Windows Explorer Madness

[Rev. Bob 'Bob' Crispen]

Windows Explorer is driving me mad!

I've got at 4 ways I invoke it:

(a) From the quick start bar, invoked by
"C:\Documents and Settings\Bob Crispen\My Documents"
That's my "My Documents" link, with folders turned off (the default).

(b) From the quick start bar, invoked by
%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /e,C:\Documents and Settings\All Users
That's my "My Computer" sort of link, with the folders turned on.

(c) From double-clicking the Recycle Bin.

(d) From double-clicking a compressed file.

Explorer is set up to stay in the same window and not spawn new
instances for every folder change.

I've set up (a) and (b) to give me a window that's located around the
center of the page, with room for 6 icons in the default (icon) view
on the right-hand pane. I did this by following the advice I read
here: setting up the window the way I want it and then using
File/Close.

That's perfectly fine, as long as I never look inside the Recycle Bin
or inside a compressed folder!

Whenever I invoke Explorer via (c) or (d), I invariably get a window
that's oriented toward the upper left of the screen, and has room for
7 icons in the right-hand pane.

Once I've done either (c) or (d), before long -- I wish I could be
more definite, but it creeps up on you -- the location and size of
the window (too big and too far up and left) that seems to be a
system default has infected the Explorer windows invoked by (a) and
(b) too.

Setting the recyle bin window using File/Close doesn't last very
long. And since Windows can't be made to open compressed folders by
keeping the same Explorer window, I have to set each one, one at a
time. Something is always knocking it back to the default. Perhaps
it's because I leave the "My Computer" and "My Documents" style of
views up longer, while I only open the recycle bin long enough to
glance at its contents and I do that quite often.

This is driving me nuts, and I'd admit defeat and roll over and use
the Explorer window the system wants to give me if it didn't look
like crap. Help!!!
--
Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen
bob at crispen dot org
Ex Cathedra weblog: http://blog.crispen.org/

As I sat on death row for shooting the sheriff, I reflected on the
drawbacks of hiring an attorney who went to law school in Jamaica. -
after Bob Van Voris

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

It sounds as if some folders are losing their view settings, this is usually caused by the index to
saved views (...\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU) being full and deleting some entries to make room for new ones.
Desktop items (i.e. Recycle Bin) are especially vulnerable due to the way Windows decides which view
to delete.

The following is a script that will report on several parameters relating to saved views. Copy the
text between the lines into notepad & save as a .vbs file, then run the script. Post back with the
results.

------------------------------
Const conBagMRUSize = _
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU Size"
Const conBagMRUNodeSlots = _
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU\NodeSlots"
Const HKCU = &H80000001
Const conBagsPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

dim oWshShell, oRegistry, iLimit, iMRUEntries, arrSubKeys, iBagCount

'Assign objects
Set oWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

s1 = "winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}"
s2 = "!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv"
Set oRegistry = GetObject(s1 & s2)

On Error Resume Next
iLimit = oWshShell.RegRead(conBagMRUSize)
If Err.Number <> 0 Then iLimit = 400
On Error Goto 0

iMRUEntries = UBound(oWshShell.RegRead(conBagMRUNodeSlots)) + 1

oRegistry.EnumKey HKCU, conBagsPath, arrSubKeys
iBagCount = UBound(arrSubKeys) + 1

sMsg = "Max Views = " & iLimit & vbcrlf & _
"Index Entry Count = " & iMRUEntries & vbcrlf & _
"Saved View Count = " & iBagCount
Msgbox sMsg
------------------------------

Also, some clarification about opening compressed folders. The default action for normal folders
toggles between 'Open' and 'Explore', depending on whether or not the folder pane is displayed. The
default action for .zip files is 'Open', regardless of the folder pane. So, if Common Tasks are
displayed, double-clicking a .zip file should open it in the same window. If the folder pane is
displayed, you need to right-click the zip & select 'explore' to have it open in the current window.

 

[Rev. Bob 'Bob' Crispen]

The following is a script that will report on several parameters
relating to saved views. Copy the text between the lines into
notepad & save as a .vbs file, then run the script. Post back
with the results.

