For God's sake! Fix the Folder View settings bug!

[sjgore]

I've been noticing this more and more as time goes on. For some reason folders are being marked as Audio for no apparent reason

All my folders are slowly being marked as Photo folders, again for no apparrent reason. There aren't any kind of images in them at all!

[SoCalledChaos]

gods stake? sounds painful.. yet yummy!

[AliceCooper]

Anyone tried this? Works fine for me:

http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/kmkenney/...-discovery.aspx

I've been using XP since 2001 and I've never heard of simular problems with XP. It's not directly a bug, it's a feature.

This fixed the problem with my "Program Files" defaulting itself to pics.

I've had this problem for months, so I thank you for this :D

[bradavon]

It happens to me and drove me round the bend so much I looked elsewhere for an Explorer replacement. I happily used Explorer for 12 years (since 95) despite knowing it was (and still is) rough around the edges but it did the job. This bug is so annoying it means I cannot use it.

I thought it was there by design? For some madly insane reason.

In XP/Vista I would go into "Folder Options" and click on "View" tab and click Apply to Folders.

What this does is apply whatever settings I have on my CURRENT FOLDER to ALL the folders in XP/Vista.

Make sure that you have "Remember my folder's view settings" checked. Afterwards I would change my folders

according to whatever settings I want and never a problem again.

That works for all of 2 minutes. Those buttons are just as useless as they ever were in XP and if memory serves me correctly all previous version of Windows from 95 onwards.

We've heard reports of this, but have never been able to reproduce it internally (either in a test environment, or even just on any of our own daily use machines). It's possible some third-party tools or add-in is messing things up, but it's hard to say for sure without a solid repro case and a debugger.

Seriously?

It happens all over my system. The column names at times can be absolutely ridiculous. I've even had cases where I've had no audio files (for example) in a folder yet audio column names are being used. All I ever want is: Name, Type, Folder and Modified Date. That's it!

Now I'm on the subject why is there no equivalent of XP's Large Icons? In Vista they're either way to small or enormously large. Who honestly would ever use Extra Large Icons? (unless you have bad eye sight I guess). I have to constantly move the slide bar between Medium and Small to give me XP's Large Icons. For me this really is the optimal size. It's even stranger when the Desktop does have this size (called Classic).

Exactly.

How can you fix a bug if you can't even establish 'one' verifiable circumstance when it happens?

And, for some reason, people won't tell you what's been installed, what registry tweaks, what other things have been done.

But, they still complain about it and expect it to be fixed?

I don't know where you get that from? Do you expect us to list every single application, registry tweak (printer settings too?) and what's been changed? You need to be more specific what you'd like to know?

The problem clearly affects a great number of people and none of which I doubt are secretly not giving out information. I for one have used TweakUAC to Hide UAC popups, which still leaves it enabled but you get no popups.

Would you rather they fix serious problems first or your GUI problems?

Both. Presumably Microsoft employ more than one developer? It's a bug and needs fix, it's pretty simple really.

Anyone tried this? Works fine for me:

http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/kmkenney/...-discovery.aspx

I've been using XP since 2001 and I've never heard of simular problems with XP. It's not directly a bug, it's a feature.

Thanks. It looks interesting. I'll give it a go.

Edited September 22, 2007 by bradavon

[Argi]

Gonna try that fix above a bit later, looks promising.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

That works for all of 2 minutes. Those buttons are just as useless as they ever were in XP and if memory serves me correctly all previous version of Windows from 95 onwards.

The buttons work fine. In Vista, the behavior is spelled out pretty clearly. It takes the view settings for the current folder, and applies it to all folders of the same type.

Seriously?

It happens all over my system. The column names at times can be absolutely ridiculous. I've even had cases where I've had no audio files (for example) in a folder yet audio column names are being used. All I ever want is: Name, Type, Folder and Modified Date. That's it!

Actually, that quote is out of date. It took a major effort, but eventually it was tracked down.

The problem clearly affects a great number of people and none of which I doubt are secretly not giving out information. I for one have used TweakUAC to Hide UAC popups, which still leaves it enabled but you get no popups.

You don't need "TweakUAC" to do that. It's one registry key, or one option in secpol.msc. It just automatically approves all elevation requests. It's better than turning it off, for sure.

Both. Presumably Microsoft employ more than one developer? It's a bug and needs fix, it's pretty simple really.

Not always that simple. Often the hardest part is finding out why the issue occurs. You can't really fix something if you don't know why it happens (and it's very hard to figure that out if you can't reproduce the problem in a controlled situation).

[bob_c_b]

That works for all of 2 minutes. Those buttons are just as useless as they ever were in XP and if memory serves me correctly all previous version of Windows from 95 onwards.

I've installed, between work and home, every version of Windows hundreds of times (building custom images for work and messing with my own system) and those buttons always work.

[Cormier6083]

Vista is another one of Micorsoft's hurried products. (IE: Xbox 360)

[bradavon]

The buttons work fine. In Vista, the behavior is spelled out pretty clearly. It takes the view settings for the current folder, and applies it to all folders of the same type.

I didn't realise that but even so if only it actually did that. Agreed it does work (it always has) but it doesn't stick, forever.

Actually, that quote is out of date. It took a major effort, but eventually it was tracked down.

