50 ways to customise Windows Vista (part 4)

Today’s guide continues with the Start Menu and Taskbar. Enjoy and come back tomorrow for the final ten tips!

21. Customise Folder Behaviour

Windows Vista makes it easier than ever to work with folders, but you can go one step further and take control of how the folder displays its content by right-clicking it and choosing Properties > Customize tab. Pick one of five types – including Documents, Pictures and Videos, and Music Items – and the folder’s contents will be displayed according to the type of files found within. If the folder contains other related sub-folders, tick the “Also apply this template…” box before clicking OK.

If you don’t agree with a folder’s classification, change it yourself

22. Customise Folder

Help identify individual folders by assigning pictures to them

Some folders let you do more than just assign a type to them – if the option exists, you can display a picture on the folder to help you identify it – just click Choose File and pick your chosen image (Windows Vista supports most common formats, including JPEG, TIF and BMP).

23. Change an Icon

Shortcuts and folders are identified by their icons, so it’s no surprise to learn that you can change what icon goes with which file or folder pretty easily. Right-click the icon and choose Properties. Switch to the Shortcut tab (Customize if it’s a folder) and click Change Icon. Pick a different icon from the list, choose a different file (programs and certain DLL files often contain icons) or pick an icon file (see below).

You can plunder icons from DLL and EXE files

24. Source Icons

Windows Vista supports a wide range of icon files, including those up to a resolution of 256 x 256, which is why it looks so much more attractive than its predecessors. When replacing these icons, it helps if you can find icons which scale up to this size. Start your search at the excellent Vista Icons

25. Design your own icons

Why rely on others when you can design your own icons from scratch or convert existing images into icon format? All you need is the fabulous free IcoFX tool and then follow the guide below:

a) Prepare Image

Before importing your image, you need to resize or crop a copy to 256×256 pixels in a separate image-editing application like Paint.NET. Once done, open IcoFX and choose File > Import Image.

b) Set Dimensions

Browse to and select your edited image. When the New Image dialog opens make sure 256 x 256 is selected under Size before clicking OK.

c) Create Your Icon

Choose Icon > Create Icon From Image. Now supply the resolution and colour depth of each of the icons that you want to generate from this picture – the default choices should suffice in most cases. Click OK to generate each file, which can be worked on and saved individually.

26. Set Up Folder Views

When you open a folder, Windows Vista will attempt to anticipate the best means of viewing it, but don’t feel tied down by its choices. Want to view larger thumbnails of images for example? Just use the View scrollbar to choose between details, list, icons or scalable thumbnails. What’s more, your choice is remembered, so the next time you open that folder your previous settings will be preserved.

27. More Customisations

You can add a preview pane to the current folder, or strip out other elements

Select Organize > Layout and you’ll see four options appear. By default, the navigation pane and details bar are displayed with the folder contents, while the menu bar and preview pane are not. Just select an entry to add or remove it.

28. Apply To All

It’s unlikely you’ll find a “one view fits all” scenario, but if you do, you can quickly apply it to all your folders: select Organize > Folder and Search Options, switch to the View tab and click Apply to Folders. Alternatively, to undo all your previous customisations, click Reset Folders instead.

29. Revert to Classic

If the preview screens and filters aren’t to your tastes, you can revert to a more classic type of folder view by switching back to the General tab under Folder and Search Options and choosing “Use Windows classic folders”. You can also open all folders in a new window and remove the need to double-click an item to open it.

Make basic changes to the way your folders behave from this dialog

30. More Folder Options

Take the time to explore the Folder and Search Options dialog – you’ll find all sorts of interesting options on the View tab, including the ability to view hidden and protected files
(something more advanced users will find useful). You can also instruct Windows Vista to reopen any folder windows that are left on your desktop when you shut down and then restart your PC.

Part One?Part Two?Part Three?Part Four?Part Five

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