Windows now open in a new window, plus a bonus icon question!

Factual Questions
1

First off, this isn’t as easy a fix as you think it’s going to be.

I like it when the folders I open open in the same window I am in. I hate having lots of open windows cluttering everything up. So earlier today I was in the ‘Folder Options’ menu, trying merely to change the icons associated with certain files and drives (that will bring me to my next question below.) I didn’t do anything other than just change the icons. When I was done, I found out that somehow the default action when I double clicked on a drive in My Computer or a folder was that the ‘Search’ menu came up. WTF? I went back into the ‘File Types’ menu and found that somehow ‘find’ was the only option listed for ‘Drive’ ‘Folder’ and ‘File Folder.’ I don’t know what actions were there before, because I never messed with them. Well, I manually added in ‘open’ for all of them, with explorer.exe being the program associated with that action, and made open the default action. Worked great!..except that they all opened in new windows.
“Simple fix,” I thought, I go into folder properties and…the ‘open each folder in the same window’ option is already checked. Well I check the ‘new window’ option, hit apply then ok, then go back in and set it back to the same window…and they still all opened in new windows.

I then went back into the file types menu and changed the default action from ‘open’ to ‘explore,’ thinking maybe that was the problem…nope, still all in new windows. I clicked the ‘restore defaults’ button in both the general and view tabs, but still nothing. I restarted and did all the above again…nope, still new freakin’ windows! Ack! Any ideas what the problem was, and how in happened in the first place? (Seriously, all I was doing was going into ‘file types->advanced->change icon.’

Which brings me to icons…how the fuck do I change the default icon for ALL folders in windows? I can right-click on a single folder and change that, but that’s not doable for all folders. I also can’t seem to change the icons for my CD and DVD drives. I can see the ‘folder’ option in the ‘file types’ menu, but the ‘change icon’ button is grayed out. The DVD/CD drives don’t even HAVE a listing there. I can change the default icons for my computer, the recycle bin, my hard drives, and jsut about everything else, so what gives?

ETA: And I don’t know if it’s important, but before, whenever I opened a folder or drive, I got a little ‘click’ sound, and now when they open in a new window, there’s no click. I miss the click almost as much as I miss them opening in the same window. :frowning:

2

Well, it sounds like since you associated its Open action to explorer, it will launch explorer every time, which is why it opens in a new window. On my XP system there is no program associated with folders or drives, the “Change” button is greyed out. If you click the Advanced button what do you see? I have open as one of the actions and there is no program associated with it there either. If you have explorer there, try removing it.

3

Well, now I can’t remove explorer from the ‘open’ action, because the edit button is grayed out for all choices, as is the remove button. I can only make a new action, or set one as default…perhaps if I make a new one as ‘open’, and set it as default?

4

:smack:

Well, cause I’m an idiot, I forgot to try a simple system restore. Thanks to the suggestion of QED, I did so and voila, problem solved.

But my icon question remains. Is there any way to change the default icon for folders and DVD/CD drives?

5

Bill sez no on folders:

6

See, that’s one of those things that one has to wonder…why? What possible harm can come from me changing the icon for MY folders? The worst I can think of is if someone else uses my computer and I choose an icon that’s not intuitively a “folder-esque” icon then they will be confused. Horror of horrors. :rolleyes:

It’s my damn computer, let me do what I want!