On my Windows 2000 machine, every Windows Explorer window (directory
listing) by default contains a "status bar" at the bottom of the
window. This "status" bar displays:

1) if no items are selected, the number of items displayed (the number
of items/objects shown in the window) and the total size of the files
in the window (bytes to be transferred if the entire contents are
copied or moved)

2) if one or more items are selected, the number of items selected and
the total size of the selected files.

(It doesn't extend to the size of the contents of selected folders,
unfortunately.)

This status bar at the bottom of Explorer windows is missing on my XP
machine(s) by default, even though I have selected / enabled the
"classic" Windows user interface for the machine.

How do I enable this status bar? Is it available in XP? I find it
very useful in Win2K and it is one of the reasons I stick with Win2K
for my "production" machine.

TIA

Fred Holmes

Open Windows Explorer > View menu > place a checkmark next to Status Bar.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Fred Holmes wrote:
> On my Windows 2000 machine, every Windows Explorer window (directory
> listing) by default contains a "status bar" at the bottom of the
> window. This "status" bar displays:
>
> 1) if no items are selected, the number of items displayed (the number
> of items/objects shown in the window) and the total size of the files
> in the window (bytes to be transferred if the entire contents are
> copied or moved)
>
> 2) if one or more items are selected, the number of items selected and
> the total size of the selected files.
>
> (It doesn't extend to the size of the contents of selected folders,
> unfortunately.)
>
> This status bar at the bottom of Explorer windows is missing on my XP
> machine(s) by default, even though I have selected / enabled the
> "classic" Windows user interface for the machine.
>
> How do I enable this status bar? Is it available in XP? I find it
> very useful in Win2K and it is one of the reasons I stick with Win2K
> for my "production" machine.
>
> TIA
>
> Fred Holmes

>>Fred Holmes wrote:
>>> ... Windows Explorer window (directory listing) by default contains a
>>> "status bar" at the bottom ... This "status" bar displays: ...

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
> ... under XP, it _sometimes_ shows other things (I'm not sure
> if this is configurable): for example, if an mp3 file is highlighted, it
> shows the contents of (some of?) the data tags, such as artist and album
> title.

John,
If an object in the right-pane of Explorer is selected, the status bar
shows the details in the 'Infotip' for that object. This is configurable
in Regedit. For example, for all audio files:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\audio
InfoTip REG_SZ
prop:Size;Name;Attributes;Type;Artist;Album;Year;Track;Duration;Bitrate;Create;Write

Specifically for mp3 files:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mp3file
Infotip REG_SZ ...