This section discusses the main ways in which to customize Windows Explorer:

AutoPlay, customizing folders, customizing the toolbar, and choosing which columns Windows Explorer displays in Details view.

Customizing and Turning Off AutoPlay

By default, Windows is set to use its AutoPlay feature, which tries to automatically run any CD or DVD that you insert in your computer’s optical drive and examine the contents of any removable disk or memory card you attach to your computer. What run means for a CD or DVD depends on the disc’s contents and the action that the disc’s developer has specified in the disc’s AUTORUN.INF initialization file, a hidden file stored at the root of the disc’s file system. If the initialization file doesn’t contain specific instructions, or if there’s no initialization file, Windows may pop up a dialog box offering you a choice of possible actions to take with the disc. These are the usual actions for AutoPlay:

•    For a music CD, AutoPlay activates the default player for files of the CD Audio Track type. Usually, this means that Windows Media Player or whichever program has ousted Windows Media Player as the default player starts playing the CD.

•    For a software installation disc, AutoPlay usually activates the setup routine, unless Windows detects that you’ve installed the software already.

•    For a game disc, AutoPlay usually starts playing the game.

•    For a CD containing video files, AutoPlay may start playing a file.

•    For a DVD containing a video, AutoPlay may start playing the video.

AutoPlay also manifests itself in other ways, such as the AutoPlay dialog box, which lets you specify an action to take when you insert a disc that contains a specific type of file.

Suppressing AutoPlay Temporarily

To suppress AutoPlay temporarily, hold down the left Shift key as you close the optical drive after inserting a disc. Release the Shift key when Windows has loaded the disc for example, when you see the disc’s name and contents appear in an Windows Explorer window. Use the left Shift key because, by default, holding down the right Shift key for 8 seconds turns on the FilterKeys accessibility feature. Alternatively, clear the Turn On Filter Keys When Right Shift Is Pressed for 8 Seconds check box in the Set Up Filter Keys window, which you can access from the Ease of Access Center in Control Panel.

Benefits of Suppressing AutoPlay When Loading a Disc

Some copyright protection schemes for audio discs use AutoPlay to install a special driver that prevents you from copying the audio from the disc to your computer. This driver is installed the first time you insert such a disc in your optical drive and is then used each time you load a disc that’s protected in this way. If you don’t want your Windows configuration to be changed by this surreptitious installation of unapproved software, suppress AutoPlay by holding down the Shift key when you load audio discs.

Customizing AutoPlay - and Turning It Off

Windows Vista lets you customize AutoPlay for a wide variety of media and devices. To customize AutoPlay, follow these steps:

1.  Choose Start   Control Panel. Windows displays a Control Panel window. folder. A Zip folder appears in Windows Explorer as a closed folder icon with a zipper across it, 2.  Click the Hardware and Sound link. Windows displays the Hardware and Sound window.

3.  Click the AutoPlay link. Windows displays the AutoPlay window .

4.  If you want to turn off AutoPlay completely for all items, clear the Use AutoPlay for All Media and Devices check box. If you want to use AutoPlay, leave this check box selected. 5.  If you leave AutoPlay on, open each drop-down list in the Media area in turn, and then choose an option in the list. Here are examples of what you can choose:

•    For an Audio CD, you can choose Play Audio CD, Rip Music from CD, Open Folder to View Files, Take No Action, or Ask Me Every Time. The Ask Me Every Time option makes Windows displays the AutoPlay dialog box. •    For a DVD Movie, you can choose Play DVD Movie, Open Folder to View Files, Take No Action, or Ask Me Every Time.

•    For a Blank CD, you can choose Burn an Audio CD, Burn Files to Disc, Take No Action, or Ask Me Every Time.

6.  If any devices appear in the Devices section of the window, choose a setting for each device.

7.  Click the Save button. Windows saves your choices and closes the AutoPlay window.

Customizing a Folder

You can customize a folder by designating a particular type of role for it, by applying a picture to it for Thumbnails view, and by changing the icon displayed for it for all views other than Thumbnails. To customize a folder, take the following steps:

1.  Right-click the folder, and then choose Properties from the context menu. Windows displays the Properties dialog box for the folder.

2.  Click the Customize tab. Windows displays the Customize page . 3.  In the Use This Folder Type as a Template list box, you can select a template for the folder. Windows offers assorted templates for Documents, Pictures and Videos, Music Details, and Music Icons. If you’ll be creating subfolders of this folder and putting the same type of con- tent in them, select the Also Apply This Template to All Subfolders check box.

