Specifications

8
CHAPTER 1 Customizing Windows Explorer
have several useful commands that simply aren’t available through the taskbar, keyboard
shortcuts, or even by right-clicking.
Still, it sticks in my craw that accessing the Windows Explorer menus requires the extra
step of Alt, particularly if I’m in mouse mode. If you feel the same way, follow these steps
to force Windows Explorer to display the menu bar full-time:
1. If you have a folder window open, select Organize, Folder and Search Options. (No
folder windows open at the moment? Click Start, type
folder, and then press Enter
to select Folder Options in the search results.) The Folder Options dialog box
appears.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Click to activate the Always Show Menus check box.
4. Click OK. Windows Explorer (perhaps a tad grudgingly) restores the menu bar to its
rightful place.
Changing the View
The icons in Windows Explorer’s content area can be viewed in no less than eight differ-
ent ways, which seems a tad excessive, but Windows has never been about restraint when
it comes to interface choices. To see a list of these views, either pull down the Views
button in the task pane or click View in the menu bar. You get four choices for icon sizes:
Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, and Small Icons. You also get four other
choices:
. List—This view divides the content area into as many rows as will fit vertically, and
it displays the folders and files alphabetically down the rows and across the
columns. For each object, Windows Explorer shows the object’s icon and name.
. Details—This view displays a vertical list of icons, where each icon shows the data
in all the displayed property columns (such as Name, Date Modified, Type, and
Size). See “Viewing More Properties,” later in this chapter, to learn how to add to
these columns.
TIP
The default property columns you see depend on the template that the folder is using.
To change the folder template, right-click the folder, click Properties, and then display
the Customize tab. In the Optimize This Folder For list, choose the type you want:
General Items, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos.
. Tiles—This view divides the content area into as many columns as will fit horizon-
tally, and it displays the folders and files alphabetically across the columns and
down the rows. For each object, Windows Explorer shows the object’s icon, name,
file type, and (for files only) size.