Max Views = 400
Index Entry Count = 400
Saved View Count = 57

What's that mean?

Also, some clarification about opening compressed folders. The
default action for normal folders toggles between 'Open' and
'Explore', depending on whether or not the folder pane is
displayed. The default action for .zip files is 'Open',
regardless of the folder pane. So, if Common Tasks are displayed,
double-clicking a .zip file should open it in the same window. If
the folder pane is displayed, you need to right-click the zip &
select 'explore' to have it open in the current window.

Aha! Thanks for that. Works as advertised. Anything similar for the
Recycle Bin? Oh yeah. I see it in Explorer. Well, not a bad habit to
change, I suppose. I seldom see my desktop.
--
Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen
bob at crispen dot org
Ex Cathedra weblog: http://blog.crispen.org/

As I sat on death row for shooting the sheriff, I reflected on the
drawbacks of hiring an attorney who went to law school in Jamaica. -
after Bob Van Voris

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Max Views = 400
Index Entry Count = 400
Saved View Count = 57

What's that mean?

The index is full and every time explorer wants to save a new view, it has to delete an old one. If
you want to preserve what good views you have, manually edit the registry as follows:

1) navigate to:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam"

2) create a new REG_DWORD value named "BagMRU Size"

3) Make the value data 8000 decimal

If you want to clean everything out and start fresh, apply Kelly's tweak:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

 

[Rev. Bob 'Bob' Crispen]

The index is full and every time explorer wants to save a new
view, it has to delete an old one. If you want to preserve what
good views you have, manually edit the registry as follows:

1) navigate to:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam"

2) create a new REG_DWORD value named "BagMRU Size"

3) Make the value data 8000 decimal

Cool! It's now 8000, 402, and 73, and I don't seem to be losing the
old ones. Thank you!

If you want to clean everything out and start fresh, apply Kelly's
tweak:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

Got it saved, just in case.

Btw, you don't know how to turn click-pause-click rename in the
folders pane back on, do you? I am sloooowwwwly accepting the XP Way
in Explorer (now that I'm on the verge of being 2 major OS releases
behind the times), and it's annoying to do something I've done for
years and nothing happens.

Aren't you sorry you helped? ;-)

Thanks again,
--
Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen
bob at crispen dot org
Ex Cathedra weblog: http://blog.crispen.org/

As I sat on death row for shooting the sheriff, I reflected on the
drawbacks of hiring an attorney who went to law school in Jamaica. -
after Bob Van Voris

 

[Trevor L.]

Btw, you don't know how to turn click-pause-click rename in the

folders pane back on, do you? I am sloooowwwwly accepting the XP Way
in Explorer (now that I'm on the verge of being 2 major OS releases
behind the times), and it's annoying to do something I've done for
years and nothing happens.

Bob,

I have been using XP for years without realising that click-pause-click
rename was an option.

It certainly works for me, but I have never been concsious of it. When the
file goes into rename, I have just accepted it without thinking

How to turn it on, you ask?
I may as well ask how to turn it off - not that I want to?

 

[David Candy]

There is no click, pause, click. There is just click a selected label to rename. If you select and click within the double click timer time it is treated as a double click on the icon and label.

 

[Rev. Bob 'Bob' Crispen]

The voices told me that "Trevor L." <Trevor L.@Canberra> would say

Bob,

I have been using XP for years without realising that
click-pause-click rename was an option.

It certainly works for me, but I have never been concsious of it.
When the file goes into rename, I have just accepted it without
thinking

How to turn it on, you ask?
I may as well ask how to turn it off - not that I want to?

Works great in the right-hand pane. Now try it on the left! And
btw, when I was using "classic" view in XP it worked fine.
--
Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen
bob at crispen dot org
Ex Cathedra weblog: http://blog.crispen.org/

As I sat on death row for shooting the sheriff, I reflected on the
drawbacks of hiring an attorney who went to law school in Jamaica. -
after Bob Van Voris