Windows 7: Excellent except for 3 "issues"

[patio]

I haven't experienced any of the 3 listed glitches...

 

[Ed Bradford]

RE FireFox. I am running (this is entered with) FF 3.5.7. I don't exit it. Right now, it's the 4-th biggest
virtual size behind

 

[Muad Dib]

Why do you need to have 4 different browsers open?

Also, there is no need to keep everything open all the time with Win7. Its memory managment is better. Tasks are placed into standby memory, when it is available, and not paged to the disk. The second time you open a task after a hard boot it will open faster.

I doubt there are many users who feel the need to keep 25 applications open at the same time over a week long period. Your PC may be underpowered for this. In particular your specs list only 3GB of memory. See previous point.

As to the drag and drop. Yes it can be irritating. I often use the explorer address bar as the drop target to avoid ambiguity. It depends on what I am doing....

Also, I tell my users, especially those with laptops that use hibernation, to do a hard boot once a week whether they need to or not. They are not 24/7 server operators and Win7 is not a server OS.

Edit: Problem #1 as described indicates there is a system problem. Try closing your apps down to a more manageable number and see if that reduces the problem. If not you have something else wrong.

 

[unifex]

I've never had #1 or #2. #3 is more of a habit thing - indeed the explorer tree would expand if you hover the mouse on it, but that's not a glitch, it's there by design. So if you want to drag and drop there you either should do it fast, or wait till it expands as was already suggested.

I've got FF 3.5.7 32 bit and 3.5.6 64 bit. Never a problem, even though sometimes I have lots of tabs and keep both of them open for the whole day. They rarely exceed 300 MB in memory use and that's OK with me.

I would suggest monitoring memory use - either by installing some simple meter, or procexp.exe, or just the task manager's resource monitor. Also you may try ReadyBoost and see if this helps.

In addition you may want to try and check your system capabilities by running some benchmarks. My experience is that some computers are just slow - I have a Sony laptop with XP for example - and the thing can only be used by one application at a time.

 

[s0c9]

I've never had #1 or #2. #3 is more of a habit thing - indeed the explorer tree would expand if you hover the mouse on it, but that's not a glitch, it's there by design. So if you want to drag and drop there you either should do it fast, or wait till it expands as was already suggested.

I've got FF 3.5.7 32 bit and 3.5.6 64 bit. Never a problem, even though sometimes I have lots of tabs and keep both of them open for the whole day. They rarely exceed 300 MB in memory use and that's OK with me.

I would suggest monitoring memory use - either by installing some simple meter, or procexp.exe, or just the task manager's resource monitor. Also you may try ReadyBoost and see if this helps.

In addition you may want to try and check your system capabilities by running some benchmarks. My experience is that some computers are just slow - I have a Sony laptop with XP for example - and the thing can only be used by one application at a time.

Done most of the above.. FF [32-bit] is what I use. I don't run the 64-bit version as there are no 64-bit browser plugins for Flash, Adobe Reader, Shockwave, yada,yada, yada. I forget the exact numbers, but it acts like there's a memory leak. I'll go revist - using latest version - when I get the chance. Chrome isn't a whole lot better.... and I keep multiple tabs in multiple windows open.. 'cus I track multiple forums [like this one]. I never had the memory issue w/ FF [x32] on my XP 64 system. Works fine.. [dual-boot PC BTW]

 

[stangbat]

#3 is my main gripe about Win 7. I guess you could say that if it is my main gripe, I'm lucky because it could be worse. But it is really annoying. And no, this is not just an issue of the tree expanding when you drag something over it. It is the selected folder jumping to the bottom of the view.

Some discussion of it:

Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

W7 Jumping To Bottom Browser When clicking on Folders

Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be

 

[Muad Dib]

#3 is my main gripe about Win 7. I guess you could say that if it is my main gripe, I'm lucky because it could be worse. But it is really annoying. And no, this is not just an issue of the tree expanding when you drag something over it. It is the selected folder jumping to the bottom of the view.

Some discussion of it:

Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

W7 Jumping To Bottom Browser When clicking on Folders

Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be

But the Explorer address bar does not jump around. So if the target folder is in selected, and as a result in the Explorer address bar I just drag and drop the selected files/folder onto the target in the address bar. I know this is not the "good" answer, just my workaround.

I had thought I was the only one being annoyed by this. Misery loves company....

