Explorer Tips |
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Removing Right-Click Items
Changing the Default Sound in Explorer
Changing Drive Icons in Explorer
Changing Drive Labels in Explorer (Windows2000 and XP)
Resetting Graphics PreView in Explorer
Keeping Filenames in the Case You Want
Changing the Explorer's Web View Background
Hiding the File Menu in the Explorer
Automatically Adjusting Right-Panel Column Widths
Added Non-Expanded Explorer when Right Clicking on a Folder
Opening a DOS Prompt in the Directory You Want
Starting Explorer with No Drives Expanded
Easier File Copying with Explorer
Expanding All Subfolders in Explorer
Starting Explorer when opening a Folder
Explorer Shortcut Keys
Starting the Explorer from the Current DOS Directory
Using the Explorer's SEND TO Feature |
Removing Right-Click Items |
When
you right click on a folder or file with the Explorer, a list of options
is available.
As more applications get installed, this list may get too large for you.
To remove
items from the list:
Note the
text of the item you want to remove
Start Regedit
Go to the
following sections in the Registry and delete the subkey with the string
you noted in Step 1.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\file
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell Go
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Changing the Default Sound in Explorer |
| You
can change the default sound heard when navigating to folders in the Explorer.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ AppEvents \ Schemes \ Apps\ Explorer \ Navigating\
.current
Change the default value to the wav file you want to use.
Leaving it blank will turn off the sound.
This also changes the default sound when opening a page in the Internet
Explorer.
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Changing Drive Icons in Explorer |
| To
change the icon used for specific drives in Explorer
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion
/ Explorer
Create a key called DriveIcons
Within DriveIcons, create another key with the drive letter you want
to change (..\DriveIcons\K)
Create another key within the drive letter key called DefaultIcon
Set the default value equal to the icon you want to use.
If you have a file that has more than one icon in it, such as a DLL
file, use the standard C:\full_path\icon_file.dll,x
where x is the number of the icon within the file icon_file.dll. Go
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Changing Drive Labels in Explorer (Windows2000 and XP) |
| Normally
the Explorer shows drive labels as "Compact Disk", "Removable
Disk" ect.
To change
the name of this label for specific drives:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion
/ Explorer
Create a key called DriveIcons
Within DriveIcons, create another key with the drive letter you want
to change (..\DriveIcons\K)
Create another within the drive letter key called DefaultLabel
Give the Default Value for this key the label you want to appear for
that drive letter. (Jazz Drive etc.)
Restart the computer
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Resetting Graphics PreView in Explorer |
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Windows98, ME or Windows 2000, if you have View as Web Page enabled but
do not see a picture preview in Explorer:
Start Regedit
Go to Registry
key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ file type \ ShellEx \ {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}
Make sure the Default Value "{7376D660-C583-11d0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"
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Keeping Filenames in the Case You Want |
| To
stop Windows from changing the case of your filenames to upper or lower
case:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion
\ Explorer \ Advanced
Double-click DontPrettyPath (or create this key with a type of REG_DWORD
if it doesn't exist)
Set the value to 1 to keep the case as you type it or 0 to adjust the
case as Explorer requires
Click OK
Close Regedit Go
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Changing the Explorer's Web View Background |
| If
you use Web View for your Explorer, you can change the background that
appears.
Edit or
recreate the file >C:\Windows\Web\Wvleft.bmp
Make sure
you keep the file dimensions the same 182x237 pixels
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Hiding the File Menu in the Explorer |
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hide the File Menu in Explorer:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new Binary Value
Name it NoFileMenu
Give it a value of 01 00 00 00
Reboot the computer
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Automatically Adjusting Right-Panel Column Widths |
The
column widths in the right hand panel of the Explorer might not be the
correct sizes to display all the file information.
To automatically adjust all the columns at once to show all the information,
Click somewhere
on the right-hand panel
Simply press the Ctrl-+ key.
The Name, Size, Type and Modified columns will automatically adjust
themselves to display all their information.
