Windows Explorer Status Bar: does not show file size

[Imperfect1]

This debate actually generated some excellent information for those of us who, until now, didn't know about the shortcuts mentioned, not to mention the other great info given. Thank you all. I suggest we keep writing to Microsoft to let them know that users WANT these deleted features (and the many others) kept in Windows 7.

 

[need4steer]

I have been very unhappy with the OP problem as well. A basic Windows function (that even mac has). MS really lit a match in the dynamite shed on this one. Solution: install the open source Windows Classic Explorer:

Welcome to Classic Shell

You will get your classic status bar back , can hide the oversized (and frustratingly unhelpful) Details Pane, and be happy with Windows again. It shows remaining disk size as well as the sum of the size of folder contents/selected files/folders - even in the Recycle Bin. Restores what MS tried to rob us of. I am running it on Win 7 64-bit.

They also have a classic start menu, but I am fine with the Win 7 start menu so I unchecked it during the install.

Now if they only had a donate link! (I am not affiliated with them at all).

Regards and Happy New Year.

MYD

Thanks a lot for this great tip!.

__________________________________

Came here to mention Classic Shell but it already has been!

I love it. And looking at the project it has some great ideas to be added in the future. The discovery of this is what pushed me to finally switch to Windows 7.

Brought back options that should have been left as options... and gives more options itself! Awesome

+1.
Glad there is such a solution.

__________________________________

No it doesn't. It's Visual Effects, not Folder Options. The picture of said page is posted within this topic here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/625475-post80.html

My "Perfermance Options" dialog box doesn't look same with yours. Actually the only difference is that the "Show preview and filters" option is missing in mine!

Your screenshot:

My screenshot:

+1.
Mine is looking the same - I don't have "show preview and fiters in folder".

__________________________________

Save your current theme, and then role back to it if the option isn't available. Why would you be using the Classic theme and missing out on all the enhancements and usability of Aero, not to mention the fact it offloads some of the UI work to the graphics card, instead of forcing the CPU to do it all?

I love the classic theme, and I also love to disable anything that consumes more cpu / memory / free space than actually needed for a minimized and light resource configuration.

__________________________________

This debate actually generated some excellent information for those of us who, until now, didn't know about the shortcuts mentioned, not to mention the other great info given. Thank you all. I suggest we keep writing to Microsoft to let them know that users WANT these deleted features (and the many others) kept in Windows 7.

+1. There are really useful information in this post.

And as for writing microsoft, here is a quote originally posted by VegasDen at:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/20172-free-remaining-space-status-bar.html#post216918

I did a little searching and see that even though it may be trivial to some...it is a major thorn in the side of many users that MS removed this from Windows 7. There must be a dozen different threads on Technet alone about that.

This is the reasoning per a Technet Moderator:

The free space reporting for the Status Bar was removed when the new Libraries were included in the OS. Because of the way the Status Bar reports free space and because it was designed long before the Libraries were conceived, it was seen to be reporting inaccurate information about the free space on the drives. There was a choice of completely recoding the way the Status Bar reported the free space or simply removing that capability. Since there are many other ways to see the free space for a drive, they decided to remove that code.

Another reason is that the Status Bar has always been close to useless when reporting free space, since it is not a realtime component. If the free space on a drive changes, the Status Bar will not reflect the new free space number until there is a refresh of Windows Explorer.

The Status Bar was not completely removed, because it is still useful since it is an easy way to see the number of parent objects in a folder.

 

[need4steer]

Double posted in accident. Sorry.

 

[troubledance]

No it doesn't. It's Visual Effects, not Folder Options. The picture of said page is posted within this topic here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/625475-post80.html

My "Perfermance Options" dialog box doesn't look same with yours. Actually the only difference is that the "Show preview and filters" option is missing in mine!

Your screenshot:

My screenshot:

I was have the same problem, but I use Windows Vista and at least under "Folder and search options" this option presented but was inaccessible (greyed). And like in your case it was missing from "Visual Effects" window. But I have resolved it! Use XP Tweaker 2.0.0 build 81 for Vista (but only for fix this trouble!), tab "Security" - "Explorer". You will found option "Use Classic Explorer Style" or like this (i have russian version of this program). Just unchek it and restart Explorer. Option will come back.

 

[need4steer]

I was have the same problem, but I use Windows Vista and at least under "Folder and search options" this option presented but was inaccessible (greyed). And like in your case it was missing from "Visual Effects" window. But I have resolved it! Use XP Tweaker 2.0.0 build 81 for Vista (but only for fix this trouble!), tab "Security" - "Explorer". You will found option "Use Classic Explorer Style" or like this (i have russian version of this program). Just unchek it and restart Explorer. Option will come back.

