WASHINGTON -- Files are the foundation of your work with a computer. If you couldn't save the work that you do on a computer in the form of a file, the PC would be far less compelling. Yet few people, beginners or intermediate users alike, feel in control when it comes to organizing and working with files. How can you easily organize, move, or hide files, for instance? read on to find out. Q: I have dozens of documents in the my documents folder in Windows XP. These were created by various applications. How do I start organizing them?

A: You need to create and use folders. To make a folder, first open Windows explorer by holding down the winkey (the key on your keyboard with a windows logo on it) and tapping the letter E on your keyboard.

If my documents isn't highlighted already, select it in the left pane of the Windows explorer Window. Click the file menu, point to new, and choose folder. Windows explorer will create a subfolder within my documents, appropriately named new folder.

The new folder name should be highlighted. The highlight is telling you that the folder is waiting for you to rename it. Type a descriptive name for your new folder, such as letters, and press enter.

Letters should now be highlighted, indicating that it is the active folder. Go back to the my documents folder, and drag each file that is a letter into the new letters folder. Dragging the file will move it, erasing it from its original location, by default.

Create more folders, as appropriate, by following the steps outlined above for creating a new folder. Under letters, for example, you might create subfolders, one to hold documents for each member of your family. Q: Moving files one at a time takes forever. Is there a better way?

A: absolutely. You need to select multiple files before you begin the copy or move procedure. To select a continuous list of files, click the first one and then shift-click the last one. "Shift-click" refers to holding down the shift key and then clicking your left mouse button. Doing this will select, or highlight, the clicked files, as well as the ones in between.

To choose selected, noncontiguous files, hold down the Ctrl key and click each file you wish to select.

With the files selected, perform the copy or move operations. These are available in the edit menu of any Windows application, or you can use the keyboard shortcuts of Ctrl-C for copy and Ctrl-X plus Ctrl-V for move. Q: How can I hide files or folders?

A: You can hide folders the same way you hide files. From Windows explorer, right-click the file or folder, and select properties from the pop-up menu. In the properties dialog box, click the general tab, and then select the check box labeled hidden.

Click OK. the result will be that the file or folder that you have selected will now be hidden from Windows explorer. This assumes, however, that your Windows explorer is not configured to show hidden files and folders. By default, it is not. Q: How can I force users to have to provide a password before opening a file?

Q: Windows provides very little in the way of user-friendly password protection of files. The best way to password-protect a file is by opening the application that created it and using the application's security features.

For example, to assign a password to a file using Microsoft word, you would open the file, pull down the file menu, and click save as. In the save as dialog box, click the tools button or menu located in the upper right-hand corner. Select general options from this menu. A save dialog box will open, and toward the bottom of this dialog box you will find a text box that allows you to provide a password that will be required to open the file. Type the password, confirm the password, and then save the file as you normally would.

When you password-protect a file in such manner, anyone who attempts to open it will be required to supply the password. Most robust applications today allow you to assign passwords to individual files. Search the application's help menu for instructions. -- New to computers? Send your questions to the PC novice at jayd

csi.com. (DPA)