Note: The + is the one on the numeric keyboard Go
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Added Non-Expanded Explorer when Right Clicking on a Folder |
Adding
a second Explorer to the menu that pops up when right clicking on any
folder or the Start Button.
This is handy to be able to open Explorer non-expanded and also for being
able to open a second Explorer (non-expanded) while already in Explorer.
Open My
Computer
Choose View-Options-File Types
Select the File Folder file type
Click Edit
For ACTION, type EXPLORER2
For APPLICATION USED, type C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e,/select,C:\
Click OK and close all windows
Run REGEDIT
Expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Locate and expand DIRECTORY
Locate and expand SHELL
Locate and expand EXPLORER2
Select COMMAND
On the right window RIGHT CLICK on DEFAULT
Select MODIFY
Remove the space and %1 at the end of the line
Click OK and close REGEDIT
EXPLORER2 will show up and launch a non-expanded view of Explorer whenever
you right-click on the START BUTTON or any folder, even if you are already
in Explorer.
The whole
procedure can be done in REGEDIT, but this may be safer for users not
experienced with REGEDIT Go
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Opening a DOS Prompt in the Directory You Want |
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can use the Explorer to easily open up a DOS window to a specific directory.
From Explorer
Option Menu select File Types
Highlight the object for Folder - NOT File Folder
Click the Edit button
From the 'Edit File Type' panel click the 'New' button
Action is '&Goto DOS Prompt'
Application used is C:\windows\command.com /k cd %1
Select OK, then Close and Close.
Now from Explorer secondary (right) click the folder you want to go
to in DOS
From the menu select 'GotDOS Prompt' (or hit G) and you are in that
directory with a DOS windows
For Win NT 4.0 same tip, but substitute cmd.exe for command.com)
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Starting Explorer with No Drives Expanded |
Normally
when you start the Explorer, it expands the folders on the root of the
C: Drive.
For those computers with multiple hard drives plus CD ROM Drives, this
might not always be what you want.
If you want it to start without expanding any drives, use the following
switches:
EXPLORER
/n, /e, /select, c:\
This will
work with NT 4.0 as well Go
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Easier File Copying with Explorer |
One
difference between Explorer and File Manager is that with File Manager
you could open up two windows to more easily copy files between drives.
To do the same thing with Explorer:
Close all
running applications
Start two copies of Explorer
Press Ctrl-Esc to bring up the task bar
Right click on an open space
Select Tile Horizontally or Vertically depending on your preference
Your two Explorer sessions will now split the screen and you can copy
between them by
dragging files like before.
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Expanding All Subfolders in Explorer |
To
quickly have Explorer expand all subfolders for a selected drive or folder,
simply press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad |
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Starting Explorer when opening a Folder |
| To
have an Explorer window be the default when you open up a Folder:
Open up
any folder.
Select View / Options
Select File Types
Go down to Folder
Click on Edit
Highlight Explore
Click on Set Default
Click on Close
Click on Close again
Now when you open a folder, you will get an Explorer window with the
programs or shortcuts in the right panel
and the regular explorer window in the left panel. Go
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Explorer Shortcut Keys |
F4
- Displays the Combo Box
F5 - Refresh the display
Ctrl+G - Go to a specific directory
Ctrl+Z - Undo last action
Backspace - Go up one directory |
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Starting the Explorer from the Current DOS Directory |
| To
start Explorer from whatever subdirectory you are in when shelled out
in DOS:
Type "Start
.\"
The Explorer will start in that very same directory
"Start ..\" will start the Explorer one directory above the
current one.
"Start \" will start the Explorer at the root of the drive.
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Using the Explorer's SEND TO Feature |
When
you right click on a file, SEND TO is one of the options.
To add other directories or programs, simply drag them to the SEND TO
folder that is directly under the directory where you installed Win95.
This will allow you to quickly move files to commonly used areas.
For example, you can SEND TO applications like WinZip. |
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