When you use Windows Explorer in thumbnail view mode, and it does not really matter if you display folders and files in small, medium or larged size thumbnails, you will notice that some folders display one of the stored images in their icon. Folders without images display as blanks instead.

You sometimes may want to change the image that is displayed by default, for instance if another image is more appropriately characterizing the folder or if you do not want that particular image to be displayed prominently in Windows Explorer.

It is possible to customize the folder picture thubmnail so that another image is shown instead. Please note that the following guide demonstrates how this is done under Windows 7. Other operating systems may or may not offer this feature at all.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder that you want to change the thumbnail image for. Right-click on the folder and select Properties from the options. Please note that you need to select the real folder path for that operation and not a virtual folder (like a library folder). The My Pictures folder for instance would require you to open C:\Users\username\Pictures in Windows Explorer.

Switch to the Customize tab in the Properties window and locate Choose File under Folder Pictures.

A click on choose file opens a folder browser where another image can be selected to be that folder’s preview picture. Just select the image and click on open to assign it to the folder. Click on ok again in the properties window to close it. The changes should be visible right away. You can repeat the process for as many folders as you like.

Still, it felt strange that two process were started instead of just one. It took a bit of investigating to find the reason for this behavior.

When you look at both processes you will notice that they act independently of each other. You can see that for instance by looking at the memory usage or cpu utilization.

I’d like to point out that you need to make sure that the two explorer.exe processes, or at least one of them, is not malicious in nature. It is a good idea to check the path first, if you see a different path for one process you may have a virus problem. You can check both explorer.exe files then over at services like Virus Total to check the files for malicious contents.

A settings in the Folder Options configuration of Windows Explorer explains the existence of two explorer.exe processes. Open Windows Explorer and click on Tools > Folder Options. Switch to the View tab there and scroll down until you find the following preference: Launch folder windows in a separate process.

If the preference is checked you have found the reason why two explorer.exe windows are running on your system. You can uncheck the option to have only one Windows Explorer process running at any time on the system.

The core reason for enabling the option is stability. It is usually safe to disable the feature so that only one explorer process is running on the PC.

While it is possible to add favorite folders to Windows Explorer you sometimes may need to access a folder that is not in the favorites that you just had open. Instead of clicking your way to that folder again, you can make use of the folder history of Windows Explorer to do just that.

Please note that I’m only demonstrating this on Windows 7. Previous Windows operating systems may or may not have that feature included.

You find two locations in Windows Explorer that you can use to access previously accessed folders. The first option is the small down arrow icon next to the previous, next and up buttons in the top menu bar.

Just click the arrow icon and you will see a list of folders that you have previously opened in that session. Please note that the history is automatically cleared when you close the Windows Explorer window. A click on a folder in the history opens its location in the file management tool.

The second option to access previously opened folders in Windows Explorer is to click on the little down arrow in the path information field.

This opens another list of previously opened folders. Do note that the list differs from the other folder history listing. In fact, this listing is not deleted when the Explorer session is ended.

Are you using the folder history feature of Windows Explorer? Let me know in the comments.

Here is a screenshot of the thumbnail preview mode in Windows Explorer.

As you can see, supported image formats are displayed with their thumbnails in Windows Explorer. Now look at the following screenshot that shows the same folder on the system after disabling image previews in Windows Explorer.

Before I’m going to demonstrate how to disable and re-enable thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer, I’m showing you how to change the view mode. Most Ghacks regulars know how to do this, but there may be some users who would like to know how to make that change.

You can click on the view mode icon in Windows Explorer to change the view mode of the current folder. A click on the icon itself allows you to flip through all available view modes, a click on the down arrow displays them all for selection in list form.

You can change the setting when you are in Windows Explorer. You can alternatively click on the Start Menu and then on Computer to open the Windows Explorer menu. Click the Organize link and there on Folder and Search Options.

Switch to the View tab in the configuration window that opens up and put a mark into the Always show icons, never thumbnails option in Windows Explorer.

The changes take effect immediately, and images that have been shown as previews are now shown with their icons instead. Removing the check mark from the setting will revert the changes. (via)

This can be highly confusing, and requires some manual view mode modifications from time to time to change to the desired view mode. As we have mentioned previously, a wrongly configured folder mode can slow down the folder display time in Windows (see Fix slow folders in Windows 7).

There is currently no direct option to change the folder view mode for all folder templates in the Windows operating system together. The only options provided are to change the view modes for each template separately, which to be honest, is not that user friendly at all. A user would have to make the changes to a folder of each folder template, and then select the Apply To All Folders option in the Folder Options.

folder options

A faster option is available by some light Registry editing. It consists of two steps. In step one, all folder template associations are deleted, to reset them back. The second step is then used to define one view mode for all folders, that will then not be changed by moving different types of files into folders.

