Selecting files

[Fred Goldman]

I recently upgraded from XP to Vista and for the most I really like the improvements.

One thing that is annoying me is that if your folder view is details and you have your mouse set to select when you hover your cursor over a file it will select the file even if you hover over the size column or the type column etc.

In XP it would only select if you hovered over the name of the file. Is there anyway to change this setting?

 

[garysgold]

Hello Fred,

Welcome to the forums.

I agree that this is very annoying. Unfortunately I haven't seen anything to suggest how to fix it. It makes the old 'drag to make a multiple selection' a bit of a pain. Only thing you can do is make the window large enough to get past all the columns. You can also make multiple selections by holding down the shift(continuous selection) or CTRL (random selections) keys and using the up/down arrow keys.

If you find a fix, I surely would like to hear about it.

Hope this helps.

Gary

 

[Fred Goldman]

Actually, this may be overkill, but I've got all my windows to open to maximized because of this. Not only is dragging to make selections a pain, but dragging a file from one folder to another can be difficult because if you don't drag all the way past the columns you end up selecting and opening a file.

Oh well, I guess this is part of the growing pains. I still think it was worth the upgrade. Clickable files in the address bar is wonderful! And I really like how you can have explorer in the folder view.

 

[Brink]

Hello,

This may help with selecting and moving files:

1. You can use check boxes to select multiple files.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76644-select-files-using-check-boxes.html


2. Next, you can use the "Copy to File" and/or "Move to File" option instead of dragging the files.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/89196-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[garysgold]

I too have no desire to go back to an earlier windows and there are many ways of doing things, but progress to me means faster and/or easier and this is most definitely neither. It is difficult and annoying to an old geezer like me who has been doing group selections and drag and drop since Win95 to break old habits. I often get a folder that gets large numbers of files and I create several folders inside it to organize things. It is definitely more cumbersome now. I do think the breadcrumb trail is very cool :-)

Take care & Have Fun!

Gary

 

[Fred Goldman]

Thanks Shawn, those are some great tutorials there!

The interesting thing is, before I posted I did a google search and I found nothing as far as complaints regarding this issue. Are we really the only ones bothered by it?

 

[sidney1st]

Not only is dragging to make selections a pain, but dragging a file from one folder to another can be difficult because if you don't drag all the way past the columns you end up selecting and opening a file.

If you're not a windows explorer addict, why not trying freecommander

 

[Brink]

Thanks Shawn, those are some great tutorials there!

The interesting thing is, before I posted I did a google search and I found nothing as far as complaints regarding this issue. Are we really the only ones bothered by it?

Fred,

I guess so. I find dragging only a few files ok, but I found this handy for multiple files. It's much easier. IMO.

 

[Fred Goldman]

Kieth on the Microsoft discussion groups just posted two scripts that allow you to turn off and on full row selecting!

Here's a link:

Windows Vista Community: Discussion Groups

 

[garysgold]

Worked great. Thanks for the link.

Gary

 

[dan53gsd]

Where can we get freecommander?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dan,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

You can get FreeCommander here:

FreeCommander - freeware file manager

Shawn

 

[dan53gsd]

Thank-you very much Brink
I got it

 

[Brink]

Your welcome Dan. Let us know how you like or dislike it.

 

[sidney1st]

I personally use freecommander since a while and i am fully satisfied with it.
To receive all benefits from this freeware i would suggest to read deeply the help file, some options are really delightful.