Windows 7: ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size

tweaker · 28 Nov 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by MrDeviance

Wow Tweaker, this is turning into a real xpfier project from what I see here.

My personal goal was getting it as close as possible to the way I have w2k configured, so I hope there will be more tweaks along the way

. I don't mind feature requests since there's no harm in asking, I can't make any promises of course. Some of your requests are already on my todo list, I've added the others. I'm not sure how possible any of them are, within the scope of this app, so I can't make any guesses yet.

hackerman1 · 29 Nov 2009

hi !

tweaker: i´m sorry to report that it doesn´t work as it should with Windows 7-32.
it´s the "last closed window-position" as before, could you please write a "user manual" ?
because i don´t understand how it´s supposed to be used.

tweaker · 29 Nov 2009

There really isn't much more to write about than what the tooltips say. If it works like it's supposed to, then you just have to start the program and it should remember the size and position of your folder windows.

It's possible that you're experiencing the same problem as the poster above, where it seemed like the program isn't aware of any windows being open. You can see if that is the case by having one or more folders open and then click the "Init Folder Defaults" button in ShellFolderFix. If it says no folders are open, or if the list shown doesn't contain all open folders, then it's indeed the same problem.

You could try that, and let me know how it goes. If that's the problem, I'll put up a new version with some additional error messages to try to figure out what's happening.

macattack · 29 Nov 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by tweaker

This app was briefly discussed in this thread, towards the end somewhere.

It's basically an app to make Windows 7 explorer folder windows remember their size and position. It has a couple of additional features too, and hopefully some more later on. It does NOT manage window size/positions of regular applications, if you want that, other apps like Window Manager do it. Allthough I haven't tried it, in theory it should work to run Window Manager simultaneously, if it's configured to ignore folder windows (found as "CabinetWClass"). I'd strongly recommend configuring WM to ignore them, or disable WM, before running ShellFolderFix, to avoid any potential "fighting" between the two apps.

Important to note is that this is the first public test release, so there may be bugs and issues when running on a wider variety of systems. On that note it might be a good idea to try it a little while first before enabling the auto-start feature, just to make sure it basic functionality works as intended.

Even more important to note is that the 32-bit version is completely untested, as I don't have any 32-bit install at hand. Reports on how it behaves would be welcome.

Packages available are non-installer versions (zipped) and a unified installer that should work on both 32- and 64-bit systems. When using the installer to upgrade from a previous version, it's good practice to exit any currently running ShellFolderFix before starting the installer, to reduce chances of needing a reboot.

Current release 1.0.2:

Tweaker, many thanks for your efforts on this App. This will help me enormously in everyday use.

I appreciate your hard work and admire your patience in this forum. Mac

tweaker · 29 Nov 2009

New version is available.

Added some error handling to detect failed initialization of event handlers etc.. If you're up to it hackerman1 (or viperrr13), you can try it and see if you get any error.

A new feature was also added. Every once in a while it happens that I open a folder somewhere deeper down in the directory tree, do something, then close it because I'm done. Only to realize 10 seconds later I wasn't finished after all. It just happened today again, which prompted me to add a Recently Used Folders list, optional of course.

Quote: Originally Posted by macattack

Tweaker, many thanks for your efforts on this App. This will help me enormously in everyday use.

Happy to help. Seeing how 7 was driving me insane, it would've been silly to risk other people's health and keep it to myself

macattack · 30 Nov 2009

You are right ! It was driving me insane constantly re-sizing & re-positioning folders. I have downloaded 1.3 now. Thanks again. I will spread the word on the various sites I go to about this very handy App.

BigDog · 30 Nov 2009

Hi All...
When I run it I get:
Failure to initialize. (error:00000593)

tweaker · 30 Nov 2009

Interesting. It fails to register the event handler it uses to track windows. Could you please specify if you were using the 32 or 64-bit version (and maybe also which Windows 7 version/build)?

tweaker · 30 Nov 2009

There's a new build up with a hotfix for the 32-bit version. 64-bit users don't have to upggrade as nothing changed.

All previous 32-bit versions failed to initialize an event handler, event those versions where the app started without displaying an error. This resulted the app not being able to track folder windows. The reason was that a dll symbol name was different in 32-bit bit builds.

hackerman1 · 30 Nov 2009

hi !

tried 1.0.3, "Failure to initialize. (error:00000593)"

just saw your post above, downloading 1.0.4...

btw, why don´t you install Windows 7-32 on your own PC, wouldn´t it be much easier to debug ?

Windows 7 Enterprise is available on Technet, (90-day trial) if you want it.

Windows 7: ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size

ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size problems?