Two well known Explorers - Windows and Internet. Page 1.
By Matt Western.

In this article I will shed some light on the two versions of Explorer that come with Windows operating systems, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.

Windows Explorer.

Windows explorer is also sometimes known as Explore. You may not know what it is, but there is as very good chance you have used Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer is the useful little program you use to locate files and folders on your computer and any other resource you may be connected to such as a network file server or other computers.

There are several ways you can start, or open, Windows Explorer. I find the easiest way is to simply right click on the Start button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

When you right click on the Start button any number of selections will appear depending on what programs you have installed on your computer, but there should always be a selection titled 'Explore'. This is the option you choose to start or launch Windows Explorer.

Right clicking on the Start button is the easiest and quickest way to launch Windows Explorer as you can use this 'right click' method to start Windows Explorer on versions from Windows 95 onwards.

Windows Explorer can also be invoked (that's just a high tech term meaning started or launched) by left clicking on the Start button, moving up to 'Programs' and looking through the list of program groups and program icons that appear. However I find this method a little fiddly and too time consuming. The left click on the Start button method is much easier and faster.

So what do you use Windows Explorer for?

Windows Explorer is used primarily to locate files and folders.

The files and folders need to be located on a disk drive, floppy disk, network file server or any device or resource that, obviously, you can access via your computer.

As an example you can use Windows Explorer to look at what is on a floppy disk, a CD ROM or your hard disk drive. You can use it see what is on a file server network drive or even on a USB device attached to your computer.

Windows Explorer can also be used to view web pages!

To view web pages, all you have to do is type in the address of the web site you wish to view into the address bar at the top of the Windows Explorer window and you're on your way.

Internet Explorer

There's a pretty good chance you would have used Internet Explorer at some time.

Internet Explorer is the most popular web browser used by web surfers. Internet Explorer comes bundled with versions of Windows from Windows 95 onwards.

Internet Explorer is what people call feature rich, or in other words, it can do lots of things for you so you don't have to go and get extra bits of software to do these extra things.

Internet Explorer is a fairly straightforward program to use and includes many technologies that allow most web sites to be displayed without the need for downloading or installing additional software (this is what I meant by feature rich).

So how do you start or launch Internet Explorer? It is quite easy. Take a look around the desktop of your PC. Do you see a blue 'e' anywhere?

Internet Explorer icon.

Internet Explorer is identified on your desktop, or on your quick launch bar and within your Programs menu by a blue lower case (as in no an 'e' not an 'E') 'e'. Clicking this blue 'e' will launch Internet Explorer.

Now just as Windows Explorer can be used to view web sites, Internet Explorer can be used to view files and folders. Just simply type in the location of the file or folder you wish to view into Internet Explorers address bar and whammo, Internet Explorer will display the item for you.

Now We Know about the Two Explorers.

It is not uncommon to hear people refer to Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer simply as Explorer.

The only way you will know which one they are referring to, is to now in what context they are referring to Explorer in.

If they are viewing files and folders, they will be referring to Windows Explorer. If they are viewing web pages and web sites they will be referring to Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer is very well known, but his little brother Windows Explorer is not. Although many people use Windows Explorer, not many know what it is called.

Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer share some of the same functions. For example, both give you 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons you can use to go back and forward to the location or web page you were at previously. Both allow you to access your favourites, you can even freak yourself out and have combination Windows Internet Explorer.

The combination Windows Internet Explorer displays a web page on the right hand side and your computers folders on the left hand side.

Two well known Explorers - Windows and Internet.
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Article © Matt Western - deTechnify.com

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Matt Western has been working in the electronics and IT areas since 1983. These days he heads up deTechnify.com a web site aimed at clearing away the technical haze surrounding computers computing and the internet.
You can contact Matt via http://www.detechnify.com