Thanks a lot for this.
I preffer to stay without 3rd party utilities, unless something is really missing.
Might help others though...

 

[Skyroket]

Just another "thanks" post for the Classic Shell recommendation. I fully expected it to revert my shell back to Windows 95 appearance, but it didn't. It just added the information I was after!

Also, for some clarity, I noticed a couple people are hung up on how to get the infobar to show up. The infobar is the supposed replacement for our beloved Status Bar. If you really want to use the infobar, go in an Explorer window, go to Organize > Layout > Details Pane.

 

[mikedl]

Classic Shell Release Version 3.0 just released on March 3rd. His site on SourceForge says "Mar 3rd 2010" but the "2010" is just a typo.

Ivo has done wonders with this program ... I love it!

Edit: I just found Ivo's post about the 3.0.0 Release of Classic Shell ...

Great job, Ivo!

 

[marwerno]

I just started using Classic Shell and I am loving it. Brings back all the functionality that I am missing PLUS a few more options for the start menu that XP and Win 7 is missing!
GREAT!
Microsoft: Why isn't this coming straight out of the box like that? Much easier to use and more modification options....

BTW: The developer of Classic shell is also having a site here:
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

CHECK THE VERSION NUMBER BEFORE DOWNLOADING!

On the previous posts it lists partially websites pointing you to version 1 of classic shell, at time of my posting version 3.0 is the current version!!!!

The content on sourceforge seem to be the one most up to date (And you do not need to register to download the software)

And the author is having a donate button on this page!
(there is no donate button on the original posted link as complained by the poster)

 

[FlankerB]

Info bar causes explorer crashes if using ffdshow and trying to open folders containing x264 encoded video files.
That's why status bar could use more information. Or maybe a way to disable preview in info bar.

 

[FlankerB]

I don't know why every os is becoming more and more for retarded people.
God damn that movie "idiocracy" was right.

 

[marwerno]

I haven't seen the movie, but I have to agree with you.
Now it looks like you made me really curious to see what that movie is all about....

 

[0pTicaL]

I have been very unhappy with the OP problem as well. A basic Windows function (that even mac has). MS really lit a match in the dynamite shed on this one. Solution: install the open source Windows Classic Explorer:

Welcome to Classic Shell

You will get your classic status bar back , can hide the oversized (and frustratingly unhelpful) Details Pane, and be happy with Windows again. It shows remaining disk size as well as the sum of the size of folder contents/selected files/folders - even in the Recycle Bin. Restores what MS tried to rob us of. I am running it on Win 7 64-bit.

They also have a classic start menu, but I am fine with the Win 7 start menu so I unchecked it during the install.

Now if they only had a donate link! (I am not affiliated with them at all).

Regards and Happy New Year.

MYD

Sorry to bump a old thread, but this has solved one of the most annoying problems everyone who read this thread.

I am not affiliated with the author in any way but I do highly encourage people do donate whatever you can, the author has remedied a great inconvenience for us all. Cheers!

 

[ChrisJR]

Simple explorer BHO?

Hi all,

After about 1.5 years being frustrated by the new status bar behavior, I found this thread (and others) and saw a lot of other people frustrated by it as well.

So, since I am a software developer, I went and wrote a simple explorer extension to make the status bar show the file size, similar to how it did before. It is quite simple and does nothing except this one feature. If there is enough interest in it, I will publish it somewhere with source code, so anybody else can go ahead and make it more interesting if they want.

Please let me know if you are interested and I will get it uploaded.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Ivo]

Please let me know if you are interested and I will get it uploaded.

I'm interested

 

[marwerno]

I am also interested in a solution! Please post.
MANY THANKS in advance if you do so!

 

[ChrisJR]

Hi all,

As promised, I got the code cleaned up and posted onto google code. There is also a binary installer for those who are unable to compile it themselves. I have only tested it on a 64-bit US-English Windows 7 Professional SP1. It should work just fine on 32-bit systems as well. If you have issues please feel free to comment here or on the google code project page and I will do my best to help.

file-size - Windows 7 shell extension to show the size of the selected file(s) on the status bar. - Google Project Hosting

Thanks,

Chris

 

[marwerno]

Thanks Chris for posting.
However when I install it (Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit Edition) I get the error
"Unable to register DLL/OCX: RegSvr32 failed with exit Code 0x3"
Any idea what is going wrong?

 

[ChrisJR]

Hi marwerno,

Thanks for reporting this issue. I think I fixed the problem and have posted an updated version of everything on the google code project page. Please try again and let me know if you run into any further problems. Note that you may have to uninstall the old version first, and you may need to reboot your PC in-between the uninstall/reinstall.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Lykho]

just installed (on 32-bit). no problems so far. thanks

 

[kufr]

This is amazing ChrisJR u solved my problem buddy keep it up