Auto-hide column headings

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Guest

I have a wierd request which I hope someone can help with. When I open the My
Computer Icon and set my view to detailed view it shows the Total Size and
Free Space. I want to be able to have a detailed view that only shows the
name and the type. I know you can manually right click and uncheck what you
don't want to see.

I want to know if it is possible to put this process into a file that can be
run so I can distribute it to my users. Either that or possibly a registry
key that can be added or changed.

Thank You
 
Slyver said:
I have a wierd request which I hope someone can help with. When I open the My
Computer Icon and set my view to detailed view it shows the Total Size and
Free Space. I want to be able to have a detailed view that only shows the
name and the type. I know you can manually right click and uncheck what you
don't want to see.

I want to know if it is possible to put this process into a file that can be
run so I can distribute it to my users. Either that or possibly a registry
key that can be added or changed.

Yes, there is a registry entry that you can use although it may not last forever-neither will hiding the column manually-since it
depends on the frequency of use of the folder. When you configure the layout of a folder (selecting columns, column sizes, window
size, position, etc.) Windows will store the setup. However, by default it only stores the layouts for 400 folders then starts
reusing their registry entries for new folders in order of use (windows that haven't been used the longest are the first to be
recycled). Therefore, if a window is used very often, it's layout should be stored indefinitely.

Finding the registry entry that holds the layout for the folder is difficult and depends on your system (I cannot give you a simple
key name/entry to change) and it depends the folder. Unfortunately, the method that Microsoft uses to store folder settings is
convoluted and messy so It will take some work on your part to find the specific entry(ies) to use.

I'm a little bogged down at the moment, but I can walk you through it later if you'd like.
 
If you wanted to use a simple .reg file, you would have to be willing to wipe out any existing saved
views. Then you could overwrite those with the custom view for 'My Computer'.

If you want to preserve existing saved views, you would need a script.

Post back if you want more info on either option.
 
I really dont need to preserver the setting s for the other folders. Not
right now anyways. I just need to hide the total size and free space columns.

Maybe an explanation as to why.

We have users that have connected network drives on their laptops. When the
laptops are not connected and they open my computer it seems to hang because
it is trying to scan disconnected drives for space. Maybe I could disable the
scanning.

Keith Miller MVP said:
If you wanted to use a simple .reg file, you would have to be willing to wipe out any existing saved
views. Then you could overwrite those with the custom view for 'My Computer'.

If you want to preserve existing saved views, you would need a script.

Post back if you want more info on either option.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Slyver said:
I have a wierd request which I hope someone can help with. When I open the My
Computer Icon and set my view to detailed view it shows the Total Size and
Free Space. I want to be able to have a detailed view that only shows the
name and the type. I know you can manually right click and uncheck what you
don't want to see.

I want to know if it is possible to put this process into a file that can be
run so I can distribute it to my users. Either that or possibly a registry
key that can be added or changed.

Thank You
 
Have you tried unchecking "Automatically search for network folders & printers" found on the 'View'
tab in the 'Folder Options' dialog? That might help, not sure -- I don't have a network to play
with.

For the view settings, here are the steps:

1) close all explorer windows

2) open & close any folder other than 'My Computer'

3) open regedit & navigate to:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam"

4) delete the subkeys named 'BagMRU' and 'Bags'

5) Open 'My Computer', set the view settings to your liking, and close the window.

6) go back to regedit, press F5 to refresh the view, BagMRU & Bags should be recreated. BagMRU
should have a subkey named '0' and Bags should have a subkey named '1'.

7) Export BagMRU and Bags to two separate reg files (you do not want to export ShellNoRoam because
it contains the computer name)

8) open the reg files for editing & combine the content so you have something similar to the
following:

----------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]
"NodeSlots"=hex:02
"0"=hex:14,00,1f,50,e0,4f,d0,20,ea,3a,69,10,a2,d8,08,00,2b,30,30,9d,00,00
"MRUListEx"=hex:00,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU\0]
"NodeSlot"=dword:00000001
"MRUListEx"=hex:ff,ff,ff,ff

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell]
"MinPos1024x768(1).x"=dword:ffff8300
"MinPos1024x768(1).y"=dword:ffff8300
"MaxPos1024x768(1).x"=dword:ffffffff
"MaxPos1024x768(1).y"=dword:ffffffff
"WinPos1024x768(1).left"=dword:0000006e
"WinPos1024x768(1).top"=dword:00000066
"WinPos1024x768(1).right"=dword:0000038e
"WinPos1024x768(1).bottom"=dword:000002be
"Rev"=dword:00000005
"WFlags"=dword:00000000
"ShowCmd"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:00000000
"HotKey"=dword:00000000
"Buttons"=dword:ffffffff
"Links"=dword:ffffffff
"Address"=dword:ffffffff
"Vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000004
"ScrollPos1024x768(1).x"=dword:00000000
"ScrollPos1024x768(1).y"=dword:00000000
"Sort"=dword:00000000
"SortDir"=dword:00000001
"Col"=dword:00000002
"ColInfo"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,fd,df,df,fd,0f,\
00,02,00,18,00,10,00,1c,00,28,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,78,00,96,00,00,00,\
00,00,01,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,cf,f3,a8,b0,33,43,ab,4b,88,73,1c,cb,1c,ad,a4,\
8b,30,f1,25,b7,ef,47,1a,10,a5,f1,02,60,8c,9e,eb,ac,04,00,00,00

----------------------

you should be able to import this reg file to other computers (on a per-user basis) and have the
view settings you desire.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Slyver said:
I really dont need to preserver the setting s for the other folders. Not
right now anyways. I just need to hide the total size and free space columns.

Maybe an explanation as to why.

We have users that have connected network drives on their laptops. When the
laptops are not connected and they open my computer it seems to hang because
it is trying to scan disconnected drives for space. Maybe I could disable the
scanning.

Keith Miller MVP said:
If you wanted to use a simple .reg file, you would have to be willing to wipe out any existing
saved
views. Then you could overwrite those with the custom view for 'My Computer'.

If you want to preserve existing saved views, you would need a script.

Post back if you want more info on either option.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Slyver said:
I have a wierd request which I hope someone can help with. When I open the My
Computer Icon and set my view to detailed view it shows the Total Size and
Free Space. I want to be able to have a detailed view that only shows the
name and the type. I know you can manually right click and uncheck what you
don't want to see.

I want to know if it is possible to put this process into a file that can be
run so I can distribute it to my users. Either that or possibly a registry
key that can be added or changed.

Thank You
 
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