PLEASE make it stop, it drives me NUTS!!!

[The_Smoking_Gun]

Hi good people,

I am wondering if anyone knows how to stop this MOST annoying habit in Windows 7 Ultimate 64.

Whenever using windows explorer to navigate my folder trees, every time i click to open a given folder the entire list JUMPS and drops the newly opened folder to the bottom of the list, however if I happened to have open, or left any number of paths expanded, then that jump completely loses me from where I am at.

As it is my eyes have been getting progressively worse, and despite wearing progressive multi-focal contact lenses, refocusing on something after such movement takes a bit more effort than i certainly would need to expend if it just opened in place, not to mention the added strain to my eyes (having been told i have early cataracts) which is never going to improve.

So I wish to know if there is some archaic hidden system setting that would avoid this from happening, as well as, despite clicking on a folder to access its content, if it is the first time in a new explorer window, no matter which one i have chosen, it always jumps back up to the libraries...and i have to scroll back down to the level of the tree i had opened, if i wanted to view libraries...well.... they were the first option in the newly opened window...so WHY does MS feel the need to jam their use down our throats? LOL!

Seriously though, and I know this may sound like a petty bitching session, it really does irk me to no end as well as finding increasing annoying having to so much extra unnecessary scrolling, not to mention while moving allot of files around or gathering them to be consolidated, it results it allot of productivity time being consumes needlessly, and to what end? I mean REALLY, what possibly purpose could such responses to user actions could these "quirks" possibly serve?


Can anyone advise me as to how to stop this insanity before "I" am the one who becomes insane??? YES it is that strongly felt, and has as much impact to my patience and ability to stay focused on what i am doing.... being ADD/ADHD is probably what causes it to become more than just a petty annoyance as i am sure not many people LIKE this new twist after the stable folder navigation of XP!


Thank you to all contributors, the best answer will forever be in my debt! (or does that go the other way around LOL)

TSG!

 

[danny2000]

In Explorer, open up Tools, Options, General Tab (should be there by default"

Then select "Expand all folders" And the other one also "Automatically expand to current folder"

 

[The_Smoking_Gun]

Uh huh... and??? LOL!

If you were about to say uncheck "automatically expand to current folder" It already is unchecked in fact i tried it both ways and little difference. I will add it is much more apparent when the opened folder listing is extremely long, but then anything expanding beyond the length of view responds similarly and makes it no less easier to recapture, especially if i had been navigating in the opened window side, then the current "top" folder no longer is highlighted so it is either be sure to remember which way i went in or i guess hitting back and then forward would reposition me on the currently opened top folder.... but still not much help there! thanks anyway!

Edit: You must have been doing the edit, when i replied, sorry for reiterating what you had meant to post initially Danny2000

 

[danny2000]

What I meant to say was that both of those boxes should have check marks in them.

 

[The_Smoking_Gun]

I've tried them both in every combination and although the responses change accordingly, the instant drop down or up (up wouldn't be so bad, but when it goes down, most often it also often sets the opened folder in the tree view beyond the window view.

Are there any other folder options beyond the obvious ones, i often find many utilities called "tweakers" some pretty nasty some quite beneficial, that often offer options otherwise not standard in windows 7 Ultimate, lord knows why.. but to date haven;t found any that stops this from happening. It is for this reason I had hoped posting this might reveal such an option, even if it is a command line switch or something, that would be fine, I'll add it to a batch file to auto load at start-up!

Thanks again!
TSG!

 

[danny2000]

I'm probably not understanding what you want. Maybe someone else will jump in with some ideas.

 

[The_Smoking_Gun]

Well the last time i was too specific, I had heard comments about a wall of words lol!
I have trouble doing "brief"

Whenever using the folder tree to navigate in windows explorer and open any of those folders, the moment I click on one with a listing longer than the size of the window it is open in, the entire list of folders, jumps to the one opened being either at the top (which would be okay if it always did this) or the bottom of the edge of the window frame, instead of opening from WHERE i opened it, and just dropping the opened folders down the side of the window, so it is always the opened folder and the whole list follows of course, and drops either to the bottom or top, losing where I am often enough, if the folder listing is long enough, it will even jump that opened folder out of view of the opened window, and if i happened to navigate in to any of the folders in the right pane, those on the left or the parent folder, loses it highlight status or something, because i have to remember which one opened the one i am in, of course if i click on the left pane folder it moves to the one i clicked instead of showing the one i am in so i can continue if doing a manual cursive search as in searching for windows files for instance, some of those listings a really long and i often lose where i am.