The Windows Registry Editor needs to be opened first. To do that press Windows-R, type regedit and hit enter. Accept the UAC prompt if it appears and navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

Locate the key Bags and delete it. You may want to create a backup prior to deleting it, this can be done by right-clicking the key and selecting Export. The key can be deleted by selecting it, and hitting Del on the keyboard.

windows folder view modes

This resets all folder view modes. Visiting a folder for the first time may change the folder view mode again. To avoid this from happening, a default view mode needs to be configured in the Registry. Open a single folder in Windows Explorer, so that the Bags key is regenerated.

Switch to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell

Look on the left side and see if the value FolderType exists. If it does set the value to NotSpecified by double-clicking the value. If it is not existing right-click in the right window, and select to create a new String Value with the value mentioned above.

configure folder view mode

This sets the default folder mode to general for all folders. It still may be necessary to modify the current folder view settings, but that is only necessary once and they are set for all folders.

There may still be situations where the default folder view mode is changed by the operating system, by updates for instance. Just repeat the process to reset the folder settings once again.

The standard behavior in Windows Explorer links one program, the so called default program, to a file type or folder. It is common knowledge that it is possible to add items to the Windows Explorer context menu, as many programs tend to do that. Think of all the archivers like WinZip or WinRar for instance, they love to add options to the right-click menu.

Research did not reveal many applications that would allow the user to add custom items to Windows Explorer. To make things worse, most guides where outdated. Finding Fast Explorer among the noise was pure luck.

The free software program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can be used to add programs to the context menu, and also to remove entries from it if necessary.

Fast Explorer scans all existing file associations and context menu entries in the Registry on startup, before it displays the program interface.

fast explorer

The program offers two main options, that are divided into two items each. The first group is divided into static items and submenu items. This refers to the location of the new entries in the context menu. Static items appear in the root structure, while submenus in a folder structure.

Both can be configured to be displayed for specifically selected file types, or for all file types. Let us use yesterday’s example to demonstrate how easy it is to create a new entry in the Windows Explorer right-click menu.

Jojo wanted the option to launch Internet Explorer favorites with a browser that is not the default browser. In his case, Firefox was the default browser and he wanted to launch them with Internet Explorer.

Selecting Static Items in the left menu, and then the Add button allows us to do that. This opens the file browser, to select an application from the system, in this case the Internet Explorer program. Fast Explorer displays the changes in its interface after selection.

The right column lists the item details. It is currently configured for all files, which means the new Internet Explorer entry will appear on all file right-clicks in Windows Explorer. Not that useful as it adds to the noise and is usually not needed.

A click on File Type opens the file type browser. Locate the Internet Shortcut .url in the list and select it. A click on Apply confirms the change, and adds the Internet Explorer entry to the right-click menu in Windows Explorer.

add custom items windows explorer

The same method applies to the submenu entries, with the difference that you should begin by adding a submenu from the Item menu before adding programs to it.

It is also important to note that the selected file association of the core link needs to be identical to the selected file types of the programs added to the program. The core link will set the type automatically to All Files by default. This has to side effects. It first adds to the clutter in the context menu, as the new options are displayed for every file type. It second means that it may not appear for the selected file association of the program. This is for instance the case if you select All Files, and the program to be linked to Internet shortcuts.

windows explorer right click

Adding new programs to the Windows Explorer menu, can be beneficial for many different work scenarios. Think of software developers who want to open source code in a development suite, but sometimes also in Notepad or another program that can process the source files, or photographers who process their files in different programs.

The custom items can be removed at any time from the program. Changes are immediately visible in Windows Explorer.

The second group offered by the program offers to cleanup entries that have been added by other programs. Especially the Shell Extensions Cleanup menu can be helpful in removing invalid or unnecessary items from the right-click menu in Windows Explorer.

Fast Explorer displays a list of invalid entries at the top of the list. Those are leftovers from previous installations, and can usually be removed without side effects.

But deleting is only one choice. It is furthermore possible to locate the right dynamic link library in Windows to fix the entry.

context menu management

Fast Explorer 2008 is an excellent program for Windows users who want more control over the Windows Explorer context menu. The developer website is still available, the program downloads on the other hand not. We have taken the liberty to add the files to our server so that everyone can download them easily.

• Fast Explorer Setup
• Fast Explorer Portable

Now if Microsoft would only begin to add this functionality to Windows. Fingers crossed that they expand the options in Windows 8.

Most launch a new Windows Explorer window and navigate to the folder they want to view in the new window. Some launch the new instance from the taskbar, some use the keyboard shortcut Windows-E to do so.

Both methods have the problem that the user needs to manually navigate to the folder first before work can be continued.

