Folders, Search, and Indexing for Windows Vista - Folder and Search Options
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Control the way folders appear in Explorer and configure Search.
To open
Control Panel -> [Appearance and Personalization]
-> Folder Options
Windows Explorer -> Organize -> Folder and Search Options
Command Prompt -> control folders
Figure 4-9. The Previous Versions tab, which lets you restore previous versions of the folder
Description
The Folder Options window has three tabs (General, View, and Search):
General
Of the three settings on this page, the one people find most confusing is the Tasks section (see Figure 4-11). If you select "Show preview and filters," the Details and Preview panes will appear in all folders. In Windows classic folders, your other choice, the Details and Preview panes, will not be displayed. It will give you more room to display files because those panes are missing, but youll see less information about each file.
View
After you've selected all your preferences in the General and View tabs, click Apply to Folders to make your settings the default. Otherwise, all your settings will be lost as soon as you switch to a different folder.
The Advanced settings in the View tab (Figure 4-12) here are quite important, and they give you a great deal of control over the way you work with Windows. Some of the default settings, in fact, can make Windows more difficult to use. Many of these settings are self-explanatory; some of the more interesting and useful ones follow:
Figure 4-10. The Customize tab, which lets you change how the folder looks and acts
Always show icons, never thumbnails
A thumbnail is a visual representation of a file's actual contents (for example, you'll see a thumbnail-size picture of a graphics file), and an icon is a generic, static representation of a file type. Thumbnails are more useful, but if previews slow down your system or Windows Explorer, choose this setting so that only icons will be used.
Always show menus
Windows Vista has done away with menus in Windows Explorer--sort of. In fact, the classic Windows menus are still there, waiting to be sprung into action. Press the Alt key and they'll be visible just above the toolbar. If you'd like them to be visible all the time, choose this setting.
Display simple folder view in Navigation pane
This rather oddly named option simply shows or hides the dotted lines in the collapsible folder tree (see "Trees," in Chapter 3) in Windows Explorer. The default is on, but if you turn it off, the tree appears more like it did in earlier versions of Windows. In my opinion, the lines make the tree a little clearer and easier to use, so I recommend turning this option off.
Hidden files and folders
By default, Windows doesn't show hidden files in Explorer. Change this option if you need to access them. As a general rule, if you do any kind of system customization or troubleshooting, you should show hidden files and folders.
Figure 4-11. The General tab, which lets you turn off the Details and Preview panes in folder windows, among other options
Hide extensions for known file types
In one of Microsoft's biggest blunders, this option has been turned on, by default, since Windows 95. By hiding file extensions, Microsoft hoped to make Windows easier to use--a plan that backfired for several reasons. Because only the extensions of registered files are hidden, the extensions of files that aren't yet in the File Types database are still shown. What's even more confusing is that when an application finally claims a certain file type, it can appear to the inexperienced user as though all of the old files of that type have been renamed. It also creates a "knowledge gap" between those who understand file types and those who don't. (Try telling someone whose computer still has hidden extensions to find Readme.txt in a directory full of files.) Other problems have arisen, such as trying to differentiate Excel.exe and Excel.xls in Explorer when the extensions are hidden; one file is an application and the other is a document, but they may have the same icon. The upshot is that it's not a good idea to hide extensions for known file types.
Figure 4-12. The Folder Options' View tab, which contains many settings that affect the display of folders and files
There's another reason you should not hide file extensions: doing so can be a security hazard. Windows allows you to create files with several file extensions--for example, you can create an executable file named kittenpictures.jpg.exe. When you hide file extensions, only the last extension is hidden. So if you hide file extensions and you are sent the file kittenpictures.jpg.exe in an email, the file will appear as kittenpictures.jpg. You would assume that the file contains pictures of kittens, but in fact it is an executable file--one that could be a Trojan or a virus. If you didn't hide file extensions, you would see the entire filename, kittenpictures.jpg.exe, and you would know that it was a potentially dangerous executable file, not a picture.
Hide protected operating system files
By default, this option is checked. It is another attempt by Microsoft to protect you against yourself so that you don't accidentally delete or harm important Windows Vista files. But hiding these files makes troubleshooting and customizing much more difficult, so consider unhiding them.
Launch folder windows in a separate process
Turn on this option to start a new instance of the Windows Explorer application every time you open a new folder window.
Remember each folder's view settings
If this option is enabled and you use Explorer's View menu to alter the display of a particular folder, those settings will be saved with that folder for the next time it's opened. If youre looking for a way to save your View settings as the default for all folders, this option won't do it; instead, use the Apply to Folders button.
Restore previous folder windows at logon
If you select this option, when you start your computer this will open the folders you were using the last time you shut down Windows.
Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
If you've encrypted or compressed NTFS files, this will show them in a color to distinguish them from files that haven't been encrypted or compressed.
Show preview handlers in preview pane
Good luck translating this option into English. Here's what it means, though: if you deselect it, the contents of your files will never be shown in the Preview pane. Why use this option if displaying previews slows down your system?
Use check boxes to select items
Normally, in Windows, you can select several files at once by holding down the Ctrl key while you click the files. If you'd instead prefer that checkboxes show up next to files so that you can select them that way, use this option.
Use Sharing Wizard
Windows Vista includes a new wizard to help you share files with others on your PC. If you prefer to walk through the file-sharing process manually, uncheck this selection.
Search
This tab (Figure 4-13) controls the basic features of Search. (For more details, see "Search," later in this chapter.) It includes these sections:
What to search
This section controls how Search handles filenames and file contents. In some circumstances it searches through the actual names of files, and in other circumstances it searches through the names of files as well as through their contents. By default, it searches filenames and contents in indexed locations, and filenames only in nonindexed locations. This section, however, lets you change that behavior. Keep in mind that if you choose to always search through filenames and contents of nonindexed files, it may slow your search considerably, because searching nonindexed files can be sluggish.
How to search
This controls a variety of search behavior. You can include or not include subfolders when typing in the Search box, find or not find partial matches, and choose not to use the index when searching (doing this will slow down the search process considerably, but it casts a wider net).
In addition, it lets you use what is called natural language search. Windows Vista's Search is an extremely powerful tool, but it can be confusing to use because it often requires very strict and specific syntax in order to work. If
Figure 4-13. The Search tab, where tab, where you can customize many Search functions
you'd prefer to use plain English commands (music by Gluck and Salieri) rather than kind: music artist: (Gluck AND Salieri) , turn on natural language search. See "Search," later in this chapter, for more details about natural language search.
When searching non-indexed locations
You can choose to include or not include system directories and compressed files when searching through nonindexed areas. Including them will slow down search performance but will result in a broader search.
Notes
- Windows XP had another useful tab, File Types, but it has been taken away in Windows Vista. The File Types tab let you create and change file associations, and customize various actions associated with files. For example, in Windows XP, you could set multiple associations for files, as well as customize precisely what actions a program should take when it opens a file. You could, for example, set one program to play a file type by default, but a different program to edit the file by default. In Windows Vista, you can change file associations, but nothing else. To change file associations, you choose Start
-> Default Programs -> Associate a file type or protocol with a program. See "Default Programs Control Panel," in Chapter 10, for details.
- You can add a nonindexed area, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives, flash memory cards, network drives, and nonindexed portions of your hard disk, to your index so that you'll be able to search them faster. For details, see "Search," later in this chapter.
See also
"Search" and Windows Explorer, later in this chapter, and "Default Programs Control Panel," in Chapter 10
Next: Indexing Options >>
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 This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Windows Vista in a Nutshell, written by Preston Gralla (O'Reilly, 2006; ISBN: 0596527071). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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