From: "JW"
Don't use the Control Panel applet.
Go to My Computer.
Double-Click on "C:"
Tools --> folder options --> view --> Apply to All Folders
Thanks that did it was confused between the folder applet and the menu
command why the difference?
When you open a folder in My Computer (or Windows Explorer) and make a
change in the View settings, like changing to details view, that
activates the button to 'Apply to all folders' when you open the Tools>
Folder Options dialog in that window.
When you open the Control Panel applet for Folder Options, you don't
have any folder open in that window, so the button isn't active.
Sometimes, if that still doesn't make the setting hold for all folders,
do it again but after setting to 'Apply to all folders', when done,
close the My Computer window by holding down the CTRL key while clicking
the X in the upper right to close. That "sticks" the changes.
Even after making the 'Apply to all folders' setting, you can still set
a few individual folders to another view. I have all folders set to
Details, but prefer the main window of My Computer that shows my drives,
to be in Icons view with a different Sort Order. Once the Details
setting is applied for all folders, you can open a specific folder that
you want set differently, make the Vies setting you want there, press F5
to Refresh the view, then close the folder window by holding the CTRL
key while clicking the X in the upper right corner of the window.
That way, you can set some folder differently, such as if you have some
folders of pictures you want to set to Filmstrip or Thumbnails.
