NT4 Explorer Tweaking, remember view setting = change default view..

[ruthan]

I started to experiment with NT4 i dont used it back in the era, but i so far i really like it.

With 86Box and Banshee/Vooodoo 3, its even possible to play some 2D/Glide/OpenGL games.. With In Vmware workstation is nice and quick and stable (no gaming, there is not 3D acceleration.

  But there are some annoying this, not classic device manager and Windows explorer default view.. there are is not apply this view to all folder settings and default setting is bad - no toolbar, large icon view.

 I tried to  several tweaking utilities from Win9x, but so far nothing is working. I read somewhere that i can tweak Explorer Advanced keys, but i dont see Advanced key in Explorer Registry Tree path.

   Does someone find the way how to remember explorer view settings?

[jumper]

Tweak UI:

• Explorer > Save Explorer window settings

TweakAll:

• More Explorer Options > Save Explorer Settings

In 98:

• Any Explorer window > View > Folder Options > View.
• Or Start Menu > Settings > Folder Options > View

 

[ruthan]

Thanks, in 9x its easy, im using it almost 30 years. 

Im not right now by machine when i tried it i checked TweakUI settings like triple times and searched for anything about this setting. It was TweakUI 1.5, maybe there is newer or better version.
Im quite sure that not all TweakUI settings available on 9x, are available on NT..

I will check TweakAll.

[jumper]

I do have an NT4 install disk but have never used it. Hopefully saving custom folder settings is possible.

I currently use Tweak UI 1.33 and  TweakAll 1.2.3 on 98 and SE. The 98 options I added for any post-NT4 users who might stumble upon this page.

 

[ruthan]

I double check TweakUI settings and was indead as the bottom and explorer tab, save Explorer settings. I had it on and check it before, maybe it needed a reboot.

Im glab that it was that simple, the most old school people just start Total Commander after OS start and use it, im not im Windows explorer guy,
so i really need this.

Thanks.

I tried TweakAll too, but there was very few settings available for NT4 and nothing about explorer.

I also tested whole collection of Windows 9x apps, what is working on not Windows NT and usually there is something for particular task what supported NT4 with SP6.

[loblolly986]

The trick to the early, non-IE integrated, incarnation of Windows Explorer supplied in NT 4.0 (and Windows 95) is that the "Open" and "Explore" actions for folders open distinctly different types of folder window. The latter is what opens a "full-fledged" file manager window with "Exploring" in the title. It has a directory tree sidebar, the toolbar visibility and selected folder view format are remembered and applied across all folders and future Explorer windows, and double clicking folders always opens them in the same Explorer window. This is what you want:

This is light on system resources, pretty easy to use, and gets the job done without the bloat and security flaws of the later Internet Explorer based shells. I'm used to just right-clicking on My Computer or a folder and choosing "Explore" when working on NT, but it's possible to configure "Explore" to be the default action when double-clicking if that's what you want. The "Windows NT Explorer" shortcut in the Start Menu's Programs menu is another way to open one of these windows. It's also possible to add a custom "Explore in New Window" action to the Folder file type to enable easily opening a folder in a separate Explorer window from another such window (if interested, I can supply a REG file). And, of course, one can enhance its functionality with shell extensions—the "Send to X" extension in the Windows 95 Power Toys pack, with the "Any Folder..." option it adds in the "Send To" menu, is one I especially recommend and am always using.

The "Open" action opens a different type of folder window that saves its view settings on a per-folder basis and, by default, is "bare bones" in layout, opens other folders in new windows, and uses large icons. (It also provides access to the folder's context menu by right-clicking its window icon.) It's perfect for things like the Control Panel and for viewing folders on the desktop that one has organized shortcuts into, but for general file-managing purposes the Explorer windows are where it's at, in my opinion.

One improvement the NT 4.0 version of Explorer has over the 95 version, besides the additional "Attributes" column in the Details view, is the ability to disable the "prettifying"/case-adjustment of uppercase "8.3"/DOS-style filenames. Tweak UI 1.1 from the Windows 95 Power Toys pack provides the ability to change this setting. Tweak UI 1.33 is supposed to let you do it as well, but my experience is that it's buggy in this regard and doesn't actually apply the change to the registry.

[ruthan]

Thanks for info, reg files are always very handy.
You are right that use rightmenu Explore or Explorer.exe would give user different view or settings than standard double click.. as usually because i don't using every day i completely forgot that it exists.

[loblolly986]

On 11/28/2024 at 3:16 PM, ruthan said:

Thanks for info, reg files are always very handy.

I'm sorry for not following up on this before now. Attached is a REG file for the "Explore in New Window" action, and below is its content:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explorenew]
@="Explore in New &Window"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explorenew\command]
@="Explorer.exe /e,/n,/idlist,%I,%L"

 

ExplNewW.reg

[ruthan]

Thanks, are you able to right mouse run CMD here *.reg too? Its very handy in every version of windows.

  By the way, some nice cmd or better console / shell recommandation would be handy too.

[loblolly986]

On 12/8/2024 at 1:19 PM, ruthan said:

Thanks, are you able to right mouse run CMD here *.reg too? Its very handy in every version of windows.

That feature is also in the Windows 95 Power Toys pack, installable via DOSHERE.INF.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120206031214/http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/2/e/52e8fd68-e528-4995-abe2-5644583536e1/W95powertoy.exe

I don't recommend everything in the Power Toys pack for NT as some things are incompatible, and some things are just too buggy or have superior alternatives available. But Send To X—recommended. Tweak UI 1.1 (where disabling 8.3 filename case adjustment actually works)—recommended, though I hear some features are incompatible with IE 4 or later if you have that installed. The "Target" shell extension is also helpful—it adds a "Target" submenu to shortcut context menus, with an "Open Container" item that opens the folder containing the target in a regular window (from which you can then right-click the window icon and choose "Explore" to open a proper file browser). There's also an INF for an "Explore From Here" action for folders—it opens an Explorer window with that folder as the "root" of the directory tree. Instead of "Deskmenu", I recommend SnadBoy's TopDesk 3.0b (same idea—makes your desktop icons accessible via a tray icon—but a much more thorough and polished implementation). And instead of "CabView", I'd just associate .cab archives with 7-Zip via its file association options. An NT version of QuickRes is included in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kits, but note that some graphics drivers such as NVidia's already include equivalent tray icon functionality.

Quote

  By the way, some nice cmd or better console / shell recommandation would be handy too.

I find NT's own cmd.exe to be pretty satisfactory, but as far as alternative shells I'll mention "Yori" by Malcolm Smith; it's designed to work on all NT versions.

Don't forget to tweak the console window defaults (via the control panel icon) to be more optimal. You can set the screen buffer size to 300 rows or so, as was eventually made the default in Windows, to have room to scroll back on console output. You can also choose a different font. The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack is a good source for them. I don't recommend bogging down you system by installing the whole pack; just install a handful that you're particularly interested in. The "PxPlus" fonts support an expanded set of characters over the standard codepage 437 character set. I suggest "PxPlus IBM VGA 8x14" or "PxPlus IBM VGA 9x16", the former to save space if you are using a lower screen resolution such as 1024x768. NT 4.0's console control panel will detect them as compatible and list them automatically after you get them installed; no need to jump through any registry hoops to use them. They look much nicer than the default "Terminal" font.

Edited December 11, 2024 by loblolly986