In versions of Windows after XP, there have been some changes made to Explorer which are quite different from the behavior in XP. One of them is full row selection in Details view. The other change is that items in the right pane are spaded wider apart vertically from one another than there were in Windows XP. Let us see how to revert both changes if you need them to.
Tag: Windows 8.1
How to force refresh thumbnails of images and videos in Explorer folders
Windows Explorer has an excellent feature like any other file manager to show thumbnail previews of pictures and videos in any folder. To make sure that the thumbnails show instantly every time you open a folder, it caches the thumbnails. Unfortunately, sometimes it fails to generate a thumbnail for some files, or continue to show an older thumbnail preview even if you updated the picture. Here is how you can force Explorer to refresh the thumbnail.
[Review] VistaSwitcher: Best Alt+Tab replacement that also works with Modern apps
In an earlier article, we saw that Windows Alt+Tab has bugs that make it not suitable for reliable switching. It also has issues like the icon and the text of the app not being placed next to each other to instantly identify the app. The thumbnail of the app is often smaller and isn't enough to identify exactly which window you are switching to, especially if there are multiple windows of the same app open. A free, third party Alt+Tab replacement, VistaSwitcher solves all these problems.
Tweak Windows Alt+Tab switcher to enlarge thumbnails and disable live aero peek preview
Windows has had Alt+Tab functionality to switch between running programs using the keyboard since Windows 3.0. This Alt+Tab Task Switcher remained mostly the same from Windows 95 to Windows XP but changed in Windows Vista to incorporate a glass background and thumbnails. While some users prefer the new Alt-Tab switcher, many others prefer a cleaner looking Alt-Tab without thumbnails and the glass background. Let's see how Alt+Tab can be tweaked.
StExBar: Explorer addon to let you filter files, copy paths, copy file names, open command prompt and much more
Windows Explorer is a very powerful file manager but it still lacks some important tools. In Windows 8, the Ribbon has added some of these essential commands to Explorer which were missing but the Ribbon takes a lot of space and does not let you add your own custom commands in Explorer. An extremely useful toolbar for Windows Explorer called StExBar provides killer features that should have been included in Windows.
How to see your PC system uptime live on Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 and XP
In today's versions of Windows, you need to restart your PC for fewer activities. If you installed some driver, made some system-wide setting change, installed updates or if you uninstalled a program, Windows may need to restart. Except for these tasks, you can mostly avoid doing a full shutdown or restart and simply hibernate or sleep. Windows 8's hybrid shutdown in fact logs you out and hibernates. So if you ever need to find out how long exactly how PC is on since the last reboot or full shutdown, you can find it out easily.
How to bring sidebar gadgets to the top of other windows
Gadgets are a very useful feature of Windows. If you use Gadgets in Windows 7 and in Windows 8/8.1 using this installer, you may be minimizing your open apps by clicking the Show Desktop button or Win+D/Win+M hotkeys to see the gadgets. There is actually a keyboard shortcut in Windows to bring Gadgets to the top of other windows.
Get Windows 8.1-like Lock screen Slideshow feature for Windows 8, Windows 7 and XP
Windows 8 introduced a lock screen, separate from the logon screen and Windows 8.1 further improved it by adding a slideshow feature to the Lockscreen. If you are running Windows 7 however, you can still get a similar experience by downloading a simple app.
Tweak the taskbar in Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 7 with hidden secret registry settings
As you might be aware, Windows 7 introduced a redesigned taskbar which abandoned much loved classic features but introduced some really nice improvements like large icons, jump lists, draggable buttons etc. The taskbar does not have many configurable settings exposed in the GUI to tweak its behavior but there are some hidden secret registry settings which you can fine-tune.
See detailed properties and tags/metadata info about media files using MediaTab
Windows isn't very smart when it comes to handling various media file formats. It has an extensible property system for viewing their properties and embedded metadata but it leaves end users high and dry by shipping with support for very few media formats and their properties. A third party free app called MediaTab solves this problem for good by exposing all possible details about media files in their Properties.
