Where are folder Options in W-7

[Donald L McDaniel]

Ahhhhhh... found it. It's hard to see. Thanks.

Microsoft's new Aero GUI IS hard to see. It's too dark for this old
man. Colors, etc can be changed by right-clicking on the Desktop and
choosing "Personalize..." (at the bottom of the right-click menu for
the Desktop). But all the young folks seem to like darker colors.

To help, I've been using a product since Windows 98 called
"WindowBlinds", from www.stardock.com. It enables one to pretty much
make the desktop look the way one wants it to look. It's pretty cheap
($19.95 for the shareware version, andhas remained at that price for
some years now) and has a preview mode which allows one to have a
two-week-or-so look at the beautiful desktops which can be made with
it.

WindowBlinds really does improve on the look and feel of Windows 7.

As for inconsistencies such as moved commands in menus, etc.
WindowBlinds won't help Windows 7 much.

However, there are several good tweakers out there, which can fix
things the way you want, without you having to learn the complicated
things about Windows 7 such as the Registry, etc., IF you are willing
to take the time to learn.

I've used several:
TweakVI
Tweak-7 (written expressly to take advantage of the technology in
Windows 7)
Boith are commercial products, but very cheap, considering the hell
one has to go through with an unadorned Windows 7.

Almost all tweakers can address the logical inconsistenciess by making
pokes to the Windows Registry for you, such as the "missing" (they
aren't really missing, since they can be found fairly easily, IF one
takes the time to LEARN) Menus in Windows Explorer and Internet
Explorer, and the "missing" Run command on the Start Menu.

Some of them even allow one to change Windows menus around the way one
wants them.

Of, course, all this takes time and practice, reading, research, etc.
If one doesn't take or have the time, all he/she can do is moan and
complain, and come to forums like this to share his/her misery. If
one is careful, however, and listens more than he/she talks, he/she
will come to love Windows 7 over Windows XP.


Donald L McDaniel

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I was never forced to need this before since the Icon was always
there...
John Ferrell W8CCW

I guess some of us HAVE to be "forced" to make changes in our lives.
If we could all embrace change rather than fight it, the world would
be a better place, and its people would all be much happier.

Microsoft hasn't "hidden" these things: There are thousands,
hundreds-of-thousands of articles on the Net which make Windows clear
as a bell. Take some time to learn, John.

Hell, I'm 65, been using computers since my first Timex-Sinclair in
the late 70's, and love them. I'm allways learning something new
about Windows. I fully intend to continue my love affair till I log
out of this Life, and log in to the Great Programmer in the Sky.

Most of all, HAVE FUN with your computer. It's just a tool. Remember,
"Garbage in, garbage out."

Donald L McDaniel

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

Why would I do it? If I did it I would bring them back. In W-7 they're
hidden.

You know, Valorie, it is very simple to change the way file names
appear in W7. Here's how:
1) Open Control Panel (hopefully you know how to do that).
2) Find the applet called "Folder Options".
3) Click on the "View" tab.
4) Go down the list till you find "Hidden files and folders"
5) Select "Slhow hidden files, folders, and drives" and put a dot in
the radio-button to the left of the text.
6) Next, select "Hide extensions for known file types" and remove the
check-mark.
7) Click on "Apply", then "OK".

You might also want to remove the check-marks from all selections
which start with "Hide...". Some will tell you this is dangerous,
but if you want to see ALL your files, it is necessary.

Also, It will help you MUCH if you set your account type to
"Administrator". This will give you much more control over your OS.
Of course, many say this is dangerous security-wise. But with
experience comes knowledge and understanding. Once you gain those two
virtues Windows will become like an old friend, rather than an enemy.

If you learn how to protect your machine, you will have a much easier
time of it, and much less worry to boot.

Donald L McDaniel

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

My answer is "Right where they always were, at the top of the
window." If you don't see them, then I guess it's possible to
suppress them in Windows 7 but I can't imagine how you did it.

Stan, many Windows tweakers have the ability to hide such things as
the "Folder Options" selection on the "Tools" menu. Of course, if one
doesn't know how to use their computer properly, they would never know
that it is possible to always show the Menu in Explorer. In fact, if
one has little or no knowledge of Windows and computers in general,
he/she can really mess up their Desktop, even causing Window not to be
able to boot.

Please stop posting an impossible OS identification. If you have
Windows 7 then you *don't* have SP2.

