Inside The System Folder - The System Folder

The contents of your System Folder may vary to what I have shown here. To help explain what I'm refering to, take a look at: MacOS 7.5 System Folder: picture 15.1, and MacOS 8 System Folder: picture 15.2.

Finder
Displays the desktop area, where you work with files and disks, and keeps track of your files.

Apple Menu Items folder
When you place an item (folder, application, or document) in this folder, it appears in the Apple menu. To create sub-menus, place folders inside the Apple Menu Items folder.

Clipboard
Temporarily stores the last item you cut or copied from a document.

Control Panels folder
Contains individual Control Panels. You use Control Panels to adjust your computer's settings. See the "About the Control Panels" document in the Apple Extras folder for more information.

Control Strip Modules folder
Contains modules used by the Control Strip Control Panel.

Editors folder
Contains OpenDoc part editors. Editors provide functionality to OpenDoc parts, but you don't work with editors directly. To use an editor to create a document, double-click the editor's stationery icon. Your stationery icons are probably located in the Stationery folder on your hard disk.

Extensions folder
Contains individual Extensions that modify the operation of your computer. Unlike a Control Panel, an Extension works automatically, without your intervention.

Fonts folder
Contains font suitcases or individual font files. You can place up to 128 suitcase or font files in this folder. PostScript fonts are not included in the 128 file limit. Font suitcases can hold any number of font files, up to a limit of 16 MB. See picture 15.3 and picture 15.4 for the different types of Macintosh fonts.

Launcher Items folder
Contains files, folders, and applications that appear in the Launcher window.

Macsbug
A debugger used by programmers to help diagnose problems with programs, Extensions, and so on. Unless you're programming, you don't need Macsbug.

Preferences folder
Contains preferences files created by individual applications. A preference file determines application settings.

PrintMonitor Documents folder
Stores all spooled print documents waiting to be printed.

Scrapbook
Stores items placed in the Scrapbook (Scrapbook is in the Apple menu).

Shutdown Items folder
Contains applications or scripts that run automatically when you shut down your computer. You can add or remove items from this folder.

Startup Items folder
Contains applications or scripts that run automatically when you start your computer. You can add or remove items from this folder.

System Enabler
Is an System updater file, that makes a specific Macintosh work with older System software, ie. System 7.1x with a Power Mac 7500. See the System Enablers section for details.

System file
Contains some system-wide resources, such as sounds and keyboard layouts.