Vista Explorer - couple of questions

[Muse]

1. Is this just a change from XP? In every previous version of Windows, when I select a folder or file in the Explorer file manager, it turns dark blue. If I select multiple files/folders, they all turn dark blue. It's obvious what's selected, what's not. In Vista, the selected objects are so dull blue I have to look hard to figure out what's selected and what's not. Seems to me that occasionally something turns darker blue, don't know why. Is there a way to change the darkness of selected objects?

2. The address bar on top. In previous versions the address was in DOS format, e.g.:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\...

Now in Vista I'm seeing something like:

C: |> Program Files |> Microsoft Office |>

I'd really prefer the DOS format. Is there a way I can change that behavior?

 

[corkyg]

If you right click on the Task Bar, and select Properties, Start Menu, you can select Classic Menus. That will give you abouyt what you had in XP. If you are using the new Vista menus, you see a much different format - especially if you are using Aero. The document title bar is neither "DOS" or as you show, but an Aeroglass box showing the drive, thefolder, and the document. Between them are little arrows. You can click on them and expose other docs or folders at that level. Windows 7 is like Vista in that regard.

You can also use the Customize menu for either Classic of Vista Start Menus.

 

[corkyg]

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are seeing. When I use Windows Explorer, and go to a Documents Folder, and highlight a document/file, this is what I see:

Vista

When I use XP, I don't see blue anything - I see dark gray. That depends on how you have set up your Windows colors, themes, etc., etc.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I'm not quite sure I understand what you are seeing. When I use Windows Explorer, and go to a Documents Folder, and highlight a document/file, this is what I see:

Vista

When I use XP, I don't see blue anything - I see dark gray. That depends on how you have set up your Windows colors, themes, etc., etc.

Yes, that's what I mean. In your Vista Explorer the highlighted items are a pale blue and it's not easy for me. I can easily miss something, very very easily. By way of contrast (it's not a pun, contrast is the exact word!) here's what I see in XP's Explorer:

XP Explorer window

 

[Anubis]

Click in the address bar and it turns into the dos format

http://img190.imageshack.us/im.../5077/vistataskbar.jpg

 

[Muse]

I found an option (CP/Personalization/Window Color/Appearance), but it requires turning off Aero. I don't know what I'm sacrificing by doing that. Guess I can try to get an idea by reading Help. I'm new to Vista. I can choose Windows Standard or Windows Classic and I get the high contrast selection in Explorer. Windows Vista Basic (not Aero) is again the very pale blue for selections.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Anubis
Click in the address bar and it turns into the dos format

http://img190.imageshack.us/im.../5077/vistataskbar.jpg

Uh, yep. But it doesn't stay that way. If I go to another folder, it reverts.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Muse
I found an option (CP/Personalization/Window Color/Appearance), but it requires turning off Aero. I don't know what I'm sacrificing by doing that. Guess I can try to get an idea by reading Help. I'm new to Vista. I can choose Windows Standard or Windows Classic and I get the high contrast selection in Explorer. Windows Vista Basic (not Aero) is again the very pale blue for selections.

By turning off Aero you are turning off having your GPU handle all the windowing and instead your CPU is doing it all. It isn't much, but on a large monitor, or lots of windows open, you will start to see a hit I would imagine.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Muse
I found an option (CP/Personalization/Window Color/Appearance), but it requires turning off Aero. I don't know what I'm sacrificing by doing that. Guess I can try to get an idea by reading Help. I'm new to Vista. I can choose Windows Standard or Windows Classic and I get the high contrast selection in Explorer. Windows Vista Basic (not Aero) is again the very pale blue for selections.

By turning off Aero you are turning off having your GPU handle all the windowing and instead your CPU is doing it all. It isn't much, but on a large monitor, or lots of windows open, you will start to see a hit I would imagine.

OK, thanks. I guess I'll turn Aero back on. My reason for wanting things completely clear as to what's selected and what is NOT selected is that I virtually always delete files and folders by pressing Shift+Delete, which side steps the recycle bin. I trust myself not to delete something by mistake. However, with the color scheme I'm seeing with Aero I no longer trust myself to not delete stuff by mistake. So I'll stop hitting the shift key when deleting and just do the occasional toss of the Recycle Bin.

