Solved Is there a way to get some of the features back from W2K?

[GerryD]

Hello,
Well making a long story short, My son gave me a brand new Dell last September. He said my old Windows 2000 machine and software were obsolete. But they worked up till last week. It looked like my North-Bridge went South on that machine so here I am trying to "learn" Windows 7.

Two immediate problems are with the sorting of files and with a feature in Windows 2000 that is no longer here.

First with the files.
Why in the name of anything one considers holy did they mess with the sorting in folders?
Used to be that files were sorted like;
file4441.jpg
file44411.jpg
file4441b.jpg
file4441b1.jpg

Now they are;
file4441.jpg
file4441b.jpg
file4441b1.jpg
file44411.jpg

It don't seem as bad, but when you have those four multiplied by a minimum of ten more instances, all the 44411 files through 44501 are at the end of the list no matter what you do! The problem is the xxx1 file is a full sized image and xxx11 is the icon for the full sized image, copying or moving them in a group was much easier in 2000 as you had all 4 associated files together.
Is there a way to revert to this?

Second problem...
There used to be a sort of file association one could make for open and edit. Case in point, I used to right click on a file and it would allow me to open or edit it. Since I used notepad to edit html, it was a great thing, if I wanted to open it with the default browser, same thing. With this Windows 7 there is no choice, you open the file or you open the file. No editing.
Any help with this?

Finally, It really irks me that the control key and shift key don't do a darn thing when opening a folder.
Used to be that using the control the next sub-folder would open in a new window. I still have to research that to find out if there is a way to get that back, so ignore that last irk for now.

Cordially,
Gerry

 

[kegobeer]

You can right click on any file and select "open with -> select default program". Once that dialog is opened, deselect the option to always use this program, find the program you want, and then open the file. Once you do that, that program will be listed in the "open with" dialog - you won't have to dig down and browse for it again.

The sort order was changed, but you can change it back using a registry hack. Take a look at this:

Windows 7 Explorer Sort

Holding down the ctrl key and double clicking on a folder opens it in a new window.

 

[GerryD]

KeegOBeer,

BIG THANKS!!

That just solved my current problems.

Thank You again Sir!

Gerry

 

[kegobeer]

No problem, Gerry. Hope you enjoy Windows 7 - it's a huge jump from 2000!