Explorer
Also known as Windows Explorer, Explorer is
a file browser found in Microsoft Windows 95 and above to explore and manage the drives,
folders, and files on the computer. Although similar, Microsoft Explorer is not the same as "My Computer" and is not "Microsoft Internet Explorer", even though Internet Explorer is sometimes improperly referred to as Explorer.
To the right is a visual example of what the Explorer may look like.
Users familiar with earlier version of Microsoft Windows such as Windows 3.0 or Windows 3.1 can think of explorer being the same thing as file manager.
To open Explorer a user can do any of the below steps.
- Right-click the Start button and click Explorer.
- Click Start, Programs, and then Windows Explorer or Explorer.
- Click Start, Run, and type explorer and press enter.
- Users with a keyboard that has the Windows logo can use the shortcut of holding the Windows key and E at the same time.
- Open the windows or winnt directory and double-click the explorer.exe file.
- Information about how to make Explorer display the files the same way each time you open a new window can be found on document CH000770.
- Additional information about how to change how files are shown in Explorer can be found on document CH001015.
Also see: My computer, Operating System definitions
