James Bannan24 July 2007, 7:05 AM
Is Vista's new Explorer interface slowing you down? Here are some tips to make it dance to your tune.
The new Explorer interface in Vista does take some getting used to, especially if you’re used to zooming around Explorer in Windows XP. If you find, like I did, that the new way of doing things was actually slowing you down, here are some ways to claw back functionality.
Explorer Menus
By default Vista turns off the old Explorer menus. If you press ALT within Explorer it will bring them up, but then they vanish again. To make them permanent, press ALT and go to Tools, Folder Options. On the General tab under Tasks, select Use Windows Classic Folders. You’ll still get the Previews and Filters bar, but all the menus will be back.
 Vista Explorer - Menus |
Easier multiple selections
Ever used CTRL to select a load of individual files or folders, then one mis-click and you’ve lost the whole list? Vista has the capacity to use selection checkboxes instead. To enable this, go to Tools, Folder Options, and under the View tab scroll down and select “Use check boxes to select items”. You can still use CTRL+click, but the checkboxes give an extra level of functionality. This option is enabled by default when Vista is installed on a Tablet PC.
 Vista Explorer - Checkbox |
Favourite links
On the left hand side of the Explorer window are two panes – Favourite Links and Folders. I prefer to turn off the Folders view, simply because it takes up far too much screen space and doesn’t really speed up navigating the file system. Favourite Links aren’t too bad though, especially if you customise the list to make it relevant to you.
 Vista Explorer - Favourites |
To remove a link, right-click an entry and select Remove Link. To add a link, navigate to the folder you want to link to, and then simply drag it into the list and choose “Create Shortcut Here”. Don’t copy the folder, as the Favourite Links list is actually a folder containing the relevant shortcuts (C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Links) rather like the Quick Launch folder, so if you copy it you’ll actually create a new copy of the folder.
You can also go straight to this folder and modify the shortcuts – note that you can only create shortcuts to folders or places, not applications or files. You’ll be able to create a shortcut in the Links folder, but it won’t show up in the list.