Home is where the heart is. Actually, the heart is where your favorites are. Home is where your files are. Every user has full rights to the items in their Home folder. This means that each user can save files, make changes, and delete items in the Home folder. This is also a good place to put your own applications. Only a user with administrative privileges can install applications in the Applications folder for everyone to access. If you are the only one who will be using an application, say a grade book program, no one else will have access rights to it if it is in your Home folder.

Do you notice the Desktop icon in your Home folder? Each user has their own Desktop. Items on your desktop are actually located in this specialized folder. Your documents should all be in the Documents folder for easy access. Applications generally look here for your files first. If you have something that needs to be shared by more than one user, there are two options. Each user has their own Public folder. Items in the Public folder can be accessed by anyone, but only the owner of the Home folder can modify them. Each Public folder also has a Drop Box. This Drop Box, located inside of the Public folder, allows users to place files into another user's Home folder. Only the owner of the Home folder can open the Drop Box to see what is inside.

On to the next chapter