It is obvious that Valorie is confused and ill-informed or she would
never have written such idiocy. She needs helpful instruction, not
rebukes.

Donald L McDaniel

 

[Gordon]

Also, It will help you MUCH if you set your account type to
"Administrator". This will give you much more control over your OS.
Of course, many say this is dangerous security-wise.

Absolutely NO NEED to do this in Windows 7. Use the "Run as
Administrator" option instead. MUCH safer.

 

[Ronald Hands]

I am a complete novice in Windows 7, but I think many of the
questions that are being asked here could be avoided if people
would just learn to use the search capability built into the
operating system.

Just click on the Windows start icon, at the left end of the
taskbar,and "search programs and files" will appear just above
it. Unlike the clunky search capability in windows XP, this one
works fast and has been able to answer any questions that I've
had so far in Windows 7.

I just tried it with a search on "hidden"and in addition to
coming up with a pointer to "show hidden files and folders", it
also had two other suggestions on relevant topics. I've used it
previously to track down the power options in my laptop. Often it
will simply point to the proper topic on the control panel, but
it's often a topic that you wouldn't spot if you were
scrutinizing the control panel itself.

Try it – you may like it.

– Ron

 

[Just Judy]

I'm a new person here in the group; my friend just got her
first computer, and I'm trying to assist her. I'm a bit of a geek in
Win-XP, but Win-7 is a learning experience for me, so I'll be doing a
lot of lurking here.

The answer to the above may have already been posted, but it's
no longer on my server.

A quick way to get those File, View, Edit, menus back in Win-7
is to just hit the Alt key. It's a toggle. Hit it again, and those
menus disappear. I can't imagine life without them.

 

[Ken Blake]

I'm a new person here in the group; my friend just got her
first computer, and I'm trying to assist her. I'm a bit of a geek in
Win-XP, but Win-7 is a learning experience for me, so I'll be doing a
lot of lurking here.

The answer to the above may have already been posted, but it's
no longer on my server.

A quick way to get those File, View, Edit, menus back in Win-7
is to just hit the Alt key. It's a toggle. Hit it again, and those
menus disappear. I can't imagine life without them.

That's the temporary way to get it. To put it there permanently (and
like you, I always want it there), on the toolbar click Organize |
Layout | Menu bar.

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I am a complete novice in Windows 7, but I think many of the
questions that are being asked here could be avoided if people
would just learn to use the search capability built into the
operating system.

Just click on the Windows start icon, at the left end of the
taskbar,and "search programs and files" will appear just above
it. Unlike the clunky search capability in windows XP, this one
works fast and has been able to answer any questions that I've
had so far in Windows 7.

I just tried it with a search on "hidden"and in addition to
coming up with a pointer to "show hidden files and folders", it
also had two other suggestions on relevant topics. I've used it
previously to track down the power options in my laptop. Often it
will simply point to the proper topic on the control panel, but
it's often a topic that you wouldn't spot if you were
scrutinizing the control panel itself.

Try it – you may like it.

– Ron

Been there, done that.

I like to do things the hard way, evidently.

Donald McDaniel

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

You haven't noticed that books weren't needed for the other OS systems MS
put out before W-7? You took it out of the box and in the morning and by
nightfall you were all set up and ready to go. Now people need to buy a
book to get the newest OS working.... pathetic.

"Pathetic"? This from a person who can't make things work that many
others find easy, in spite of help from many many posters in this
newsgroup.

I have bought books, and obtained free books when available, for many
operating systems from FAP for the IBM 7090 through Unix, various
versions of DOS, many versions of Windows, and even OS-X. That list is
not exhaustive,either...

One result of the above: I get these things to work for me. You might
consider emulating that behavior, even though it seems pathetic to you
from, of all places, your position of failure where most others have
succeeded.

I said above in another thread that you shouldn't expect to hear from me
again, so I lied to you. I don't mind doing that.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

This is always so much fun!
I will be sure to look for the W7 for Dummies Book. They are always a
good starting place.

It helped me. I also have a book from Microsoft called "Windows 7 Plain
& Simple". And of course experience in precursor versions of Windows.

They *are* good starting places, as is this newsgroup. Of course, all
the books have gaps or confusing passages, but a bit of patience and
experimentation can work wonders.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Thanks, Gene. I did see that.

I've had my Win 7 computer a couple of months, and I must have
enabled them first thing then forgotten all about it.

