Folder View Settings Trouble

Hello!
I've used XP Home for a couple years now on a shared home computer. The family had several user accounts set up, etc. and all was well.

But I recently bought my own new computer, and am having some trouble getting things the way I like them. The computer came with Windows XP installed, with SP2, I believe. I haven't used it to access the internet yet; waiting on some hardware.

So, main problem is I can't get folders to remember their view and file arrange settings.

Now, I did a search on these forums before I began this post, and saw a suggestion on editing the registry to up the number of folders that will accept custom views, but should this be an issue on a brand new PC (which I'm pretty sure has SP2)?

I also saw a thread on this very subject, but it was locked, and had degenerated into a discussion of explorer alternatives. I don't want an alternative, I'd like to use Windows XP.

In folder options I have the box checked to "Remember Each Folder's View Settings." But it does NOT remember each folder's view settings. I can set a folder up a certain way, then apply that to all the other folders, but I want certain folders to open in certain views. I know it's possible, too, but how??

I want my Control Panel to open in icons view, with the window sized to show all the panels.
I want my Word documents to always be listed alphabetically.
I want my folders of images to be thumbnails.
etc.

I was able to do this on my old PC, and the option is there to be clicked on the new one, but it doesn't "take ". Closing and opening the window sets it back to the default I applied to all folders.

Another, related I suspect, problem is with the desktop. Whenever I boot up it Autoarranges the icons. I have to turn off Autoarrange and then move them where I like them. Also, the taskbar is sized in a manner that doesn't show all four items in my quick-launch area. I have to unlock the taskbar, slide the Quick-Launch area larger, then re-lock the taskbar. All these changes reset on reboot.
How can I get the folders to remember their view settings and keep the desktop from autoarranging my icons?

thanks in advance,
rabidrobot


EDIT: Found another thread in the "related threads" to my own post with a suggestion to ctrl-click the close box. That was XP Pro, but I'm gonna try it....

 

Aha!

Well, I think I got it fixed. For anyone else who has this problem, here's one solution.

Someone on another thread suggested the Tweaking Toolbox XP app, and I thought I'd give it a try, because I'm always checking out these tweak programs, hoping for the perfect one. Tweaking Toolbox XP isn't perfect, but it is very nice, and the 14-day free trial will give you plenty of time to make this fix.

Open the app, then select the Desktop option bar, then Desktop Settings. There I found an option already checked "Don't save settings on exit." I unchecked it, restarted once to get it official, made my changes to windows/desktop, then restarted again to see if it worked. It did!

It would be nice to know how to access this option without a tweak app, also to know what settings it refers to.

gl, RR



EDIT: I see the Tweaking Toolbox XP makers are big advertisers here, so no trouble for anyone looking for a link. Also, ctrl-click to close window didn't do anything for me in XP Home.

 

I wish I could endorse your fix but it doesn't work for me. The "Folders" under My Computer > View > Explorer Bar > Folders keeps reverting to checked and that renders the dual pane window when opening any folder. The Tweaking Tool Box can't stop it - I can't stop it. No big deal. I just wonder why they presented the option of unchecking that and not have it stick.

 

Dude, Are you sure you just don't have explore set as the default for folders? Right click on one to find out. Is Explore in bold type? If it is you can set it back to open in the file types dialog. If you do this though, you'll find that when you use windows explorer it'll open a new window whenever you click on a folder in the right pane. For some reason setting the folder default back to open doesn't return everything back to the default. To fix this you have to edit this registry key.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell

The "default" in the right pane will have a data value of Open. All you need to do is change it to an empty string and windows explorer should work as it always did before.

 

No, I've tried changing that and many other things but it always reverts back to whatever the default is set at or whatever it thinks it wants. If I blank out that value string, as I have in the past, it will then open without the dual pane but if I then change the view to dual pane and exit, it opens next time and forgets that setting.

Thanks for the thought anyway.