Windows Explorer, called in Windows 8 " File Explorer ", is the main program of our computer, the one used to open folders and browse lists of files and documents. In Windows 8 it has improved a lot compared to the explorer resources of Windows XP, but you can still edit and customize it to your liking in any version of Windows.
There are tons of ways to customize Windows File Explorer so you can browse your computer's folders faster.
In this article we see some useful options to check and we also summarize all the customizations already explained in other posts to customize and improve the Explorer tool .
1) Add the "Copy and Move" options
When pressing the right mouse button on a file it would be convenient to have two types of options: "Copy to folder" and "Move to folder".
Ideal for those who use the computer only with the mouse (without the keyboard shortcuts), instead of moving the files by dragging or copying and pasting, you can do everything with a single click.
The option opens a box where you can choose the destination folder, simplifying the copying and pasting of files in Windows.
To do this, you need to download the .reg files from the Seven Forum: Add_Copy_To_Folder.reg or Add_Move_To_Folder.reg .
After downloading them, double click on them and add the registry keys.
2) Customize the contextual menu
The context menu is what appears when you right-click on a file or folder.
The various menu options are added or removed when installing or uninstalling new programs that integrate into Windows Explorer such as, for example, the antivirus scanner or Skydrive.
If you want to delete some options from the context menu without deleting the related programs, you can use Ccleaner, go to Tools and then on Start to find the list of context menu options that can be removed or deactivated.
CCleaner does not list all the context menu items so if you want to have a more complete tool for this purpose, you have to use ShellExView to disable unnecessary options from the right click menus .
With other programs you can also add options to the context menu of the right mouse button.
3) Change default folder
In Windows 7 and on the Windows 8 desktop, when you open File Explorer from the taskbar or from the Start menu, the Collections folder opens, which is a bit the initial one.
Microsoft does not allow you to change this option in a simple way, but you need to manually edit the Windows Explorer startup link.
For example, if you want to open the document folder or Disk C, you have to press the right button on the link of Windows Explorer or File Explorer which is located on the taskbar, go to Properties and change the Destination field by writing the path to the folder you want as default.
4) Add the cards
With some programs it is possible to add tabs to Explora files or Explora Windows resources, so that you can open different folders as you would on a web browser.
Tools like QTTabBar work well and have no side effects in changing the Windows interface.
5) Speed up the copying of files
In Windows XP and Windows 7 the copying of the files is really problematic: it is slow, if interrupted it must be started again and if there is an already existing file the copying or moving process stops.
In Windows 8 the copying of files has improved considerably, but in XP and Windows 7 it is necessary to install a different program like TeraCopy.
Teracopy integrates into Windows Explorer by replacing the transfer interface when copying or moving files.
TeraCopy is also added to the context menu as an option, so you can launch it by right clicking on a file.
In other articles on how to improve Windows Explorer we have seen:
- Add Folder Options for file selection, filters and sorting
- Main tricks for folders in Windows 7
- Windows programs to explore folders and find files