I've got /Windows 7 Annoyances/. It's pretty good, though I don't
like it quite as well as I did /Windows XP Annoyances/. I've ordered
/Windows 7 Inside Out/ (recommended by several people here) to give
me a better overview.

You happen to have a reasonable attitude

I haven't solved all my problems with 7, but that doesn't keep me from
finding it to be a good OS, and I actually enjoy it.

One area where I've had to rely on third-party software is searching;
another is (fanfare, please!) mail and newsgroups. Finally, I keep
having bad experiences in Libraries in Windows Explorer, so I just try
to avoid that, since the functionality is redundant anyway.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

It is obvious that Valorie is confused and ill-informed or she would
never have written such idiocy. She needs helpful instruction, not
rebukes.

I would agree if she showed any willingness to listen to the huge amount
of excellent advice she has already gotten here.

 

[Valorie *~~]

Finally, the gist of this person's constant complaining and why they
refuse to answer questions to get help.

I haven't refused to answer any questions. Which have you asked that I
refused to answer?

They just want to go on about

how crap Vista and 7 are and how wonderful XP was. Yup, one of those.

Must everyone here rave and rant about the latest MS product? I like Vista
but had less screen freezes with XP.

Have fun living in the past with your obsolete OS, I'm sure it wouldn't be
hard for you to get an old computer that can run XP and get a copy of XP.
Have fun with that.

Now I see you didn't even bother to read my messages fore whining. We
already have 2 PCs with XP and 2 with Vista.

 

[Valorie *~~]

What's amazing to me is that on the one hand there are people who
stand ready to help, out of the goodness of their hearts (and I've
benefited from that several times already), yet on the other hand
there are people who would rather moan and groan than get help.

They moan and groan to their friends instead of coming here looking for help
and being called a troll. Gotcha!

 

[Valorie *~~]

Of course I do. I learned about security on a VAX quite a while ago.
Have a go at this:

Control Panel
User Accounts
Change User Account Control settings

There is a slider which you can set at four levels, Try setting it one
level above the bottom - that will I think stop it asking for your
password every few minutes although it will ask you if you run a program
which might affect other users - you won't be asked for a password though,
one click to confirm is all. If you set it at the bottom, User Account
Control will be disabled.

That didn't work to give "permission" to move the files in WE where WLM was
concerned. I finally let my husband handle it. He disabled some setting as
per this NG (I don't ignore info I get here) and got the files moved. But
WLM acted the same, even with the files from WM replacing them. Installing
WM from my Vista machine wouldn't open. It's there but unusable even with
the correct dll. Someone above gave a site with more info. I'll let him
try it tomorrow. He has more patience than I with software.

The next level of 'turning off security' however is a lot more work and
entails you very tediously altering the security settings on every file.
The PC will wear out before you finish and you will probably go mad anyway
before that.

I'm close to mad now. I see no reason for MS to do this after all these
years. It makes it nothing but aggravation when doing something like
installing WM on W-7.

Actually also you will not really need to do that because all that you
will stop happening is being asked for your password when you try to peek
at other users' files. I assume that will be fairly rare. If I were you
I would strictly keep out of altering security settings on files and
folders, because it is easy to accidentally do very silly things.

Correct.... but I've never done a silly thing on any of my old machines.
Never a problem. I'm very careful when making any changes especially in
the registry.

That said however, practice dealing with this by creating a folder
somewhere you don't care about mucking up and create a file in that folder
that you don't mind doing silly things with. Then right click the file or
the folder and look at the Properties, and click on the security tab. You
will see a message suggesting that you 'Learn more about security'
(something like that anyway). Click on it and see if you feel confident
about changing things. If you are a bit daft you can of course go ahead
and do whatever you want, as you say it is your PC.

Have you checked that out? I didn't understand some of the techie-speak in
'Learn more about security' and much of the choices were grayed out and
useless.

You will be told a lot of stupidly incorrect things about security,
because as I said, it is a tricky thing. If you really want to learn
about it, go on a course - it will cost you a few thousand quid but might
save you from needing a new PC if you start dickering without training.

Furthermore, even if you do the course it is still extremely likely that
you will make a total Horlicks of it the first few times: and it is
really not worth bothering with.