 

[corkyg]

I had trouble reading your Explorer clip. Suggest to you change fonts. Make your menu font something like Verdana or Tahoma BOLD size 10 or 11.

To do that in Vista is easy. Right click the desktop, select Personalize, then Windows Color and Appearance, then below, left click on Classic Appearance Settings. The click the Advanced button and you are back in XP land! You can then select and adjust specific items to include fonts, colors, and attributes.

The same adjustment can be made in Windows 7.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I had trouble reading your Explorer clip. Suggest to you change fonts. Make your menu font something like Verdana or Tahoma BOLD size 10 or 11.

To do that in Vista is easy. Right click the desktop, select Personalize, then Windows Color and Appearance, then below, left click on Classic Appearance Settings. The click the Advanced button and you are back in XP land! You can then select and adjust specific items to include fonts, colors, and attributes.

The same adjustment can be made in Windows 7.

I think that's a thing with the site. At the top is says: Image has been resized. Click here for fullsize image. Click that.

I think I'll stick to Aero, as it's advised (here, I think) that processing will be shifted from the GPU to the CPU if I don't use Aero.

 

[corkyg]

I did click that, no help. For my poor old eyes the font is totally washed out gray - no density.

Anyway - the fix is there. Aero is not affected. I'm talking about how to change the basic font and color structure of Windows - in XP, Vista or Win 7.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I did click that, no help. For my poor old eyes the font is totally washed out gray - no density.

Anyway - the fix is there. Aero is not affected. I'm talking about how to change the basic font and color structure of Windows - in XP, Vista or Win 7.

Ah, Ok... after clicking on it the mouse cursor turns into a magnifying glass with a + sign in the middle. Click again and it's great (works for me!). Try that!

Originally posted by: corkyg

To do that in Vista is easy. Right click the desktop, select Personalize, then Windows Color and Appearance, then below, left click on Classic Appearance Settings. The click the Advanced button and you are back in XP land! You can then select and adjust specific items to include fonts, colors, and attributes.

The same adjustment can be made in Windows 7.

But it says in that window:

"Colors and sizes selected here only apply if you have selected a Windows Classic color scheme. If any other scheme is applied, these colors and sizes might not appear."

Selecting a "Windows Classic color scheme" would mean I would deselect the Aeros scheme.
- - - -
So, I go in and change the appearance for "Selected items" to dark blue. It goes "Please wait..." and after that the appearance of several simultaneously selected items is the same. However, when I go to change the name of a file it becomes dark blue! Not what I was after. Oh, well... It's OK, I can live with it.

 

[corkyg]

No sir! You can have Windows Classic menus AND Aero! Here is a photo I just took of my laptop screen - the Classic Menu is on the left. Word 2007 is open in an Aero Window on the right. The Taskbar, etc. is Aero. Note how crsip and clear my menu fonts are.

Aero

I had to do this with a digicam photo - you can't make a creen clip of a menu - any key or mouse click makes it disappear.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: corkyg
No sir! You can have Windows Classic menus AND Aero! Here is a photo I just took of my laptop screen - the Classic Menu is on the left. Word 2007 is open in an Aero Window on the right. The Taskbar, etc. is Aero. Note how crsip and clear my menu fonts are.

Aero

I had to do this with a digicam photo - you can't make a creen clip of a menu - any key or mouse click makes it disappear.

My complaint with Aero is that selected files in folders are a light shade of blue and on my laptop unless the screen angle is _just_right_ it's damned hard to tell what files are selected and what files are not selected. Of course, this is a problem when folks like me delete/move/copy/paste/etc. files, and I do that kind of thing all the time. So far, I see no workaround for this. If I go to Windows Classic, it deselects Aero. I've been playing around with this, don't really know my way around Windows Personalization, so maybe I'm not doing it right, but so far that is my experience.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: corkyg
No sir! You can have Windows Classic menus AND Aero! Here is a photo I just took of my laptop screen - the Classic Menu is on the left. Word 2007 is open in an Aero Window on the right. The Taskbar, etc. is Aero. Note how crsip and clear my menu fonts are.

