How to get rid of "duration", "dimension", "quality" columns in explorer

[JayMore]

Hi There.

I would like to definitivly remove the multi-media information columns
of windows XP (home) explorer. When I right click on the column header
in the explorer and I uncheck the "duration" column, the column is
removed, but if I close and restart explorer or if I change current
directory, the column is back if I have a MP3 or an AVI in the folder.

Is there a way to completly remove those un-usefull columns, for all
the folder, for anytime ? I do not want XP to scan my MP3 or AVI or JPG
do display a column with dimension, quality ect. I only want the
"standard" column (size, type, creation and modification time, attribs).

 

[Kevin]

Hi There.

I would like to definitivly remove the multi-media information columns
of windows XP (home) explorer. When I right click on the column header
in the explorer and I uncheck the "duration" column, the column is
removed, but if I close and restart explorer or if I change current
directory, the column is back if I have a MP3 or an AVI in the folder.

Is there a way to completly remove those un-usefull columns, for all
the folder, for anytime ? I do not want XP to scan my MP3 or AVI or JPG
do display a column with dimension, quality ect. I only want the
"standard" column (size, type, creation and modification time, attribs).

In Windows Explorer choose View>Choose Details. You can select what you
want there.

 

[JayMore]

In Windows Explorer choose View>Choose Details. You can select what you
want there.

Yes... BUT ... I have to do this for each folder I browse. If I create
a new folder and put pictures in it, Windows/explorer will rescan the
entire content to display image dimension.

Is there a global setting to tell to windows that I don't want him to
scan my file content ??

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

I've written a script that will apply all the view customizations you can set to all of a folder's
subfolders. Right-click the link below & save to your computer. The zip file contains a readme
file & the script itself.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/FVM3.zip

You can select a folder & configure its view settings, then those are set to be inherited by all
subfolders (you have the option of saving or wiping out current saved views) . You can set a
default for My Pics, another for My Music, and then a more generic default for My Computer. The
inheritance settings are separate from the folder view itself -- for example, you can set a
non-grouped view to be the default inheritance for My Computer, then return My Computer to its
standard 'group by type' layout after running the script without affecting the default view you have
set.

For your particular complaint, you can set inheritance at the highest level, the Desktop. Then any
folders that do not have a saved view (you have the option of deleting old views when running the
script) as well as any new folders created will use the column choice you set for the Desktop when
running the script.

If you set inheritance at the Desktop level, the task pane for folders will still be reflect
autosense logic (Folder Tasks vs. Picture Tasks vs. Music Tasks). If you wish to override this, you
can do so by editing the registry.

Assuming you allowed the script to clear existing views and only set inheritance for the desktop,
you would have a single subkey under:

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

named "1". It would have a subkey named "Shell", containing the view settings for the Desktop, and
'Shell' will have a subkey named "Inherit", which contains the view settings which are inherited .

So under the key:

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

you would create a new REG_SZ value, name it "FolderType" and assign it a value of "Documents".

Then all folders, regardless of content, will display 'File and Folder Tasks'

 

[Alec S.]

I've written a script that will apply all the view customizations you can set to all of a folder's
subfolders. Right-click the link below & save to your computer. The zip file contains a readme
file & the script itself.

Where did you learn the Bags format? Is it documented anywhere?

If you set inheritance at the Desktop level, the task pane for folders will still be reflect
autosense logic (Folder Tasks vs. Picture Tasks vs. Music Tasks). If you wish to override this, you
can do so by editing the registry.
.

Wow, why does Microsoft make things like this so difficult?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Where did you learn the Bags format? Is it documented anywhere?

It's not documented anywhere that I know of. By the time I started playing with XP, the info
regarding deletion of Bags & BagMRU to reset views was out there. Using the 'Also apply this
template to subfolders' option created the 'Inherit' subkey for a particular bag. It was when I was
using RegMon that I saw that Explorer checked the Inherit key for all the various view settings, not
just 'FolderType' and 'Logo' that I had my "Aha!" moment

Wow, why does Microsoft make things like this so difficult?

Well, I'm glad they built the ability into Explorer, I just don't think they were able to figure out
a U.I. that wouldn't be too confusing or cause more problems than it solved.

 

[Alec S.]

It's not documented anywhere that I know of. By the time I started playing with XP, the info
regarding deletion of Bags & BagMRU to reset views was out there. Using the 'Also apply this
template to subfolders' option created the 'Inherit' subkey for a particular bag. It was when I was
using RegMon that I saw that Explorer checked the Inherit key for all the various view settings, not
just 'FolderType' and 'Logo' that I had my "Aha!" moment

Ah ok. I'm almost done reversing the tray-notification keys.

Well, I'm glad they built the ability into Explorer, I just don't think they were able to figure out
a U.I. that wouldn't be too confusing or cause more problems than it solved.

Ah, the "dumbest possible denominator" syndrome. Make it easy enough for the simplest person to use. They should have provided
the ability to do it for more advanced users, just putting it out of the way of novices. Personally I don't care for the
auto-sensing "feature" and wish it was possible to disable it (without affecting other aspects).

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Personally I don't care for the
auto-sensing "feature" and wish it was possible to disable it (without affecting other aspects).

The following edits will do that. They won't override already saved views, so you might want to use
'Reset all folders' first.

Machine-wide (All users):

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

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="Documents"

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

Per User (Note that this setting will be erased by 'Reset All Folders')

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

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="Documents"

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


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]