Resolved Windows 7 Icon Question

Wow, this may sound like a crazy question, but is there a way to make certain icons in Windows 7 render more like they did in XP?

For example, PDF file icons are plain white looking, and it makes it difficult to know what you are clicking on. Comma Separated Values files always defaulted to a green Excel icon in XP, but look like notepad files in W7 (I use MS Office 2007 on both machines). Even JPG files look like tiny thumbnails in W7 instead of XP's generic JPG icon.

Problems like this can make it visually difficult to find what you are looking for.

Thanks.

 

Adobe PDF icons

Below is what Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 icons look like on Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate. (Click image for larger view).

 

Is there any way to get said files in post #1 to default to something else?

 

Have you tried right clicking on the Icon in question and then go to Properties/Customize and choose one that is already there? You can also have a picture of what you want if you have one by going to Browse and find it and use it.

 

I tried that Bill, but the icons in question have no such option. I can't understand why Microsoft made certain icons appear so plain looking.

It was easy to distinguish between files in previous versions of Windows, but not so with Windows 7.

 

I don't understand what you mean by plain? There must be 50 or more and to me none of them are plain. Find something you like, download it and save it where you can find it and use it.

 

Plain, as in plain white with a corner folded down. At least I have seen a few pdf files that looked that way.

It appears that Windows 7 is defaulting pdf and jpg file icons to thumbnail view. Is there any way to change that?

 

I do, but it's not Adobe. It's called PDF-XChange. Adobe got so large and bloated I didn't care for it anymore.

 

OK, I just answered my own question.

You can disable thumbnail views in Windows 7 via Tools/Folder Options/View tab. Just click on the first box at the top to disable thumbnails. Great, but I see there is no option in My Pictures to show the thumbnail view like it did in XP.

 

Not exactly.

Those choices only increase the size of the icon unless you have thumbnails enabled under folder options. You could customize each folder in XP to allow icons or thumbnails...

Windows 7 has no such options that I am aware of.

 

I've tried that option, but it always defaults to a notepad icon.

In the thumbnail below, notice how notepad is highlighted in blue. I have clicked on the Excel icon, but the file association always reverts back to notepad...

 

After some more tinkering with the issue, I finally fixed the file association problem. It seems that Windows was giving me an invalid program to open a csv file in Excel called Microsoft Office Component.


If I tried to use that link I got this error message...


Right clicking on the csv file to choose Open With > Choose Default Program defaulted to Program Files, but I had to navigate to Program Files (x86) to find the Excel program. The csv file is now opening with Excel as it should except that the file icon still defaults to notepad in appearance.

 

It's a brand new Dell. I have had it for about three weeks now.

 

On my W7 computer, if you uncheck "Always Show Icons, Never Thumbnails ", that selection disables thumbnail view in *all* folders.

The only way I can see a thumbnail (when I say thumbnail, I mean a small picture of the actual image itself) is to leave icon box unchecked.

XP allowed you to customize *each* folder to view either icons or thumbnails. As far as I can tell, W7 has no such option.