Basic Computer Tutorial Part 8: How to use Folder Options in Windows

Using the Control Panel (Folder Options)

We are in the 8^th installment of our basic computer tutorial which covers folder options. This section is very important as it deals with how the folders are accessed and what programs are used to open which files. Also there are several options relating to files and how they are viewed. There are a few tricks which I will teach you to help make working with these files and folders a whole lot easier. Well let's begin this basic computer tutorial.

Accessing the Folder Options

Quick and Easy Way

Right click on the start button and then click explore to pull up the screen below.

Next click on tools and then folder to bring up the screen below.

The Control Panel or Long Way

Click Start and then go to control panel

From there click on appearance and themes it will pull up the screen below

then click folder options and you are at the folder options screen appears.

General Tab

The tasks settings are really not too discernible from one another and it really does is more cosmetic than anything.

The second radio button browse folders is really actually sort of helpful. You have the option to open a folder in a new window which can be extremely handy. However, if you open a lot of folders it can get very confusing and busy.

The final button involves how items will be when they are clicked. They can either:

1. be a single click where the pointer highlights

2. or the default which is double click (what we all know and love)

Here is what comes up when you click the view tab:

View Tab

This tab deals with how files and folders are viewed and dealt with. I am just going to highlight the more popular options and give warnings where appropriate.

Here are the three most common items used and their impact:

1. Hide files and folders – this one gives you the option to show or not show hidden files and folders. If you didn't know you can right click on a file or folder and go to properties and there is a box to hide the file or folder (see picture above). There are also files and folders hidden through programming this reveals most of those.

2. Hide Extensions for known file types – the extensions relate to the next tab and affect the program used to open a file. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND only checking this radio button if you know what you are doing.

3. Hide protected operating system files (recommended) – Please follow the recommendation they are hidden for a reason. For instance, if you accidentally delete on of these files you could be re-installing the operating system (not a fun thing to do). Only experts who want to do some maintenance or adjustments on the operating system should check this radio button and alter items.

Here is what comes up when you click the files types tab:

File Types Tab

The file types tab determines what program opens what file. This is a very important tab and should only be used when you are absolutely sure what you are doing. Also you should definitely be certain that the program will open the file you want. I usually only go in here when I am getting errors or when for some reason a file is incorrectly associated with a program.

When you click the change button here is the box you get:

You can pick theprogram you want or click the browse button and find a program from on your computer. Also notice that there is a box to always use this program to open this kind of file. Check this if you always want to use that program to open this file (that is usually the case).

How do I determine what program opens what files ?

Excellent question and I am very glad you asked. I just use the handy dandy web utility located here:

file extension site. It works pretty good.

There is really nothing else on this tab that you should attempt to adjust as they can affect a programs functionality.

Other ways to get programs to open files:

You can hold down shift and right click on a file and it brings up the drop down menu. Just click open with and select a file or click change.

The final tab is offline files here is the screen below:

Offline files tab

This tab onlyeffects offline files and how they synchronize with their networkcounterparts. As you can tell I do not even have that enabled nor do I find it too useful. I have experienced nothing but problems with this. There is a program I have listed on my blog that deals with file synchronization and backup. Just check the

Sitemap to get thelocation.

Well that is it for this basic computer tutorial. See you all next week.