4.  To specify the picture that Windows displays on the folder in Thumbnails view, click the Choose File button. Windows displays the Browse dialog box. Navigate to the picture you want to use, select it, and click the Open button. To reapply the default picture to the folder, click the Restore Default button.

5.  To specify the icon that Windows displays for the folder in all views other than Thumbnails view, click the Change Icon button. Windows displays the Change Icon dialog box. Select an icon, and then click the OK button.

6.  Click the OK button. Windows closes the Properties dialog box and applies your choices to the folder.

Choosing Which Columns to Display in Windows Explorer Windows

You can customize Windows Explorer windows to display the columns you want in any given folder. For example, you might want to add the artist, album, track name, and bitrate to a folder containing MP3 files. Similarly, you might want to display the title and subject for office documents so that you have another means of identifying them apart from their names. To choose which columns appear, follow these steps:

1.  Right-click a column heading in the window. Windows displays a list of commonly used columns for the template currently applied to the folder.

2.  If the column you want appears on the list, select its check box. Alternatively, clear the check box for any existing column you want to remove. 3.  To add a column that’s not listed, choose the More item from the list. Windows displays the Choose Details dialog box .

4.  In the list box, select the check boxes for the columns you want Windows Explorer to display. Clear the check boxes for any currently displayed columns that you want to hide.

5.  Use the Move Up button and Move Down button to arrange the columns into the order in which you want them to appear from left to right.

6.  To specify the width for a column, select the column, and then enter the width in the Width of Selected Column in Pixels text box. Usually it’s easier to resize a column manually when you have information displayed and can see how much space it needs.

7.  Click the OK button. Windows closes the Choose Details dialog box. Windows Explorer displays the columns you selected.

Understand what files and folders are and what you can name them    A file is a named object containing information that’s stored on a disk. A folder is a file that can contain other files or fold- ers. Folders enable you to organize your files into categories. A file’s name, including the full path to it through the drive and folders that contain it, can be up to 255 characters long. Filenames can include letters, numbers, spaces, underscores, commas, periods, semicolons, and single quota- tion marks.

Launch Windows Explorer and navigate to the files you need    Windows Explorer runs all the time you’re using Windows, because it manages the Windows desktop. To work in an Windows Explorer window, click the Start button, and then click one of the items in the upper- right part of the Start menu. For example, choose Documents to open your Documents folder, or Pictures to open your Pictures folder. You can navigate to folders by clicking links in the Favorite Links area of the Windows Explorer window or by double-clicking folders in the doc- ument area.

Choose folder options to control how Windows Explorer behaves    To control how Windows Explorer behaves, choose Organize Folder and Search Options, and then choose options on the View page of the Folder Options dialog box. For example, you can choose always to display menus, which is useful if you’ve come to Windows Vista from a version of Windows in which Windows Explorer always displays menus.

Copy and move files and folders    You can copy files and folders by using drag-and-drop techniques or by using menu commands. Drag-and-drop can be confusing because Windows interprets the action differently depending on whether the source and destination folders are on the same drive or different drives. One handy technique is right-drag-and-drop, which always lets you choose whether to copy the items or move them.

Delete and rename files and folders    When you delete files and folders, Windows places them in the Recycle Bin rather than deleting them outright. You can open the Recycle Bin and restore files and folders if you find you need them again. You can also configure Windows to delete files and folders immediately instead of putting them in the Recycle Bin if you prefer. To rename a file or folder, right-click it, choose Rename, type the new name, and then press Enter.

Search to find the files and folders you need    To find the files which are in effect special folders, you can search from the Start menu, from any Windows Explorer window open to a folder you want to search, or by opening a Search Results window choose Start   Search. Simple search can give effective results, but Advanced Search lets you specify exact criteria.

Use compressed folders and shortcuts    Windows can read both Zip files and cabinet files, but lets you create only Zip files. To create a Zip file, right-click the item or items you want the file to contain, and then choose Send To Compressed Zipped Folder. To access files and folders easily, you can create as many shortcuts as you need. To create a shortcut, right-click the file or folder, right-drag to where you want the shortcut to be, and then choose Create Shortcuts Here.

Configure AutoPlay and Customize Windows Explorer’s Columns    To configure AutoPlay, choose Start   Control Panel, click the Hardware and Sound link, and then click the AutoPlay link. The AutoPlay window lets you either turn off AutoPlay completely or choose a default AutoPlay action for each media type for example, audio CDs or blank DVDs. To choose which columns appear in an Windows Explorer window, right-click any column heading. You can then either select or clear check boxes for the short list of frequently used columns, or click More, and then use the Choose Details dialog box to select columns and customize them.