Remove Show Files Warning

If you're viewing the contents of your hard drive as a Web page, and you double-click the Windows folder (or the Windows\System folder), you'll see this warning message: "To view the contents of this folder, click Show Files." You can avoid these warnings by opting not to view your folders as Web pages.

Alternatively, you can remove those warnings and still view your folders as Web pages. The warning messages are part of the customization for the Windows and Windows\System folders. Remove the customization and you remove the messages. To do so, open the Windows folder, locate the folder.htt and desktop.ini files, and create copies of these files in the same folder. (Name them anything you want). Still in the Windows folder, select View, Customize This Folder and select Remove Customization. Click Next twice, then click Finish. Repeat these steps for the Windows\System folder.

Quick Undo

As you probably know, you can undo your last task on Windows Explorer or My Computer. Normally you must use the File menu (File – Edit - Undo…). If you want to do it faster, here is the tip: right click in empty space on Windows Explorer or My Computer. Move down the menu to 'Undo...' It should say something like, Undo Delete, Undo Rename, etc. When you place your mouse over the menu, look at the status bar and you will see what clicking this will do.

Copying a Folder into Floppy

You can directly copy a folder to a floppy drive even you know you will need more than one disk to finish it. Just place a floppy disk into the drive. Open Explorer, locate the folder you wish to copy, right click on it and select Copy. Now on the left side of the screen right click your floppy drive's icon and select Paste.

Now it will begin to copy the folder's contents to the floppy drive. When the current disk is full, Explorer will prompt you to insert a new disk. Doing this allows you to keep a folder in their structure even there are any subfolders inside it.

Quickly Change Folder Views

You can quickly change folder views-large icons, small icons, list or details-fast. Simply by clicking on the View button on Windows Explorer toolbar you can cycle through the views. To select a view from a drop-down menu, click on the down arrow next to the button and choose a view.

Apply View Options on Any Folder

There's a way to apply viewing options, such as Large Icons, to every folder. Just open any folder window and set your ideal viewing options. For example, you might select View, Large Icons, and then View, Arrange Icons, Auto Arrange. In that same window, select View (Win9x) or Tools (WinMe), Folder Options, and click the View tab. Click Like Current Folder, click Yes to confirm, then click OK. From now on, any folder window you open will display the same View options.

Remove Those Warning Pages

Tired of seeing the Windows Warning Message (“Modifying the contents of this folder may cause your programs to stop working correctly…”), every time you open the C:\Windows folder in Explorer? You can easily remove it. Go to View\Folder Options\View menu and check the box marked "show all files". Click OK and hit the F5 key to refresh your system. Now in the Windows directory look for a file called folder htt (Hypertext Template) and remove it (move it to other folder, so you can get it back on other time). The warning is now gone. Other folders such as Dial-up Networking and My Computer contain the same type of templates but their location is on C:\Windows\Web. View the folder and remove any templates you do not want.

Another Method for Creating a Shortcut

This is definitely a new way creating a shortcut. Double click the upper left-hand corner icon in Windows Explorer. Dragging to the Desktop while still keeping the left mouse button pressed and let go. A shortcut for the current folder/page will be created.

Bonus:

Another method to activate the Full Screen Windows Explorer. Start with opening Windows Explorer. Now hold down the Ctrl key and click the Restore button (the middle caption button). Right click any blank space on the toolbar, and select Auto Hide. Now you get 100% Full Screen Windows Explorer. If you want to get the window back to the size you started with, click again the Restore button.

Windows Explorer In Full Screen

There is an undocumented way to put Windows Explorer into full screen. Just press the F11 key to activate the Full Screen mode. Press it again to restore it back to the Window mode. This is not just work on Windows Explorer, it will work on all folder windows. This full screen mode has proven to be rather useful if you are browsing a bit folder or using a low screen resolution.

Variations on MS-DOS Themes

You can try some of these MS-DOS commands to open Windows 9X/Me-style windows from a DOS session:

explorer ..
At an MS-DOS prompt, it will open a single-paned Explorer window and carry you back one directory (from the current directory).

explorer /e,..
(Explorer followed by a space, then parameter e, then a comma and a double period), it will open a two-paned Explorer window focused on the parent of the current directory.

explorer c:\....\....
(Explorer followed by a space and a path), it will open a single-paned window focused on the specified directory.

