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re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 3:02 am Posted by Martin (65 messages posted) (Why did the site delete all my paragrahing??) On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:49 am, Martin wrote: >Does anyone know how to stop Windows XP from designating (for instance) a root folder >(e.g. C:\) as a photo or video folder? Things will be OK for a few days, then I will >go to look in my C drive (say) and it has been changed to Filmstrip view since I >last accessed it. That causes problems, with folders hanging when you try to open >them. With a subfolder you can right click and recustomise it as documents or whatever >(even so, annoying when Windows keeps altering the customisation of individual folders >itself), but there's no such option for a root folder. > >I am continually having to go into the registry to delete these keys: > >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU] >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags] > >That deletes all saved customisations, but the problem is back again within a few >days. I have created a DWord value of up to 5000 for "BagMRU Size" to make XP remember >more folder settings. Doesn't seem to help either. > >I am not one of those that continually knocks Microsoft and Windows, but what with >this and crashes and other stuff, I do thing Windows Explorer is one of the most >pathetic bits of software on my PC !! > >Martin [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:21 am Posted by Ricer46 (23818 messages posted) Because you didn't mark the box at the bottom of the page to preserve spacing. On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 3:02 am, Martin wrote: >(Why did the site delete all my paragrahing??) > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:26 am Posted by Ricer46 (23818 messages posted) Since you recognize that Explorer is pathetic, why do you continue to use it? MS has NEVER designed a decent file manager. I would switch (and have done so) to one of the alternatives. Total Commander, PowerDesk, there are more. Also if XP crashes on you at all, you either have bad hardware or malware. It simply never has crashed on me in the 8 years that I've been using it, except when I had hardware and malware problems. On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:49 am, Martin wrote: >Does anyone know how to stop Windows XP from designating (for instance) a root folder >(e.g. C:\) as a photo or video folder? Things will be OK for a few days, then I will >go to look in my C drive (say) and it has been changed to Filmstrip view since I >last accessed it. That causes problems, with folders hanging when you try to open >them. With a subfolder you can right click and recustomise it as documents or whatever >(even so, annoying when Windows keeps altering the customisation of individual folders >itself), but there's no such option for a root folder. > >I am continually having to go into the registry to delete these keys: > >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU] >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags] > >That deletes all saved customisations, but the problem is back again within a few >days. I have created a DWord value of up to 5000 for "BagMRU Size" to make XP remember >more folder settings. Doesn't seem to help either. > >I am not one of those that continually knocks Microsoft and Windows, but what with >this and crashes and other stuff, I do thing Windows Explorer is one of the most >pathetic bits of software on my PC !! > >Martin [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 3:40 pm Posted by Martin (65 messages posted) Hi. I bought Power Desk in fact, but didn't really like it - it was a while back and I don't recall why, I must admit. I uninstalled it. But in any case, the point is , Windows Explorer is not just a file manager, it is hard-wired into the XP system and, like Internet Explorer, has a number of background functions that you cannot turn off. If you have an alternative File Manager installed, you will still have Windows Explorer running too - try stopping explorer.exe with Task Manager, and Power Desk or whatever won't keep your desktop running (unless things have greatly changed since I last inverstigated). Not true by the way that "Also if XP crashes on you at all, you either have bad hardware or malware" there are a thousand and one reasons why XP might crash due to software problems - missing or corrupt dll files to name just one.. In any case, I don't really have problems with XP crashing, just Windows Explorer. It is VERY delicate (as you are obviously well aware) and will hang if under pressure, and change settings (like customisation of folders) as it sees fit (so to speak). Useless, but there is no 'under the bonnet' replacement for it - file managers like those you mention just ride on top if it. Martin On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:26 am, Ricer46 wrote: >Since you recognize that Explorer is pathetic, why do you continue to use it? MS >has NEVER designed a decent file manager. I would switch (and have done so) to one >of the alternatives. Total Commander, PowerDesk, there are more. > >Also if XP crashes on you at all, you either have bad hardware or malware. It simply >never has crashed on me in the 8 years that I've been using it, except when I had >hardware and malware problems. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:32 pm Posted by Ricer46 (23818 messages posted) I'm well aware of the fact that other file managers run on top of Explorer. You seemed to have two complaints. You don't like the file manager, well there's little that can be done if you stubbornly cling to using it, learn to live with its idiosyncrasies. You complained about the stability, while all of those issue can cause explorer to crash, there's no reason to have those problems on an ongoing basis. As I said before, XP has been solid as a rock for me on multiple PCs for 8 years, except for the rare occasions that I had a hardware failure, or a significant software issue. But these have been very rare, and were quite easy to rectify; and my experience is similar to most other regular contributors to this forum. I've offered my two cents worth, it's certainly your prerogative to ignore it. On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 3:40 pm, Martin wrote: >Hi. I bought Power Desk in fact, but didn't really like it - it was a while back >and I don't recall why, I must admit. I uninstalled it. > >But in any case, the point is , Windows Explorer is not just a file manager, it is >hard-wired into the XP system and, like Internet Explorer, has a number of background >functions that you cannot turn off. If you have an alternative File Manager installed, >you will still have Windows Explorer running too - try stopping explorer.exe with >Task Manager, and Power Desk or whatever won't keep your desktop running (unless >things have greatly changed since I last inverstigated). > >Not true by the way that "Also if XP crashes on you at all, you either have bad hardware >or malware" there are a thousand and one reasons why XP might crash due to software >problems - missing or corrupt dll files to name just one.. In any case, I don't really >have problems with XP crashing, just Windows Explorer. It is VERY delicate (as you >are obviously well aware) and will hang if under pressure, and change settings (like >customisation of folders) as it sees fit (so to speak). Useless, but there is no >'under the bonnet' replacement for it - file managers like those you mention just >ride on top if it. > >Martin > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Customising windows as documents, photos etc. Friday, March 12, 2010 at 2:33 am Posted by Martin (65 messages posted) It's always beyond me why a small number of contributors respond to perfectly 'innocent' questions with this type of aggressive tone. Maybe it's some misguided attempt to prove to anyone reading this thread that you are somehow smarter than the original poster (since I am a qualified PC hardware engineer, that may well not even be the case), though I can't see anything in my original question that would cause such an attitude. Just one of the hazards of posting on public forums I suppose... If you are well aware that replacement file management software sits on top of explorer, you should also be aware that Power Desk and such software (at least the ones I tried) do not even attempt to replace all the windows shell functions of Explorer, which means that Explorer.exe, as long as it is running, may still crash, causing problems (for example with opening context menus) whether you have an alternative file manager running or not. Like you (I repeat) I have very little problem with XP itself crashing. M On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:32 pm, Ricer46 wrote: >I'm well aware of the fact that other file managers run on top of Explorer. You seemed >to have two complaints. You don't like the file manager, well there's little that >can be done if you stubbornly cling to using it, learn to live with its idiosyncrasies. >You complained about the stability, while all of those issue can cause explorer to >crash, there's no reason to have those problems on an ongoing basis. As I said before, >XP has been solid as a rock for me on multiple PCs for 8 years, except for the rare >occasions that I had a hardware failure, or a significant software issue. But these >have been very rare, and were quite easy to rectify; and my experience is similar >to most other regular contributors to this forum. I've offered my two cents worth, >it's certainly your prerogative to ignore it. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum