'What's this Finder business?!?'īut in the long run, it actually allows users to be more aware of what's really going on and how the computer actually works. In this respect, at first glance, Mac OS X might seem more complicated. That's also why a lot of Windows users call it 'My Computer' or 'My Documents.'īecause that's usually where they start off in the folders, so it's pretty much the only name they know. This became so commonplace that it has stuck a. Since Macs ever came with a hard drive to begin with - were talking 1980s here, when a 20MB hard drive was something you might buy on a payment plan - Apple has named the boot drive 'Macintosh HD'. how would they know what this 'Windows Explorer' is? You never mentioned the name until now! Answer (1 of 4): It also might just be traditional. They'd see a message saying 'Windows Explorer has crashed' or 'explorer.exe has stop responding,'īut. The problem arises when some error occurs, for instance, Explorer crashes. Obviously, in real life, your desktop and folders aren't part of some 'Windows Explorer.' Sure, this might be a good idea, because you want to create a better illusion for the desktop metaphor.

So instead, most people just think of them as 'folders,' and not the windows of a program.īut in reality, they ARE just like the windows of any other programs. This is mainly because Microsoft decided to not label the Windows Explorer windows (folder windows basically) as 'Windows Explorer.'

I myself have been a Windows user for many years, and it's only when I became more computer savvy that I became aware of that. I think most Windows users have no idea what their file manager is actually called. Main hard drive in Windows = mounted as ' C drive' or ' C: ', and named 'Local Disk' by defaultĭrives in Mac OS X = displayed on the Desktop and displayed in the 'Computer' folder (the name is whatever you named the computer)ĭrives in Windows = displayed in the 'My Computer' folder Main hard drive in Mac OS X = named ' Macintosh HD' by default File manager of Windows = Windows Explorer or explorer.exe

Macintosh hd on mac