There are actually two ways to open a new Windows Explorer window directly in the program, with the selected folder as the starting folder.

A right-click on any folder in Windows Explorer displays a context menu, this is true for the standard display but also the sidebar if it is enabled and available in the Windows operating system. Among the items in the context menu is the option to spawn the selected folder in a new window.

open in new window

That’s however not the fastest option to spawn a new Windows Explorer window. Holding down CTRL while double-clicking a folder will open the contents of that folder in a new Windows Explorer window.

This is the fastest way to open a new window in Windows Explorer from another Windows Explorer window, providing that the default setting has been set to display all folders in the same Explorer instance.

Got more handy Windows Explorer tips to share? Let us know in the comments.

Windows users can use saved searches to

• List all of their games in Windows Explorer
• Display specific file types or files in Windows Explorer
• Clean all 0 Kilobyte files regularly
• Display emails, contacts and other hard to access information directly in Windows Explorer

Windows Vista users can use saved searches to emulate the library feature of Windows 7. It is not exactly the same, as the saved searches must originate from a single folder whereas libraries can display the contents of multiple folders, however it is the closest native solution.

How to save searches in Windows

The quickest option to search for files in Windows is to open a search window by pressing F3. Although searches can be performed directly from within Windows Explorer, some users see only a limited selection of search filters in Windows Explorer. The F3 dialogue provides more search options.

The user enters search phrases in the Search Field in the top right corner of the window. It is possible to search for file extensions such as .mp3, .jpg or .doc to find only those file types, or to search for terms such as “financial” or “budget” to find only files containing those phrases. Search filters can then be used to filter by file Type, Kind, Date, Size or Name. Some Windows 7 users only see the Date and Size filters when they search in Windows Explorer. A workaround for the problem is to type in the filters manually, for example “type:=mp3″ to search only for files with the mp3 file extension. Whereas the Type filter is used to find only files with a specific file extension, the Kind filter is used to find specific file categories such as music, image or document files with varying file extensions. For instance, searching for “kind:=music” finds all music files regardless of their file extension.

It is possible to enter the search filters in the Windows Explorer window. Here are some common ones:

• kind:=music, kind:=folder, kind:=document, kind:=program, kind:=video, kind:=movie, kind:=picture, kind:=game
• type:=mp3, type:=doc, type:=jpg
• size:empty (O Kilobyte files), size:tiny (0-10 Kilobytes), size:small (10-100 Kilobytes), size:medium (100 Kilobytes – 1 Megabyte), size:large (1-16 Megabytes), size:huge (16-128 Megabytes), size:gigantic (over 128 Megabytes)
• datemodified:15.04.2010, datemodified:earlier this month, datemodified:last week, datemodified:earlier this year, datemodified:yesterday

The search results are displayed in a standard Windows Explorer window. Files can be directly accessed in the window.

Saving Searches in Windows

The option to save the search is displayed below the menu bar but above the search results.

A Save File dialogue window is then shown to save the search on the local computer system. The search will also be listed under the Favorites section in Windows Explorer so that the user may click on the saved search to access the search results directly. The search results are automatically updated when new files that match the search term and filters are placed in the search location.

Tips

Searches are conducted faster if indexing is enabled on the mounted drives. It is also usually faster to enter the terms and filters in the search form manually than to select them with the mouse.

This concludes the tutorial on how to save searches in Windows. Please share your Windows search tips in the comments.

One of these aces is the following tip. Most users who are searching for a specific file in Windows Explorer are doing it manually. They browse the folders and files until they find the file they are looking for. And since the files are usually sorted alphabetically it is usually not a problem to locate it.

Problems appear if the files are not sorted alphabetically or if there are many files with a similar naming pattern. Windows Explorer thankfully offers a way to quickly jump to files. This can be done if the file name is known to the user. All the user needs to do is to quickly enter the first chars of the filename in the active Windows Explorer window.

This will automatically select the first file matching the pattern. Multiple chars have to be entered in rapid succession so that Windows Explorer recognizes them as part of the same pattern.

The alphabetical view is only one of four to chose from: You can also sort by size (zero, tiny..), type (applications, Avi File..) and Modified Date (Today, Last Week..). Thanks Rarst for pointing that out.

Not every view mode in Windows Explorer offers this setting on the other hand. The popular list view mode does not offer it, all other modes do.

The new mode can be activated easily by clicking on View in the top bar of Windows Explorer. That menu displays the current view mode with a bullet. Make sure it is not the List mode.

Scroll down to the Arrange Icons By submenu and click on the Show in Groups entry. This should activate group mode in Windows Explorer as seen above. The view depends of course on the selected view mode, what you see above is the Tiles view mode.