The Undo Command on The Right Click Menus

Have you ever noticed the Undo item on the right-click menus? This option appears after any file operation (copy, move, rename, etc) and will stay throughout that session. It holds the last 10 operations in memory. Watch the status bar as you hold the mouse cursor over Undo for a description of each undo.

Sort the File List in a Quicker Way

The fastest way to sort the file lists on the Windows Explorer is by clicking the Name, Size, Type, or Modified button on the Windows Explorer right-pane. For example, if you click on the Name button all the listed files and folders will be sorted by name (in alphabetical orders). Or, if you click on the Modified button, all the listed files and folders will be sorted by the last modified date.

Name for the Most Important Folder

Probably you have a special folder for saving the most important documents, for example C:\Documents. If you want it to appear at the top of the folder list, you can rename it by inserting a _ character, so the new name will be C:\_Documents.

More Options to Open Your Files

Normally, a document associated only with one application. For example, when you double-click a document with .TXT extension in the Windows Explorer, automatically Windows will open it with Notepad. However, sometime maybe you want to open it with MS Word. To add more options, you need to perform these steps:

Double-click on the My Computer, select View – Options menu (Win9x) or Tools – Folder Options (WinMe). Click on the File Types tab. Select .TXT (text document) extension in the Registered File Types list, click Edit (Win9x) or Advanced (WinMe), and then New. In the appropriate box, type any descriptions, for example "Open with MS Word", and then click the Browse button to find MS Word application. Click OK, Close, and Close again. From now on, if you right click on a document with TXT extension you will see the added option.

Maintain the Windows Explorer Settings

If you want to maintain the Explorer window size, follow these steps:

First, open the Windows Explorer as usual, and change all the setting that you want. Click on View - Folder Options menu (Win9x) or Tools - Folder Options menu (WinMe), and then click on View tab. Make any change that you want but then bring it back to first setting. The last steps will activate the Apply button. Click on the Apply button, and then click OK. From now on, when you open Windows Explorer, Windows 9X/Me will maintain the settings.

Hiding a Folder in Windows Explorer

Want to hide your secret documents? Use the following steps to make a protected folder that cannot be accessed from the Windows Explorer:

Open the MS-DOS prompt, type mkdir followed by a space. Press and hold ALT, type 0255 (use the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard), and then release ALT. Now you can save your secret documents inside that folder. Windows Explorer cannot display its content. The only way to open that folder is by opening MS-DOS prompt, type cd followed by a space, press and hold ALT, and then type 0255.

You can also protect a usual (named) folder; just insert ALT+0255 as the last character of the folder name. Other ASCII characters that you can use to replace 255 are: 158, 159, 169, 176 to 224, 226 to 229, 231 to 240, 242 to 245, 247, 249, 251, 252, and 254.

Deleting Selected Recently Used List

Use this technique to delete specific files from the recently used list. First, click Start, Programs, and Windows Explorer. In the left Explorer pane, find the Windows folder, double click on it and then scroll down to find the Recent folder. With the right mouse button, drag the folder to the desktop; then select Create Shortcut(s) Here from the shortcut menu. From now on, when you want to delete a specific file or files from the recently used list, just double-click the shortcut, select the file(s), and press Delete.

Copy or Move?

As you know, you can use the drag and drop feature to copy or move files and folder. If you press CTRL key when you drag and drop an object, that means you are doing Copy operation. Meanwhile, if you press SHIFT key when you drag and drop an object that means you are doing Move operation. However, these rules are not valid anymore when you work with two or more drives. If you drag and drop an object from one drive to another drive, that means you are doing the Copy operation whether you are pressing the CTRL & SHIFT key or not.

Use the mouse pointer as your guide. If the mouse pointer has a plus sign that means you are now doing the Copy operations. Meanwhile if the mouse pointer has nothing inside it that means you are doing the Move operations.

Automatic Field Width

On a regular operation, you can change the Explorer fields width (Name, Size, Type, Modified, etc) by clicking and dragging a thin border between the fields. Actually, there is an easier way by pressing Ctrl and + combinations key.

An Exception for the Special Extension

Probably you want to show an extension for a specific type of file. To do so, click on the View-Options menu (Win9x) or Tools-Folder Options menu (WinMe), click on File Types tab, and choose a type of file. Click Edit (Win9x) or Advanced (WinMe), check the Always show extension option, and then click OK.