Aero

I had to do this with a digicam photo - you can't make a creen clip of a menu - any key or mouse click makes it disappear.

My complaint with Aero is that selected files in folders are a light shade of blue and on my laptop unless the screen angle is _just_right_ it's damned hard to tell what files are selected and what files are not selected. Of course, this is a problem when folks like me delete/move/copy/paste/etc. files, and I do that kind of thing all the time. So far, I see no workaround for this. If I go to Windows Classic, it deselects Aero. I've been playing around with this, don't really know my way around Windows Personalization, so maybe I'm not doing it right, but so far that is my experience.

I guess a major reason for my complaint is because I often if not usually don't like to have the screen angle for my new Acer laptop at the optimal position to see what files are selected. The screen has a lot of glare/reflection, and tilting it down a bit eliminates the reflections, but has the unfortunate side effect of making it hard to see what files I have selected in Explorer (running Aero, that is). Maybe I'll just stop running Aero. I should look into that. I'm unaware of any benefits other than that trippy gimmicky semitransparent title bar feature. There must be something else to it...

 

[n7]

I know exactly what you mean Muse.

It's something that's annoyed me about Vista since i started using it.

I've gotten used to it as i work on tons of stock machines at werk every day (so i have no choice), but i agree 100% that it can be difficult to tell what items are selected.

My suggestion is to enable check boxes
It's a great feature Vista has that allows you to clearly see what you've selected.

Here's where the option for check boxes is located: http://ense7en.com/pics/vista/checkboxes.jpg

In any Explorer windows, hit Alt then go to Tools then Folder Options then the View tab, where you check that to enable check boxes.

 

[lxskllr]

Ok, try this... Right click desktop-Personalize-Window Color and Appearance-Open classic appearance properties for more color options-Advanced button-Item dropdown box-Selected Items. Then choose the color you want. I haven't actually done this, but it looks like it should work.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Ok, try this... Right click desktop-Personalize-Window Color and Appearance-Open classic appearance properties for more color options-Advanced button-Item dropdown box-Selected Items. Then choose the color you want. I haven't actually done this, but it looks like it should work.

I tried to explain this days ago - but my words were not as clear as yours. It does work, and Aero is not turned off to do it. This photo shows the menu sequence you cited:

Menu

And, yes it does work. I use it regularly. This is an example:

Select

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: n7
I know exactly what you mean Muse.

It's something that's annoyed me about Vista since i started using it.

I've gotten used to it as i work on tons of stock machines at werk every day (so i have no choice), but i agree 100% that it can be difficult to tell what items are selected.

My suggestion is to enable check boxes
It's a great feature Vista has that allows you to clearly see what you've selected.

Here's where the option for check boxes is located: http://ense7en.com/pics/vista/checkboxes.jpg

In any Explorer windows, hit Alt then go to Tools then Folder Options then the View tab, where you check that to enable check boxes.

Ah, vindication! Thanks!! I'm on an XP machine right now so I can't check that. I'm wondering if I can effectively select a handful of items at once like I always do (Select one, hold down the Shift key and select another several items away and the everything in between is also selected). I presume this is still supported when checkboxes are enabled. I'll try this next time I'm using the Vista machine. Does anyone know if Windows 7 is the same for this?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Ok, try this... Right click desktop-Personalize-Window Color and Appearance-Open classic appearance properties for more color options-Advanced button-Item dropdown box-Selected Items. Then choose the color you want. I haven't actually done this, but it looks like it should work.

I tried to explain this days ago - but my words were not as clear as yours. It does work, and Aero is not turned off to do it. This photo shows the menu sequence you cited:

Menu

And, yes it does work. I use it regularly. This is an example:

Select

Thanks. I'll try this tomorrow when I fire up that Vista machine.