16 gb Cruzer Glide

This is the first time using any type of USB Flash Drive.

I use Windows XP SP3.

I installed SanDisk and copied some files to the vault.

I cannot open the files.  I also do not know how to move them to a “public space” of the flash drive.  Where is this public space?  And how do I move them there to edit them?

I thought this would be a simple way of moving personal files out of my computer to the flash drive, but it seems very complicated.  Especially I can’t even access the files now. 

Can anyone help?

Thank you.