Floppy disks are a very handy storage media for small files, floppy disks need to be formatted before you can use them to store any files, some blank floppy disks come pre-formatted but at some point you will want to format your own.

First of all insert the floppy disk you wish to format, on your desktop double click the My Computer icon.

Now right click on the floppy drive icon (see below).

When you right click on the floppy disk icon a menu will appear similar to that shown below, left click on the Format option.

Now you will see the Format Disk dialogue box as shown below in fig 1.1

Notice the 3 options:

Quick (erase), this option simply deletes the data on the floppy disk, ie, the disk must already be formatted.
Full, this option is used to format a new disk (this tutorial).
Copy system files only, this option will create a bootable disk with standard system files included.

You can also see an option for labeling your floppy, if you wish to do so then just enter the name in the box provided.

Notice the Summary option, this provides a report on the success of the format, for the sake of this tutorial we will leave it selected.

So, if you are formatting a new disk choose Full, enter a name if you wish and then click the Start button.

After clicking start you will see a progress bar and that will be followed (if you selected it) by the Format Summary.

When done simply click Close

Your floppy disk is now formatted and can be used to store your files.