Windows XP
Files, Folders, and Drives
What is a file?
Files are collections of information. In fact, almost all of the information stored in a computer is stored in files. There are many different types of files, including operating system files, program files, and more.
Different types of files store different types of information. Each file is given a file name and has a three-letter file name extension that identifies the file type. (The file name and file name extension are separated by a period.) For example, a document created using WordPad might have the file name letter to John.doc.
Some common file name extensions include:
- doc or docx: Word or WordPad document
- jpg or jpeg: Picture file
- txt: Notepad text file
- xls or xlsx: Excel spreadsheet
- htm or html: HTML file (webpage)
- ppt: PowerPoint presentation
- mdb or accdb: Access database