What was it? So it will be fixed in SP1?

Great, thanks btw.

You don't need "TweakUAC" to do that. It's one registry key, or one option in secpol.msc. It just automatically approves all elevation requests. It's better than turning it off, for sure.

True but it saves having to find the registry key, it's a tiny program which allows you to easily switch between the two (silent and non-silent). Secpol isn't include in Home versions, annoyingly.

Which registry key btw, please?

Exactly automatically approving is great, as in 99.9% of the time I am going to say Yes anyway. I wouldn't have clicked it if I didn't want to perform the request etc . . . It's especially annoying when you delete a folder in Programs Files for example, as you already get prompted twice without the need for a third. Once to ask are you sure, then another to warn you you need to confirm (Why? Surely UAC is doing that too) and a third when UAC would kick in. Surely that's overkill?

I'm regularly doing things which would initiate UAC. I can live with the second prompt but the intrusive UAC prompts were a step too much for me. Like you say it's better than turning off UAC which I do not want to do but probably would've had done if I couldn't automatically elevate. It would be nice if this option didn't make Windows Security Center think you've turned off UAC completely.

Vista is another one of Micorsoft's hurried products. (IE: Xbox 360)

I wouldn't go that far. All OS's have bugs, it's basically a given.

The only major problem I have is my Volume Shadow Copy data lasts all of 24-48 hours then completely wipes itself (setting it to Auto or Manual makes no difference). Thankfully all of any worth (I can find) it takes with it is System Restore (making System Restore effectively useless, unless I happen to have a SR point in there).

My SR points never go back any further than 2-3 days before it starts all over again. I've spent ages trying to work out why this is but have now given up. I've only had to use SR once since May, less than XP in fact. I'm more than skilled to fix most problems myself.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

It's especially annoying when you delete a folder in Programs Files for example, as you already get prompted twice without the need for a third. Once to ask are you sure, then another to warn you you need to confirm (Why? Surely UAC is doing that too) and a third when UAC would kick in. Surely that's overkill?

Yeah... let's just say your frustrating is known (and shared) and not being ignored :)

Edited September 22, 2007 by Brandon Live

[bradavon]

Yeah... let's just say your frustrating is known (and shared) and will be taken care of :)

Awesome, nice one. I hope you don't mean Microsoft is going to send an assassin after me to cease my (and others) frustration though :D

[blued]

Problem solved for me, thanks to whomever provided the reg fix solution a couple pages back that disables the "automatic folder type discovery" (which changes folder views depending on its contents). All I wanted is name, type, size and date modified and I got it now and IT STICKS!

The most unbearable thing about this horrendous bug/design flaw was not so much that it didnt consistently stick to your prefered settings (or even the folder contents as it was designed to), but the ridiculous scrolling through 6 zillion settings (which included things like "assistants name, assistants phone, beats-per-minute, billing information, bill summary, birthday, bit depth, broadcast date, client number, closed captioning, flag color, flag status, flying saucer color, bra size, butt-plug girth, etc) to choose the details you need. My no.1 Vista peeve is finally history!

[x-scratch]

Vista is another one of Micorsoft's hurried products. (IE: Xbox 360)

we all know your apple/ps3 fanboy so beat it like michael

[null_]

Good to see that registry stuff I cooked up is working :)

[abc@home]

Don't have this problem for some time. Perhaps some updates fixed it?

[hewitt s.]

I'm glad I stumbled across this forum thread. This problem has been driving me nuts. However it's not new -- XP does this too once you exceed a certain number of folders on the system. It has to do with that stupid bags thing...

[General Crespin]

Anyone having problems again with SP1 RC1? I patched the registry but now Explorer seems to be up to its old tricks again (also tried patching after SP1 RC1).

[EnzoFX]

ya, its dynamic. the way i do it is, open that folder in the same way everytime, i.e. the same link, then it'll remember the setting. if your in one, then move to another one that has a diff setting, then that current view setting will be used. I think this is how it works, well anyways, only get this problem with new folders.

[General Crespin]

Computer is set to tile view, grouped by type.

I open up SmartFTP v2.5. It displays Computer in detail view, no grouping.

I open up Computer. It now displays detail view, no grouping, and the only column shown is the Name column.

WTF.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Computer is set to tile view, grouped by type.

I open up SmartFTP v2.5. It displays Computer in detail view, no grouping.

I open up Computer. It now displays detail view, no grouping, and the only column shown is the Name column.

WTF.

I cannot reproduce that behavior with SmartFTP on my system. SmartFTP opens up in grouped tile mode for me, and when I change it to List mode and close SmartFTP, it has no effect on the view when I open Computer again (back in grouped tile view as expected).

If you open Computer, change the settings, and click Close - they will be persisted.

[General Crespin]

I believe you. I wish there was other information I could provide that might help. :(

[Unimatrix Xero]

what reg tweek is this?

[zhangm Supervisor]

How does Windows determine what folder type to assign, and when to do it?

[General Crespin]

This one... which happens to be dead. :p Google Cache version of the page.

I have sent a message to the author asking if he knows if his tweak works in SP1 for sure or not. I know it worked fine pre-SP1.

[General Crespin]

Any updates?

Anyone know how I can turn off automatic folder type discovery in SP1 RC1?

It's highly annoying!

Thanks.