I will tell you something you don't know and can not find out without a
lot of work. The reason why security is tricky and extremely difficult to
learn is that it is best that few people, IT Pros, know how to do it
because if everybody knows about it, some people will be helped to make a
nuisance of themselves. For another thing viruses and rogue software are
a pain in the nuts for many people and with little security your PC will
be riddled with crap after a few hours, your bank account will be empty
and loads of other people will also have big trouble. The VAX security
manual was kept in my office in a safe with a combination lock.

Amazing! And may be true for some people. I could move files all over the
place in Vista and XP and honest to God have not had a problem. When I
first got XP a few years back I picked up a key logger and a browser (porn)
hijacker caught my scumware at the time. One could not be removed and
really messed up IE. I went ahead and reformatted the HD and reinstalled
the OS. Problem gone. Norton is too. I switched to another anti-virus
program and a few scumware catchers plus ZoneAlarm. I believe in all my PCs
wearing heavy prophylactics. ;-)

I would be grateful if you would tell me which software you use for that:
Windows backup tells me I have not enough space despite the fact that my C
drive is only a third used, the external drive has nearly 2 TB free space
and I am backing up only about 50 MB of documents.

Just what came with my Seagate external HD. As for the flash-cards or
thumb-drives, they work like the old floppies. The info is on them. Just
click the file and Send To and off they go. Seagate does it automatically
every Sunday - or is supposed to.

My son has a Mac and swears by it but his children hate it because their
friends use PCs and school only uses PCs.

I must admit that I find the snags and horrors of it part of the fun.

Some of our relatives and friends have switched to MACs and swear by them
also. Some stared with MACs and wonder why anyone stays with windows. Until
W-7 we were satisfied with W's OS's. This is the first one we don't like
at all. There was of course a learning curve with our first PC, W95, after
that it was smoothe saliling with all the new MS OSs - until W-7.

I also noticed something in an earlier message which appears not to have
been mentioned. In short, start Windows Explorer and open a folder with
plenty of files in, and choose Tools, folder options and click the View
tab. I reckon if you scroll down the various bits and bobs you will find
that by default you have a setting to hide known file extensions. If you
deselect it, voila, all the extensions will pop into view. Scuse my
French.

I've done that already thanks to another poster who helped me find the top
bar, hidden by MS for some reason.

 

[Valorie *~~]

Your son and his children are like the rest of us. We like what we
know the best.

That's not always true. I really liked the improvement XP was over W98SE.
I liked Vista as much as XP. W-7 seem to be a whole other ballgame.

 

[KCB]

I am a complete novice in Windows 7, but I think many of the questions
that are being asked here could be avoided if people would just learn to
use the search capability built into the operating system.

Just click on the Windows start icon, at the left end of the taskbar,and
"search programs and files" will appear just above it. Unlike the clunky
search capability in windows XP, this one works fast and has been able to
answer any questions that I've had so far in Windows 7.

I just tried it with a search on "hidden"and in addition to coming up with
a pointer to "show hidden files and folders", it also had two other
suggestions on relevant topics. I've used it previously to track down the
power options in my laptop. Often it will simply point to the proper topic
on the control panel, but it's often a topic that you wouldn't spot if you
were scrutinizing the control panel itself.

Try it – you may like it.

– Ron

+++
Yes, it seems to find just about anything on the computer, relative to what
is typed. And I like that it shows the matching list as you're typing.

 

[Just Judy]

That's the temporary way to get it. To put it there permanently (and
like you, I always want it there), on the toolbar click Organize |
Layout | Menu bar.

Thanks, Ken. I'll make that adjustment to my friend's system.

One day after signing on here and already I've learned
something. Ain't usenet grand?

 

[Miles]

* Donald L McDaniel wrote, On 20-Sep-10 00:35:

You might also want to remove the check-marks from all selections
which start with "Hide...". Some will tell you this is dangerous,
but if you want to see ALL your files, it is necessary.

Word of warning: When I first opened Win7 I unchecked all the "hide"
lines, including "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"

Not realizing the cause/effect this caused several folders to be seen
but could not be opened such as Documents & Settings. Very frustrated
I called the computer mfgr HP tech service & spent hours/days with
several techs who suggested many different ways to correct it, finally
concluding that I should call MSFT. Being as it's an OEM copy of Win7
that would cost $. Then a friend who has been with win7 for some time
me that some of these files are here as a holdover from winxp because
some older programs still use them, and he had gone through the same
frustrations some time ago. Rechecked that line and these "virtual"
files are no longer seen.
Miles