It isn't as bad now as it was when i first started using windows 7, having gotten used to anticipating this and watching where it ends up, but feel i shouldn't need to waste this effort to keep track, where ever, or at whatever point I click to open a folder tree, that folder should STAY where it is when I click on it, and only it's contents drop FROM there, and not move from where it was clicked to either the top or bottom of the screen or pane, let alone out of view completely.

Also when in a right hand pane, the parent folder should remain highlighted, as it has in every previous version of windows, but then again we are talking about the same geniuses that decided to REMOVE HTML editing of emails in outlook, and depreciated the one that does allow direct code editing of outgoing emails, Outlook Express, 6.0 for whatever godforsaken reason or rationale that was behind those changes, unfortunately the alternatives only get worse (Mac!) the most frustrating being using a table to position photos in an email message and to make graphically pleasing emails, positioned where intended, without having to deal with it trying to anticipate what I want, because it is wrong 99% of the time, and I am often frustrated to the point of shaking, and quit without sending anything, when the message is not absolutely imperative, such as sharing some photos with a friend, and just trying to position them at equal sizes and in a specific order in a multi-row, two column layout, something relatively simple to do previously, and can discern no apparent reason WHY they would just eliminate every other option by which to do this natively.

Don't have time to find and try out other programs, nor deal with nay not able to share resources with the same set of additional options such a inking tools support for my drawing tablet, which in itself leaves a bit more to be desired for the inability to relate the ink overs to the objects they are meant to detail, which can get juxtaposed if the recipient's window is of a different parameter because there is no option to associate or lock together those scribbles with say paragraphs and photos with everything being moved and out of position when it gets to the other person.

Sorry about the off topic rant lol! I just goes with this one in its ability to frustrate.v I am guessing those developing these programs for Microshit, probably NEVER use them. Its the only thing i can think of that makes sense. Is this worth posting about here? are there forums for such inane shortcomings? LOL!

So if there IS some settings, configuration files to edit or command line switches to engage in order to eliminate or restrict these behaviors, I would be eternally grateful to those who provide such insight, as I am not afraid of command line use of programs, and can easily create, or add to an existing autoexec.bat or self created batch file, or take instruction on using VBS if need be, I kind of avoid this for their shoving it down our throats by eliminating any other means by which to create HTML emails, while their office outlook likes to reposition photos and block elements and tables wherever it feels like regardless of my settings, it will change them, which I find extremely frustrating and if not for the over the top spell checking grammar and auto correction options i would have been long gone from using those as well. I would try posting about these but seriously doubt there even ARE any ways to change these circumstances.

Thank you all for reading my elaboration... i hope this will allow people to understand what exactly i hope to overcome, IF there even IS a way to!

Thanks to all who respond, I always choose a best answer when one is posted!

TSG!

 

[jonorth]

I have a bowling software program that does what you describe. Found out my screen resolution was too high. You may want to check the resolutions for your monitor. Can't hurt, at least.

 

[The_Smoking_Gun]

Well with both machines it is 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 there are no other options without everything else suffering and losing Aero and other acceleration engaged screen features, that the $385 6 monitor eyefinity graphics card should manage with ease @ 256 bits and 2 GB gddr5 ram. I'll give it a whirl to satisfy curiosity and report back if it has any impact.

 

[foundinthewoods]

This is an extremely annoying bug in Windows 7. Because of so many user complaints going on for YEARS, Microsoft finally called it a "bug" instead of a "feature". However, Microsoft isn't going to fix it in Windows 7, but they finally did fix it in later versions of Windows 8 before final release. (Microsoft's ongoing business model of actually profiting from bugs by making users pay for upgrades that fix basic design flaws -- or maybe don't.) See http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/windows-explorer-expands-folders-inappropriately/50a81b05-da98-4d55-821d-55ffbbd0e998

HERE'S A FIX: Install the solid freeware app Classic Shell, which tweaks both Explorer and Start Menu behaviors. Among many useful features, it has one called "Fix folder scrolling" that solves the problem of the selected folder jumping to the bottom of the pane.

Also, there is another closely related "feature" annoyance you can fix in Classic Shell. Disable the folder pane's horizontal scrollbar, and the folder list won't suddenly jump to the right when clicking on a folder with a long path. You can still see the full name by hovering the cursor over what you CAN see.