 

[stangbat]

But the Explorer address bar does not jump around. So if the target folder is in selected, and as a result in the Explorer address bar I just drag and drop the selected files/folder onto the target in the address bar. I know this is not the "good" answer, just my workaround.

I had thought I was the only one being annoyed by this. Misery loves company....

Yes, but I use the left pane to drill down the tree and find the folder I want. It is annoying when you expand the folder and it jumps to the bottom of the pane. Your solution works when dragging and dropping, but it doesn't help when you are using the tree to browse nested folders.

I just hope that this will be fixed in SP1. I'm not holding my breath since it was griped about a year ago when the RCs went public, if not earlier. Here we are with RTM and the same annoying behavior.

 

[seekermeister]

stangbat,

I just hope that this will be fixed in SP1. I'm not holding my breath since it was griped about a year ago when the RCs went public, if not earlier. Here we are with RTM and the same annoying behavior.

If you would prefer not to hold your breath, you could do as I do, and use a third party file manager. I use 2xExplorer, which doesn't have this problem, plus it is dual paned.

 

[Muad Dib]

I just hope that this will be fixed in SP1. I'm not holding my breath since it was griped about a year ago when the RCs went public, if not earlier. Here we are with RTM and the same annoying behavior.

I agree, I agree....

Annoying thing (for me) that they know about and have said they will not fix....

When "Add to Favorites" is selected in IE8 more than once IE8 does not remember the previous "Add to Favorites" folder selection. Simple things - so annoying....

 

[stangbat]

If you would prefer not to hold your breath, you could do as I do, and use a third party file manager. I use 2xExplorer, which doesn't have this problem, plus it is dual paned.

After a little searching, I'm thinking that Explorer++ looks like a good alternative. Free, seems to look/work like Windows Explorer (which I like), only 1067 kb, tabs. No installation necessary, just run it.

http://www.explorerplusplus.com/home

 

[seekermeister]

That looks good, but it is tabbed, rather than dual paned, as I prefer.

EDIT: Actually triple paned, if you count the folder tree.

 

[stangbat]

A "fix" for jumping folders

I have finally found what could somewhat be considered a "fix" to the jumping folders in Windows Explorer. There is a free and open source project at Sourceforge called Classic Shell. It allows you to get back the classic start menu as used in XP and it also allows you to enable some old XP like behavior in Windows Explorer. However, the exciting thing is that the author has figured out how to stop the jumping behavior. It flat out works, no registry tweaking necessary and I've seen no other odd behavior.

Classic Shell | Get Classic Shell at SourceForge.net

So what if you want to fix the jumping behavior but not lose the Windows 7 style start menu? Install the Classic Shell, open MSConfig and then uncheck the entry in the Startup tab so that the Classic Start Menu doesn't load at boot. Log off, log back on, and you are in business. The fix for the jumping behavior in Windows Explorer works even if you don't use the classic start menu.

The changes to incorporate this fix were added between version 1.0.0 and the previous version. Since the project is open source, anyone who is proficient with code should be able to find out what the author did to fix this (I'm not one of those people).

 

[gregrocker]

The reason the folders jump to subfolders is because there is no way to know you do not want a subfolder, and no way to manually stop the tree from unfolding until it shows all sub-folders since you are dragging files to copy holding the left-click.

The solution here is to patiently wait the few seconds until all folders unfold before letting go of the left click dragging operation.

Even if someone could come up with a reg fix or app, how would they know when to stop the folder tree from expanding since you might want a deeper subfolder to copy into?

 

[stangbat]

The reason the folders jump to subfolders is because there is no way to know you do not want a subfolder, and no way to manually stop the tree from unfolding until it shows all sub-folders since you are dragging files to copy holding the left-click.

The solution here is to patiently wait the few seconds until all folders unfold before letting go of the left click dragging operation.

Even if someone could come up with a reg fix or app, how would they know when to stop the folder tree from expanding since you might want a deeper subfolder to copy into?

That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about a folder in the left pane jumping to the bottom of the screen when double clicked and expanded. No dragging and dropping involved. Also, if you double click on a folder in the right pane to expand it, its counterpart in the left pane jumps to the bottom. We just want the Windows Explorer tree to work like it used to in XP.

See the links in my previous post a few weeks ago for an in depth discussion of the bug:
Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

W7 Jumping To Bottom Browser When clicking on Folders

Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be

 

[unifex]

That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about a folder in the left pane jumping to the bottom of the screen when double clicked and expanded. No dragging and dropping involved. Also, if you double click on a folder in the right pane to expand it, its counterpart in the left pane jumps to the bottom. We just want the Windows Explorer tree to work like it used to in XP.

