whether paper in a
metal cabinet or an untouchable file inside a folder in your computer has
on it or in it information. Some files are trivial, some are
important and some are top priority and some concern matters of the life
and death of your computer. They are all sorted out into folders and
they are given extension names or .xxx names that help to denote their
importance inside your computer.
There are:
#1 - system files and
folders that operate inside the
Windows program that is
your operating system that came with and
inside your computer when you purchased it. It is what goes into
action when you turn on your computer or "boot it up" and it controls how
quickly the processing for reading of files by you, occurs. These
files have extensions like .dll and .exe and more. To lose or delete
or corrupt a .exe file in a program means the loss of the use of the
program.
#2 - software (program)
package files and folders you may
have purchased or downloaded for creativity or fun or that might run your
scanner or printer or mouse or keyboard or exterior hard disk drives and
these files also carry .dll and .exe and more.
#3
- personal files and folders that
you created from the use of programs in the computer. These files
carry extensions of .txt and .doc and .html and .jpg and .ppt and more and
depend on the software or program used to create the file.
Your computer is capable of reading or creating files to read i.e. text
you read or
write with, graphics or pictures,
sound you listen to i.e. music in multiple forms,
games by the hundreds,
web pages,
graphs, garden plots, architectural design, you name it, your computer is
capable of reading software designed to do the job, you would like it to
do.
It is your computers job
to read installed files.
It is your job
1- to enjoy your computer but also to take care of it with careful
consideration of what you install or put into it,
2- be aware of
who you allow to use it, and also
3- it is your job to be aware at all times there are people who would like to
destroy your fun. In the same way your computer reads and executes the
file directives in a software purchase it can and will read and
execute the file directive from a virus file that upon opening and reading
that file and executing what it was told to do, it can literally cause
your computer to commit suicide.
Your computer can not
read, see or do what it does not have inside its brain to read, see or do.
Programs are called programs because when they are installed, they program
or feed into a portion of your computers brain the necessary information
it needs to be able to read and do what that particular program you fed
into it, does. For instance, you can not play computer games in your
computer if you have not installed the games. If you choose to
purchase or download a game to install, after the installation your
computer will contain the knowledge it needs to make the game executable
or able to be played, because of the installation.
Fonts,
the same goes for Fonts. Fonts are what you see here, all the bits
of Alphabetic (they come in pictures sometimes as well) writings on any
page. There are
thousands of fonts on the internet. Some are free and some cost
money and
some are so cute or different it makes people like myself collect fonts
for use on photos we do or on greeting cards we make or any number of
creative things.
I have hundreds of fonts in my computer for use in graphics programs.
Once I paste a font into a graphic with a graphics program like Paint Shop
Pro which I love and use almost all day every day, it is no longer a font but a graphic
or a picture.
People spend their time designing fonts for the fun of it and as a
vocation for companies. Your computer comes with a certain number of
classic fonts i.e. Times New Roman, Verdana, Tahoma, Ariel and some
others. Most computers can read these fonts because they are
installed inside them before the computer is purchased. If you have a font you purchased or
downloaded from the internet and use it in an email sending it to a friend
who does not have that font installed in their computer, the receiving end
can read the email but it can not display the fancy font you sent.
The receiving end has to install that same font in order to read it
because the receiving ends computer can't recognize what it hasn't had the
education to recognize.
The same goes again
for all software and programs. You must install flash to see it.
You must purchase and install games to play them. You must download
and install Real Player to hear Real Player files. There are
probably millions of software programs but those same millions cover a
fraction of categories. You decide what you want to do with your
computer, how much you want to spend and then you begin researching the
available software. Many internet sites offer cut rate prices on
software. Be aware, If you upgrade your operating system i.e. from
Windows 95 to Windows XP, you will need to upgrade your software as well.
You can not play old games or use old versions of software on new
operating systems and vice versa. I can assure you, someone is
getting very rich from computing technologies.
All downloadable programs are not free,
all are not necessarily good and all may cause problems if they conflict
or fight with other programs in your computer for the use of the same files.
File sharing by programs can also cause problems if you uninstall or trash a
program that shares a file belonging to another program as the uninstall
may try to remove that shared file. I am of a
firm belief all programs should come with all files needed to operate that
program and be put into their own folders whereby you could never have
file sharing but, what I think and what companies do are not the same.
Uninstalling a program that uses another programs files might cause the
uninstall of a necessary file. We never uninstall a file the computer suggests we should
not. It doesn't hurt to have a loose and un-necessary file in your
computer but to throw out a file another program needs can cause real and
major problems.
All pages have been
designed, thought out and compiled as helps for use by Seniors and persons
new to computing by: RSBlain aka
LittleEgypt
of
http://www.flyingpigwebdesign.com
*Scripts used are from:
Dynamic Drive