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WINDOWS VISTA EXPLORER TIPS |
| If Show Hidden Files and Folders in Folder option is Missing. |
| In your Vista, if from your Windows Explorer > Organize > Folder & Search Option > Folder Options > View > Advanced Settings, the "Show Hidden Files and Folders" option is missing, then here is a Registry hack you can try to get it back. |
| Type regedit in Vista's start menu search box and hit Enter. Navigate to : |
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden |
| In RHS Pane, rt click on Type > Modify. Here Change Value Data to "group" without the inverted commas. Click OK > Exit. |
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| How To Resize un-resizable windows in Vista. |
| Windows has several dialog boxes and windows which cannot be resized, unlike most, which can be, by simply, moving the cursor to the edge or corner of the window. However some cannot be resized ! |
| But you can use ResizeEnable to do it. It sits in the background and attaches itself into Windows via three 'Hooks'. The first hook is so that it can see which windows are created/destroyed, in which it attempts to alter the window's style so that it can be resized. The second hook intercepts all messages for every single window to see if it is a message associated with resizing a window that it has previously altered the style of. The third hook spots whether the mouse has been pressed in the 'sizing area' of a window and
takes care of doing all the work of resizing the window. Works with Vista. |
| Make Taskbar Appear ONLY when Win Key is pressed. |
| If you don't like the Taskbar to appear on your desktop all the time, you have probably set it to auto hide, through the taskbar properties box. And to make it appear, when you want it to, you then have to move your cursor to the bottom of the screen or to your taskbar area. |
| But you can set it so, that it will appear ONLY when you press the Win Key. |
| To do so, download and use this 202 KB nifty utility called PushToShow. Doesn't require an install. |
| Windows Explorer Error: "Class Not Registered". |
| If when you try to start Explorer you get the error message Windows Explorer Error: "Class not registered" then you may need to re-register ExplorerFrame.dll . |
| To do so, Start > Run > regsvr32 ExplorerFrame.dll > OK. |
| If it doesn't help, then its quite possible that your ExplorerFrame.dll may have been corrupted and that you may have to be replace it with a 'good' one. System Restore would be an option to consider or else search for its 'Previous Versions' through the Files Properties Box. |
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| Dead Links Of System Folders On Vista Start Menu. |
| If you find that the links to Pictures or Music or Documents in the Windows Vista Start Menu, are dead or not working , do the following to correct the problem: |
| If your Music link is not working, |
| Rt click on the Start Menu Pictures link > Properties > Location > Put C:\Users\Owner\Pictures > Apply > OK. |
| Here C is the System Drive and Owner is User Name |
Similarly, if your Music link is not working, insert
C:\Users\Owner\Music |
And if your Documents link is not working, insert
C:\Users\Owner\Documents. |
| Use an image as a background for a folder in Windows Vista Explorer. |
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| In Windows Vista, the ability to have custom backgrounds in Explorer folders is not present. This small application makes it possible to set your favorite images as folder backgrounds. |
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| Make your Start Menu User Picture Rotate. |
| Rotating 3D User Picture is a small application, which runs in background and replaces the original stationary User picture in Start Menu with a rotating 3D one. Download it from Tomatnet. |
| How To access the hidden classic menu bar in Vista's Explorer in a click. |
You can always make Windows Vista Explorer show the Menu Bar as follows:
Organize > Layout > Check Menu Bar. |
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| But should you have it as unchecked, and should you wish to temporarily show this classic menu bar, you can do so by simply clicking the 'Alt' key to make it appear ! |
| Re-Size Explorers Icons easily. |
| In Windows Vista Explorer, you can use the Views button on the toolbar to change the size of icons, from small to extra large, by clicking on the specified options, or by scrolling on the up / down arrow in the slider. |
| Alternatively, you can simply hold down the Ctrl key and use your mouse scroll wheel to resize the icons from small to extra large. |
| How To Show Window Titles in Vista's Explorer. |
| In XP, one had the Explorer and also IE showing the Window titles. However, this feature has been done away with, probably due to redundancy. But you still get to see it in IE7.... |
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| ...But not in Vista's Explorer... |
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| But you can if you wish, show such title's in Vista's Explorer too. Download and use AeroBar. Its a small utility which does the job. Just make sure that your Aero is 'on'. |
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To install it and have it startup with your Vista, place the file AeroBar.exe in your StartUp folder and reboot.
To uninstall it, just remove this file AeroBar.exe from your StartUp folder and reboot. |
| Disable Breadcrumb Bar in Vista's Explorer. |
| While I personally like the BreadCrumb Bar, and think that its a step forward, there are many who don't like it and prefer the old XP type address bar. |
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Well one can always click on the address bar, next to the breadcrumbs, to make it revert back to the XP style file structure or even simply press 'Alt D' to do so. |
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| But there is also an application that removes the breadcrumb bar in Windows Explorer on Vista and make it like the default bar visible, as in XP. Download the AveNoBreadCrumb and click on. It will work on any newly opened Explorer windows. Click on it the second time, and it will stop working. If you find that this application is causing issues with the Vista Aero interface and the Start Menu, best to stop using it. |
| How to kill Vista's explorer.exe in 3 clicks. |
| The usual way of terminating the explorer process is through the Task manager. Rt-Click taskbar > Task manager > Process Tab > Rt Click explorer.exe > End Process. |
| But Vista actually offers you a faster way to do it ... in 3 clicks ! |
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| Click Start button > Hold down Ctrl+Shift & Right Click on empty area in the Start Menu > Click "Exit Explorer". |
| To re-start it, you will have to do so as usual through the Task Manager. Click Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select Star Task Manager or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Then launch explorer.exe manually. |
| How To Retain Transparency even after maximizing a window. |
| When you maximize a window in Vista, the transparency gets lost in the window as well as in taskbar. At the AeroXP forum a hacked aero.msstyles file has been posted, which can enable the transparency in maximized windows also. Here are the instructions : |
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| You have to patch 3 files to allow windows to use 3rd party themes. Download this file from Anti-TGTSoft .
And follow the instructions mentioned therein. |
Now download this
file, and replace your existing C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\ Aero\aero.msstyles file with the downloaded file. Thats it ! It might be a nice idea, however, to preserve your original aero.msstyles file on another location.
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You can also try True Transparency from CrystalXP.
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| Reduce Thick Borders of Explorer in Vista. |
All windows in Vista have thick borders. Transparency shows off quite well on them. But if you don't like such thick borders, and would like to reduce or trim them, rt-click on Desktop and open select Personalize. Click on Windows Color & Appearance. Here click on Open Classic Appearance Properties. In the new dialog box select Advanced. Again a new dialog box will open. Here from the "Item' drop down menu, select Border Padding. Change the default value from 4 to say, 1. |
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These Links may Interest You:
Handy Vista Tips
Desktop Tips For Windows Vista. |
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