If you want complete manual control of your image transfers, configure your computer to do nothing when a camera or card reader is plugged in. This will simply mount the camera or card reader on your desktop, just as if it were a hard drive, leaving you free to copy files as you please.
The advantage of taking a manual approach is that you can completely control where files are placed and create a folder structure on your drive that makes the most sense to you.
The downside to importing using this approach is that, depending on which version of your operating system you're using, you won't necessarily be able to see thumbnail previews of your images before you transfer, which means you won't be able to pick and choose which images to copy. Obviously, you can always sort through them later.
To transfer images manually, simply plug in the camera or card reader. When the camera or card reader icon appears on your desktop, open it. You should see a folder inside called DCIM. There might be some other folders, but DCIM is the only one you need to worry about. It is the standard location that camera vendors have agreed upon for storing images.
Inside the DCIM folder you will find additional folders, usually named with some combination of numbers and "Canon" (i.e., "100CANON"). Depending on how many images you've shot, there may be more. Open each folder and copy its contents to your desired location.
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