A few questions, mostly about Windows Explorer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cyril N. Alberga
  • Start date Start date
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Cyril N. Alberga

Dear All,

I've just gotten my first XP machine (still running a 98SE, next to it).
I've got a lot of questions, but here are some nagging ones, four
about Windows Explorer, one about the desktop.

1. How can I set Windows Explorer to open with the focus on my C: disk,
rather than on "My Documents"?

2. On the network, using Windows Explorer, file names containing
certain special characters are not correctly viewed from XP, but are
from Win98. Due to this, copy/paste or drag-and-drop of these files
will only work when initiated from the Win98 machine. The transfers
will work in either direction, but cannot be done from the XP machine.

3. During network operations Windows Explorer on XP often "freezes",
particularly when faced with the file names mentioned in item 3. It may
require an "End Task" command from the task manager to clear it.

4. On XP in Windows Explorer a left mouse-click will not select the
name of a directory in the "folder" window, although it does in the
right-hand window. However, ALT-f ALT-m, (File - Rename) does this.
How can I restore the (to me useful) behavior of Windows Explorer to
that of Win98?

5. How can I change the spacing of the desktop grid to which icons are
locked, in order to replicate the desktop on my Win98 machine, to lessen
confusion when switch from one to the other? (XP only allows 9 icons
per column using the resolution which allows 10 on Win98.)

Any help on these?

Cyril N. Alberga
 
Go to Start>All Programs>Accessories
Now rightclick Windows Explorer and click Properties
On the Target line, after explorer.exe add /e
There is a space between the .exe and /e
Click Apply and OK. Now it should open on your "C" drive.
I'll leave the rest of your questions for someone else.
 
Answers in line that I can help with.

1. How can I set Windows Explorer to open with the focus on my C: disk,
rather than on "My Documents"?
Click to expand...
create a shortcut on the desktop with this in the command line.
%windir%\explorer.exe /e
2. On the network, using Windows Explorer, file names containing
certain special characters are not correctly viewed from XP, but are
from Win98. Due to this, copy/paste or drag-and-drop of these files
will only work when initiated from the Win98 machine. The transfers
will work in either direction, but cannot be done from the XP machine.
Click to expand...

What special characters are recognized in a 98 box that are not recognized
in an XP machine?
3. During network operations Windows Explorer on XP often "freezes",
particularly when faced with the file names mentioned in item 3. It may
require an "End Task" command from the task manager to clear it.
Click to expand...

This would be a commonly occuring problem with any network setup where there
is a problem with recognizing the file or folder or mapped drive. I
regularly experience this problem on my office network when I have forgotten
to turn on my laptop that has a mapped drive to my desktop and then try to
access the laptop's drive. Eventually (sometimes more than 5 minutes) you
should get an error message and the machine should return to normal.
4. On XP in Windows Explorer a left mouse-click will not select the
name of a directory in the "folder" window, although it does in the
right-hand window. However, ALT-f ALT-m, (File - Rename) does this.
How can I restore the (to me useful) behavior of Windows Explorer to
that of Win98?
Click to expand...

Don't really know what you mean here. On my machine when I left click on a
folder icon it highlights the icon and opens the folder in the right window
to show the folder's contents. If you want to rename a folder in the
folder window, right click on it and then click rename from the menu list
which drops down.
5. How can I change the spacing of the desktop grid to which icons are
locked, in order to replicate the desktop on my Win98 machine, to lessen
confusion when switch from one to the other? (XP only allows 9 icons
per column using the resolution which allows 10 on Win98.)
Click to expand...

Right click on the desktop. Left click properties. Select Appearance tab.
Left click Advanced. Under the Item you should see Desktop. Click the
Desktop box and a dropdown list will appear. Select Icon spacing (Vertical)
and decrease the default number until you get your 10 icons in a column.
This will be a trial and error process. Click Ok to test it and then go
back and change it again if it doesn't meet the specifications you desire.
(You can also change the horizontal grid here also.)
 
Thank you very much. Dell told me that there was no way! I actually
have a icon on the desktop for WE, and I added the parameter there.

CNA
 
LVTravel said:
Answers in line that I can help with.





What special characters are recognized in a 98 box that are not recognized
in an XP machine?
Click to expand...

Two examples are (using codepage 850, keyboard set to US-International)
any file name containing È (Uppercase E with grave accent) or ø
(lowercase o with a slash through it). Both machines (XP and 98) allow
you to create files using these characters in the file names, but if I
use Windows Explore to look at the directories across the network the
file names look correct (and act correctly) when the file is on the XP
box and WE is running on the 98 box, but not in the reverse case. In
that case the characters are showen as _ (underscore), and attempts to
copy them, in either direction, from WE on the XP box fail.
Don't really know what you mean here. On my machine when I left click on a
folder icon it highlights the icon and opens the folder in the right window
to show the folder's contents. If you want to rename a folder in the
folder window, right click on it and then click rename from the menu list
which drops down.
Click to expand...

On 98, if I click once on a directory name in the left pane of WE it is
selected. If, after a long enough pause that a double-click isn't
detected, I click again it is equivalent to right-click/rename, and
faster, with less mouse movement. However this doesn't work on XP.

<snip>

Thank you for your answers to the other questions.

Cyril N. Alberga
 
4. On XP in Windows Explorer a left mouse-click will not select the
name of a directory in the "folder" window, although it does in the
right-hand window. However, ALT-f ALT-m, (File - Rename) does this.
How can I restore the (to me useful) behavior of Windows Explorer to
that of Win98?
Click to expand...

Folder Options> View: Uncheck the box to use Simple Folder View.
 
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