Back in the early days of Windows 98--then
known simply as "Memphis"--I noted that setting folder options
was complicated and requested that something be done to clean up the
interface a bit. Over the course of the next year or so, the Internet
Explorer team became responsible for Shell enhancements and a new folder
options item was added to the View menu of any My Computer/Explorer
window. The resulting dialog box allowed you to set options for the
current folder, but it wasn't detailed enough and some options, like
"Web view" were actually located elsewhere. In the end, the
folder options available to the Windows 98/Internet Explorer 4.0 user
were better than the stock Windows 95 style, but still lacking in many
areas. An enterprising programmer at Microsoft created the TweakUI
utility to correct some of these problems (and add a host of other
features to Windows 9x) but the basic problem, inconsistent and
underpowered folder options, was never resolved.
As with many things, Windows NT 5.0
changes all that. Now an integrated component of the system Control Panel
(Picture),
Folder Options can be used to set folder options on a folder- or
system-wide basis. Depending on how you access Folder Options--via the
Control Panel applet or from the View menu in a My Computer/Explorer
window, you may see different options. Let's take a look at both cases.
Using the Control Panel applet
To set system-wide folder options, you
would generally use the Folder Options applet in the Control Panel. This
program (Picture)
consists of three pages that may seem familiar at first: General, View
and File Types. But even a cursory look at this window will show that
things have changed, in some cases dramatically.
General page
The General page allows you to determine how Web integration is applied
to your system's user interface. All of the Web features of the
Shell--Active Desktop, folder Web view, and mouse-click style (HTML-like
single click, or older double-click)--are available from this page. One
holdout from the early days of Windows 95 is still available as well: The
ability to browse folders in a single window or each folder in its own
window. In Windows 95, the default was for each folder to open its own
window, as you would, typically, with a Macintosh. Microsoft discovered
that most people were more comfortable with using a single window,
however, so Windows NT 5.0 defaults to using a single window.
Incidentally, I also lobbied Microsoft
to include the ability to switch back and forth between Explorer mode
(tree view on the left) and My Computer mode (no tree view) in any Shell
window, rather than offer two confusing ways to browse the Shell (Windows
Explorer and My Computer). Well, Windows NT 5.0's "simplicity
initiative" jumped right on that idea: There's now on option in all
Shell windows (View->Explorer Bars->All Folders) that toggles this
feature. Confusingly, however, My Computer and Windows Explorer still
exist as "separate" ways to browser the Shell.
View page
The View page (Picture)
resembles its Windows 98/IE 4.0 counterpart at first glance, but a quick
look through the Advanced Settings list (Picture)
reveals otherwise. An extensive collection of options is now available,
including many that replace similar functions in TweakUI.
