XP default folder size

If there's anything which is going to drive me back to using W98, it's XP's (Pro or Home) inability to remember that I don't want previously unaccessed folders to open in full screen size.

By 'previously unaccessed', I mean folders that have never before been opened in the lifetime of the current installation.

Once a folder has been opened and resized, Windows will remember the setting (well, most of the time) but if it's a folder that's never been opened before - Bang!- full screen.

This doesn't seem to be a problem if you stick with the Windows default setup, but I prefer to use the 'Windows Classic' folders, i.e., each folder opening in it's own window, in List mode, without Standard Buttons, Address Bar or Links - which is a fast efficient setup for a working user.

I have an idea that there might be a registry hack for this - anyone seen it?

 

Hi, Mason ~

Do you mean 'window' rather than 'folder'

 

Not sure what you're getting at Bruce.

A folder is a little yellow thingo that contains files.

Once you open a folder, it could be said that the folder has become a window.

This opened 'window' then displays all the files contained in the 'folder'.

My problem is this:
I want all newly opened folders to occupy around 25% of the screen.

I DO NOT want them to occupy the FULL screen, as they do in Windows XP, the first time they're opened.
(If they've already been opened once, and resized, they usually remember the resizing, and the next time they're accessed, they open to the re-sized size)

I note that this behaviour does not seem to occur if one has chosen to keep the default XP setting, which dictates that each newly opened folder replaces the previous one, so that only one folder is open at any given time.

 

Hi, Mason ~

I apologize as I was thrown by the inaccurate use of nomenclature. What I was "getting at" was that you cannot resize a folder but you can resize a window. Clicking on and subsequently opening a folder ( "a little yellow thingo ") initiates Windows Explorer opening a window.

The XP settings which dictates that each newly opened folder replaces the previous one can be changed by:

• Open Windows Explorer > 'Tools' > 'Folder Options...'
• 'General' tab > 'Browse Folders' section
• Select 'Open each folder in the same window' or 'Open each folder in its own window'
• 'Apply'
• 'View' tab > 'Advanced settings:' section
• Check or uncheck 'Launch folder windows in a separate process'
• 'Apply' > 'OK'

Now, to solve your little problem of getting all newly opened folders to occupy the same window size:

• Close all windows
• Open Windows Explorer
• Resize the window to your liking by dragging lower right-hand corner
• In the menubar > 'Tools' > 'Folder Options...'
• 'View' tab > 'Advanced settings:' section
• Check 'Remember each folders' view settings'
• Click 'Apply to All Folders' button in 'Folder views' section
• 'Apply' > 'OK'
• Close Windows Explorer by 'File' > 'Close'

You may also press Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click the 'X' as you hold those keys down. This forces Windows to remember the Explorer settings and bring it up in that same fashion next time you open it.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

I'm already using the laout you describe, as I said in my first post:

"....this doesn't seem to be a problem if you stick with the Windows default setup, but I prefer to use the 'Windows Classic' folders, i.e., each folder opening in it's own window, in List mode, without Standard Buttons, Address Bar or Links - which is a fast efficient setup for a working user "

I had an idea there was a reg hack for the problem, hence my query on this forum.

Another forum suggested editing the shellnoroam setting
via the Bags and BagsMRU keys but that didn't work either.

 

I like the classic myself.

I'm still a little confused as to exactly what you want but in case you aren't familiar with the command line switches available for launching Windows Explorer in other than the default mode, you can look Here, still more Here including a link to and quite a few other places.

If you really want things just like you want them (whooo - horrible syntax) this MSDN article was written a while back giving ideas on how to generate a Win95 style explorer window and shows the code used. There is additional code available today but you can home brew an explorer window to exactly suit yourself using the article and a little additional research.

 

Thanks for the links. However, nothing there addresses my problem. Maybe I worded my request badly, so I'll put it another way.

Let's say that I've just finished setting up a fresh install of XP (Pro or Home)

I've never liked the XP default interface, so I do the following:

1. I go to Start\My Computer\View\Tools\Folder Options and select 'Use Windows Classic Folders', 'Open Each Folder In It's Own Window' and accept the default 'Double Click To Open An Item'.

2. Still in the 'Folder Options' selection box, I press View. I'm a tech and this is my own system, so I select 'Display The Contents Of System Folders', 'Show Hidden Files And Folders', 'Show Control Panel In My Computer'.

(I'm typing this from memory - I think 'Remember Each Folder's View Settings' is already checked as a default, but if not, I'd check that also).

I uncheck 'Hide Extensions For Known File Types' and 'Hide Protected Operating System Files'

3. I Hit the button 'Apply To All Folders' and just for good measure, I also press 'Reset All Folders'. OK out.

4. Back in My Computer (or any folder) I hit View and select 'List' as this is the mode in which I like to see folder contents displayed. To hammer the point home, I go again to Tools\Folder Options and hit the buttons 'Apply To All Folders' and 'Reset All Folders'. OK out.

Almost there - XP is beginning to look almost civilized. But there's one more adjustment to make before I'm happy with it's appearance, and this brings me back to my original query.

If I now go into My Computer and open say, C, the folder will open up full screen. I don't want it this size so I hit the RestoreDown\Maximize button up at the top right which reduces the folder to a smaller size. Now I can grab the edges or corners of the folder and resize it to exactly the dimensions I want, as well as move it to where I want the folder to sit.

So far so good. I shut the C folder. Now, if I double click on the C folder again, it'll open to my preset size and placement.

But here's the rub - every new, previously unaccessed, folder opened from hereon in needs this treatment, which is a pain in the butt.

What I'm seeking (along with about a million other people) is a way to change the global preset, so that the folder\window size adjustment need only be done once, or at the most a few times, after which ALL folders would open the same way.

I wouldn't have thought that this would be a big problem for the M$ programmers. Obviously, I was wrong:--))

Hope I've posed my question a little more clearly this time.

 

Thanks for the link. But nothing there applies. I did try again fiddling with the Bags and BagsMRU settings in the reg but nil results.

This really is wanky. I mean, XP is set up to remember the settings of umpteen different folders after they've been resized - surely it would be much easier to keep track of one setting which applies to ALL folders!!

grrrr