What is a folder on your computer: basic concepts

Experienced or at least something that understands the user what a folder (directory) is, it is not necessary to explain. Mostly with such a question experienced inexperienced users, or, as they are sometimes called, teapots. Well, let's try to briefly consider this topic.

What is a folder on the computer?

If you approach this question in terms of finding a simple answer, you can say that the folder, in fact, is a container (name it as you wish), which contains data in the form of files or subfolders.

In other words, in the case of nested folders, this somewhat resembles the principle of a nesting doll, when figurines (into which you can put something else) are added one to the other. If there are only files in the folder, it looks, roughly speaking, in one box, in which various small items are collected, but there are no other boxes.

The only difference is that in our case the size of the box (or a nested doll, into which you can insert many others) does not matter.

By analogy, for example, the program folder installed on the computer can contain executable files and components, as well as sub-directories containing some additional data. What is most interesting, the executable file or the dynamic library can not always be contained in the main folder.

Folder Structure

However, speaking of what a folder is, one can not help but mention that the above-described principle of a matryoshka allows organizing the so-called tree structure, which is used in many file managers, including the standard Windows Explorer.

But here you need to make a small reservation. The fact is that in the form of such a structure on the hard disk, the files are not stored, that is, they can be scattered all over the hard drive intermixed and have different actual location addresses. Based on this, we can conclude that the folder is a kind of virtual storage, shown as a container in the graphical interface of the system for ease of use.

And if you really explain what a folder is, scientific language, the right definition is usually considered to be that the directory is a file that is responsible for the virtual ordering of files into one structure and contains records about the root location and the child elements contained in it. Although for the user it is not a file.

How to make a folder the simplest way?

Now let's look at the easiest way to create a directory in any file manager. For example, in the same "Explorer" (of course, in the selected location) or on the "Desktop", you can use the right mouse click on the free space with the subsequent selection of the drop-down menu command "Create ..." / "Folder".

After that, a new directory with the default name "New folder" will be created, and the name will be in the editing stage. It remains only to specify the desired name and press the Enter key.

Similarly, other file programs work. Sometimes you can use the main menu "File" with the selection of the appropriate command.

Special types of folders and methods for removing them

As for the types of folders, they can be divided into system and user-defined, hidden, read-only, and so on. Attributes can be quite a lot. The folder name for an experienced user can tell a lot. For example, the Recycle Bin directory is a standard Recycle Bin , the System Volume Information folder contains registry entries about recovery checkpoints, and so on.

But there are some types of folders, the name of which sometimes does not say absolutely nothing. Let's see what the MSOCache folder is. In fact, this directory contains Microsoft Office installation files, so if you uninstall it from your computer, it will be reinstalled from that location.

The folder is hidden, and it needs to be deleted very carefully and carefully. It's just that not all will be removed. To completely erase it, you need to use disk cleaning, where as the removed components a line is selected that points to the MS Office installation files. Otherwise, you will have to delete the uninstalled files for a very long time, and even edit the system registry by sequentially deleting all the keys related to the application installers included in this package. And this is not the only example.

In general, with system folders and installation packages you need to be extremely careful, in particular with the Windows installation files or drivers. As they say, you never know what. But if necessary, to restore the system's performance can be in a few minutes.