How to Organize Directories on Your Computer
Organize the folders, also called directories, on your computer to keep all your programs and documents where you can easily find them.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
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1
Use the Windows-created My Documents folder as the "root," or base level, folder for your documents, or create a new folder with a different name for the root file folder. (You can't change the name of the My Documents folder.)
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Create folders within the My Documents folder for the various categories of documents you work on: for example, photographs, letters, databases, Web pages and so on.
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Create subfolders within the category folders, going as many levels deep as you need. For example, in the Photographs folder, you might have a folder for each of your children, with subfolders for each year.
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4
When you save documents, make sure to change the save location so they are filed in the appropriate folder.
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5
Change your backup program to back up the My Documents folder and all its subfolders, rather than tracking down personal files all over your hard disk.
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6
Make a directory on your root drive called Web Downloads for Internet downloading.
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7
Change the default save location on your Web browser to Web Downloads.
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Create subfolders under Web Downloads for the different files commonly downloaded, such as image files, shareware programs, sound files or upgrades.
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This allows you to do fast checks with your anti-virus software on just one directory and easily back up downloaded files that you don't have a physical installation disk for.
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Install new programs into the Program Files folder, automatically created by Windows when it's installed. (Windows will make that folder anyway, so you might as well use it.)
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Tips & Warnings
Create a text file (on Notepad or any other text editor), where you record the name, revision number and date of any programs that you download, to quickly determine whether you need upgrades later.
Don't move previously installed program directories around to organize your hard drive. Windows may not be able to find the files it needs to run a program once it's been moved.
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Comments
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peanutlover
Jun 15, 2009
I use a special program to see what I actually have on my pc - before everything is organized;) PrintMaestro from CoolUtils can print the directory tree with all the contents. From the developer's site: + print the Folder Tree with size information + print list of films (with fields like size, Duration, Width, Height, Codec, Aspect Ratio) + print list of photos (with fields like Create date, Orientation, Exposure time, Width, Height and Thumbnail) +print list of songs (you can use Artist, Title, Album, Comment, tags or BitRate, Sample Rate, Channels, Duration tags) -
Elvis De Leon
Jun 05, 2009
Very informative article, 5 stars.
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dizid
Jun 19, 2007
good article. The given tip i don't agree with, it seems an awfull lot of work to keep such a file updated and to check it regularly. imo a program that needs updates will -most likely- have functionality for that.
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dizid
Jun 19, 2007
good article. The given tip i don't agree with, it seems an awfull lot of work to keep such a file updated and to check it regularly. imo a program that needs updates will -most likely- have functionality for that.
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Feb 16, 2006
You can right click on My Documents to get to properties. Then change the target location to your own folder. I have mine as a first folder on the c:\\ drive. That way it's easy to find and programs will have a harder time trying to put random folders in there that you'll never use. Some people might not like this idea for security reasons or if theres multiple users on one machine.
