Specifications

Exploring the View Options

. Always Show Menus—As you saw earlier (see “Returning the Menus to Their

Rightful Place”), you activate this check box to display the menu bar full time in

Windows Explorer.

. Display File Icon on Thumbnails—When this check box is activated, Windows

Explorer superimposes the file type icon on the lower-right corner of each file’s

thumbnail. This is usually a good idea because the extra icon allows you to figure

out the file type at a glance. However, if you find the icon getting in the way of the

thumbnail image, deactivate this setting.

. Display File Size Information in Folder Tips—When this setting is activated and

you hover your mouse pointer over a folder icon, Windows Explorer calculates the

size of the files and subfolders within the folder, and displays the size in a pop-up

banner. This is useful information, but if you find that your system takes too long to

calculate the file size, consider deactivating this setting.

NOTE

If you activate the Display File Size Information in Folder Tips setting, you must also acti-

vate the Show Pop-Up Description for Folder and Desktop Items setting, described later.

. Display the Full Path in the Title Bar—Activate this setting to place the full path-

name of the current folder in the Windows Explorer title bar. The full pathname

includes the drive, the names of the parent folders, and the name of the current

folder. Note that this only applies to Classic folders, which you activate by clicking

the Use Windows Classic Folders option in the General pane.

. Hidden Files and Folders—Windows 7 hides certain types of files by default. This

makes sense for novice users because they could accidentally delete or rename an

important file. However, it’s a pain for more advanced users who might require

access to these files. You can use these options to tell Windows Explorer which files

to display:

Do Not Show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives—Activate this option to avoid

displaying objects that have the hidden attribute set.

Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives—Activate this option to display the

hidden files.

NOTE

Files are hidden from view by having their Hidden attribute activated. You can work with

this attribute directly by right-clicking a visible file, clicking Properties, and then toggling

the Hidden setting on and off.