See the links in my previous post a few weeks ago for an in depth discussion of the bug:
Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

W7 Jumping To Bottom Browser When clicking on Folders

Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be

One of those links has a video of the problem and frankly, I am confused.

In the video the guy is constantly clicking on folders in the left pane, most of the time the folders just simply unfold to show subfolders, but sometimes, there is no space, so the whole tree moves vertically. A couple of times the tree moved down, so that what one sees in the left pane actually starts from the top of list, so effectively, the folder the guy was clicking on turns out being somewhere in the bottom.

I tried to reproduce the problem by clicking on all kinds of folders in the left pane and I ran out of patience before any jumping has occurred. I don't see any problem.

I have XP on an old laptop and I went out and compared. I saw exactly the same thing: If I click on the + (or triangle in 7) the folder will unfold to show subfolders. If the subfolder list is too long, then the unfolding folder will jump to the top of the pane. I have observed that both in XP and 7.

So, maybe there is a bug in that jumping and sometimes it might jump the wrong way, but I guess I am not clicking on that left pane often enough to see it and get annoyed .

 

[stangbat]

One of those links has a video of the problem and frankly, I am confused.

In the video the guy is constantly clicking on folders in the left pane, most of the time the folders just simply unfold to show subfolders, but sometimes, there is no space, so the whole tree moves vertically. A couple of times the tree moved down, so that what one sees in the left pane actually starts from the top of list, so effectively, the folder the guy was clicking on turns out being somewhere in the bottom.

I tried to reproduce the problem by clicking on all kinds of folders in the left pane and I ran out of patience before any jumping has occurred. I don't see any problem.

I have XP on an old laptop and I went out and compared. I saw exactly the same thing: If I click on the + (or triangle in 7) the folder will unfold to show subfolders. If the subfolder list is too long, then the unfolding folder will jump to the top of the pane. I have observed that both in XP and 7.

So, maybe there is a bug in that jumping and sometimes it might jump the wrong way, but I guess I am not clicking on that left pane often enough to see it and get annoyed .

I think the problem only occurs when the number folders in the left pane is long enough that it makes the scroll bar appear. If the number of folders visible is not long enough to scroll, I think you don't the the behavior. This may be why you are having trouble duplicating the issue.

From the developer's comments in the code regarding the fix:

HACK! there is a bug in Win7 Explorer and when the selected folder is expanded for the first time it sends TVM_ENSUREVISIBLE for the root tree item. This auses the navigation pane to scroll up. To work around the bug we ignore TVM_ENSUREVISIBLE if it tries to show the root item and it is not selected

Some of the guys at Technet are trying to get this passed on to the appropriate people at MS so maybe we can get this fixed once and for all.

 

[MacGyvr]

I never allow a computer I use to sleep or hibernate. It is either on or off, and I never turn it off. I do restart about every other day.

 

[seekermeister]

I never allow a computer I use to sleep or hibernate. It is either on or off, and I never turn it off. I do restart about every other day.

I'm the same way. I started doing this because the person that guided me on my first self-built computer, said that for a harddrive to stop and start caused more stress and wear on it than continous running, due to thickening of lubricant when cold, and thinning when hot, plus the torque changes. I'm not sure how much truth there is in this, but it made sense to me at the time, and it is difficult to change old habits.

 

[stangbat]

I never allow a computer I use to sleep or hibernate. It is either on or off, and I never turn it off. I do restart about every other day.

I'm the same way. I started doing this because the person that guided me in building my first computer said that for a harddrive to stop and start caused more stress and wear on it than continous running, due to thickening of lubricant when cold, and thinning when hot, plus the torque changes. I'm not sure how much truth there is in this, but it made sense to me at the time, and it is difficult to change old habits.

You'll get arguments and disagreements either way. The counter argument is that a spinning disk is wearing the bearings and it will lead to failure more quickly. Until someone does a controlled study as to which is better, do whatever you feel is best for your situation.

Myself, I let my drives power down. I'm not sold on always on being better, so I'd rather have the power savings. And I let my computer go to sleep automatically after a certain time period. Never had any problems and again, I like the power savings since there is no reason to have it sitting there idle wasting power.

Anyway, why did this come up? Item #1 on the OP's complaints? I've never seen any issues after resuming from sleep. I reboot my computer once a week unless something else has made me reboot in the mean time.