Directory Management

C:\windows\program\hottop.exe

This tells your computer that the file you want to run, hottop.exe (exe is a file extension, that tells your computer that the file is a program, which is executable), is in the program directory, in the windows directory, on your C drive.
Information storage on computers consists of "files" which are stored in "directories" or folders. These have been called "trees," but actually the folder metaphor is a good one. You put your stuff in a folder. You can put files in a folder; you can put a folder of stuff inside another folder. (For the purposes of this discussion, we will use the terms directory and folder interchangeably.)