... Basic Computer Skills ... Folder and Files
You need to have a folder system to organize you files. Windows provides a folder named My Documents under the C: drive for that purpose, and you can use that as a base or create other folder systems as you wish. You'll find many programs will automatically store files you create in the My Documents folder when you save the file, but you still need to pay attention to where the file is being saved to be sure. When you create a file for the first time (such as a letter, picture, or other word processing document or a spreadsheet or database), you should use the Save As selection under the File menu pad of the program you are using. Here the Save As window will allow you to name the file (change only the name part of the file name and leave the dot and file extension as it is), and where to save it. Some say that the Desktop is NOT a place that you should save files or folders. I take issue with that; and say the Desktop IS the place to store files since that is the place where you will be working with that file.
A sub folder system can be created under the My Documents folder in order to organize your files in folders, and in the same manner as you would organize a file drawer ... For example, you could create a folder under the My Documents folder named Letters, and folders under Letters named Friends, Business, Relatives and Enemies, etc.. Another My Documents sub folder could be named Pictures, with sub folders Gals, Guys, Animals, etc., and another could be named Sounds, etc.
You should also created a temporary folder for yourself to hold files you download from the Internet temporarily until you can find the right place for them, or from which you can launch a software installation program you downloaded. A trick here is to name the folder $Temporary (or any other name you like but with the $ as the first character); folders are in alphabetic order in Windows Explorer, and special characters such as the $ sort before the regular alphabet, therefore your $Temp (or other name) folder will appear first in the folder list under your C: drive ... and you won't always be scrolling down to find it. You might note that you can also place a 0 (zero) as the first character to achieve the same thing.
We might discuss if you are interested, how you can use the numbers to organize your Start Menu, and in a way that avoids the natural tendency of that menu to be alphabetical ... But that's another time.
Files have names which consist of a name, then a dot (period), and then a three letter extension. The filename extension is what tells Windows what type of file it is and what program uses it or can be used to open it. Files with the file extension exe are executable files, or programs, and will run or launch if opened. Files with the extension doc are word processing files (documents) and are associated with your word processor (such as Windows WordPad, Microsoft Word, Works Word Processor) ... and double clicking that file will cause Windows to launch the word processor and open the file in its window ... Right clicking such a file and selecting open has the same effect as double clicking it. Other file extensions are jpg and bmp (for graphics) - zip for compressed or zipped up files - dll for dynamic link libraries - inf for program information files ... and many many other file types.
The way that Windows knows what programs to use with what files is by something called file associations. Here each type of file (by file extension) is associated with a program which will open or use it. And these associations are managed in Windows Explorer in the View, Folder Options, File Types, but the beginner user should not fool around in there.
Emails are different in that they are not files, but entries in mailboxes or mailbox folders. These are handled in the software which does your email, called an Email Client, in a manner very similar to way that Windows handles folders and files.