Problems navigating Windows 7...Loosing things :(

[werforpsu]

Okay, so I have a new dell laptop with windows 7 home premium. I am having a lot of problems navigating windows 7 (I had XP before).
The most pressing problem associated with this is that I keep loosing things and being unable to find them. I know that seems silly, but it is true. I make a document..it is there...i email it to someone. then I go to view the document later, and it is not in the folder. This is true with several documents...documents that have been created on this computer. if they were transferred to this computer from my old system, they are still there.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

[Zomby88]

Save everything you do to your desktop. When you`re sure you`re done with it, drag and drop it into My Documents and you will never loose a file again.

 

[werforpsu]

I am sure this sounds stupid, but i can't figure out how to make it let me save things to my desktop. when you press "save as" in word, it won't let me get to a place where the desktop is the choice. i have tried choosing the different options listed on the left side to find the desktop and i can't...i have to assume that there is a way, but this goes back to me not understanding this system.

besides, i am 28 years old and i would rather learn how to use the damn thing then be crippled by it. i want to know WHY i can't find documents that i clearly created. I want to know HOW to fix it so that i can do this on my own in the future. I want to be able to use this computer the right way. (I am sorry if my anger is coming out, but I have been trying to do a simple document for my job for the last 3 hours!)

 

[karlsnooks]

werforpsu,

Let's go at it one by one.

When you create a document, you tell the program that created the document to save the document.

What program are you using to save the document?

Also I NEVER save anything to the desktop, but some people like a cluttered desktop where everything is madly lumped together.

Do me a favor please. rb: | on the right-hand side you should see an item labeled "Documents". Right-click on that "documents" and choose Properties. In the resulting window, where does it show your default documents location to be?

 

[werforpsu]

okay under library locations it has one choice and it is checkmarked
it is:
My Documents (C:\Users\Meghan)

 

[karlsnooks]

good.

Now,

What program are you using to save the document?

 

[werforpsu]

Word 2010 Starter, which came with my pc

 

[karlsnooks]

I do not have the starter version, but let's hope the starter is the same as the pro version in this regard.
Open word |
click on FILE in top lelt
click on Options (directly above Exit on my version)
click on Save
For Default File Location, what is shown? You might want to use the browse button, then choose Library->Documents->My Documents

 

[werforpsu]

okay i did that and made the default file location C:\Users\Meghan\Documents\My Documents\

 

[karlsnooks]

Now anytime you want to access one of your documents, then you can either click on Documents in the right-side of the start menu or with windows explorer choose Documents and then the desired file.

 

[Zomby88]

When you click on save as you should get a pop up window and on the left side ( under Organize ) you should see a list starting with Favorites, Desktop, Downloads, Recent Places, Libraries, Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos with a menu bar to scroll with. From that you pick where you want to save it. and your last saved location should be what`s in the main window.

 

[werforpsu]

I hope that this works and I am not up until 2 am again trying to deal with all of this. thank you for your assistance. can you tell me...why cant i view files that are already there....does the computer think that i don't have permission or something

 

[karlsnooks]

I assume that what you mean is that you can not locate the files which you have already saved.

Do you happen to remember what was in that Default File Location box before?

Otherwise, you can use the search feature of windows explorer.
rb: | Computer | click on C: | at the top, on the right-hand side is a "search" box, type filename:*.doc | ENTER key

 

[werforpsu]

the difference in the default was that it should have been in the documents library inseatd of the my documents folder. it wasn't there so...

the only thing that comes up in a file search is a shortcut, which should take me to the correct document, but then when you click on it, it says that it is not valid.

thank you anyway...I hate not being able to make the computer do what i want it to do. i feel like i am working for it, instead if it working for me!

 

[karlsnooks]

I don't know what you have done that you don't see a list of .doc or .docx documents.

try this:
WIN | type *.doc | ENTER key

 

[werforpsu]

I wasn't sure what you meant by WIN, but..I clicked on the start menu, and went to the search option. i types in *.doc and i got a whole mess of documents (i am assuming that is it all of the documents from the computer) i organized them by date modified so i would see my most recent documents and other then 1 document that i created last night (but not the only document i created last night), there are no other documents that are coming up since april (and all of those documents are from before i bought the computer).

are documents not being saved correctly?

An addition: If i go into my documents, then the documents that I saved show up, but not when i searched with the *.doc .... I have no idea if this helps

 

[karlsnooks]

My oversight.

WIN is the key with the wavy microsoft flag on top.

With the unusual behavior that your computer is demonstarting, then first please perform a FULL SCAN by MalwareBytes.

the link for malwarebytes is in my sig.