A few independent programmers can fix these problems, but Microsoft's army of well-compensated coders can't. Well, not CAN'T -- it's WON'T. Their managers won't let them. There's not a dime in profit in fixing these bugs for current users, so they won't. Security fixes are different, however, primarily because of liability issues for Microsoft.

 

[The_Smoking_Gun]

HERE'S A FIX: Install the solid freeware app Classic Shell, which tweaks both Explorer and Start Menu behaviors. Among many useful features, it has one called "Fix folder scrolling" that solves the problem of the selected folder jumping to the bottom of the pane.

Also, there is another closely related "feature" annoyance you can fix in Classic Shell. Disable the folder pane's horizontal scrollbar, and the folder list won't suddenly jump to the right when clicking on a folder with a long path. You can still see the full name by hovering the cursor over what you CAN see.

A few independent programmers can fix these problems, but Microsoft's army of well-compensated coders can't. Well, not CAN'T -- it's WON'T. Their managers won't let them. There's not a dime in profit in fixing these bugs for current users, so they won't. Security fixes are different, however, primarily because of liability issues for Microsoft.[/quotemsg]

THANK YOU FIW....this has been and still is about the most frustrating issue and example of "final release versions" actually being a true field test to identify bugs, for which once reported, as you point out, is either evaluated for opportunity for further profit or "spun" as something it isn't until people outright point a direct finger at someone at Microshit for a response, and ONLY THEN will they even acknowledge their flaws. Before the internet, MOST EVERYTHING came with a warranty of functionality, and that was because there was pride in what was produced, yet today even electronic devices insist there are no warranties expressed or implied, specifically check your smart phone warranty book, it will even state it does not guarantee functionality of use as phone and do not even call it a phone they only refer to them as "The Device" because they would then have a liability to ensure it can function as such, due to being accepted nationally as being NECESSARY to FUNCTION to assure the SAFETY of individuals, so calling it a phone, would necessitate it be CAPABLE of this function in every capacity, and they cannot and will not do this because the enhancements would cost them too much, and the services would have to provide a much greater reliability as well.

Sorry for the tangent but my point is, nothing comprised of digital data, has any obligation to perform in the capacities they are promoted as functioning as, including Windows, and if People think windows 7 is bad, they should understand that THIS was the FIX for the not ready to be released but was... Vista! 7 is Vista that works, for the most art! LOL!

I will try those tweaking programs linked, much appreciated!!!
TSG!

 

[PaulSherriff]

This seems to work for me - I'd be interested in someone's confirmation...
Rather than edit the registry (as suggested elsewhere) to remove the libraries, just empty them.
This seems to stop the desperate attempts by WE to get them back in view.
Simply go to the libraries (Music, videos, etc), right click and remove the default (and all if you've added to them) contents.
When all that remains is the Libraries folder and the 4 categories (with no contents), WE stops hunting.

 

[coldrunner]

This has been called the left Pane Scroll bug.
Here is what worked on my Windows 7:
Open Windows Explorer,
On the upper right hand menu bar, hover over "change your view",
Select Details,
Then go to the left hand Pane window and right click on empty white space on the screen,
At least 2 items will display, Show All Folder and Expand to Current Folder,
I check both of those items,
Now when I click on any folder now, it pops to the top of the screen and not to the bottom,
It's a fix I can live with for now.

 

[paul_durham]

Sorry if I'm digging up an old topic, but I wanted to thank you, foundinthewoods, this is an annoyance that had been bugging me for ages. Classic Shell did the trick and the advanced settings even gave me more than I asked for.

Thanks again !

 

[PaulRwFL]

PaulSherriff,
You have the solution to this problem that was also driving me NUTS!
Simple, easy and no third party software needed.
And as I don't use the Library structure anyway (a concept I have yet to embrace), no drawbacks.

Paul

This seems to work for me - I'd be interested in someone's confirmation...
Rather than edit the registry (as suggested elsewhere) to remove the libraries, just empty them.
This seems to stop the desperate attempts by WE to get them back in view.
Simply go to the libraries (Music, videos, etc), right click and remove the default (and all if you've added to them) contents.
When all that remains is the Libraries folder and the 4 categories (with no contents), WE stops hunting.

 

[abc3000]

Go to PERSONALIZATION in the CONTROL PANEL. Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Personalization. Look at the bottom of the resulting page, where it has the headings DESKTOP BACKGROUND, COLOR, SOUNDS, and SCREEN SAVER. Click on the COLOR box. As soon as that page opens, look at the bottom of the page where it says "Automatically pick an accent color from my background." DISABLE this feature (uncheck the box). Your problem is now solved.