Now I remember why I don't like Windows 7

[VirusType2]

...I've got a folder open in list view, and I double click on a file to launch it, but instead, the file moves.

intended target moves in list view (moving targets).


List of people complaining about it:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...i/thread/94f1ad37-9110-4273-a473-ed02e36af386

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/17a83954-8c3c-4d45-9dd6-03f6cdd1604c

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/17a83954-8c3c-4d45-9dd6-03f6cdd1604c

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/55087-how-make-list-not-move-window.html

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=619867

http://www.windows7taskforce.com/view/2097


Found via Google: "windows 7" + "double click" + "list view" + moves


People have been complaining about it since beta. Many thought it was a bug, but I think this is the intended behavior. This was one of the main reasons I went back to XP. Now that I've fixed most of my other complaints with Windows 7, I was wondering does anyone know of any 3rd party way to fix this? Or any ****ing solution at all?

The best I could hope for is for them to give us an option to switch back to the way list view has functioned since Windows began.

 

[Druckles]

Alright, so I tried to reproduce this, but failed completely. Eventually I tried watching the video in the third link, and he was using the explorer pane on the left, not list view. That and the fact he couldn't appear to reproduce the problem. Occasionally a folder 'jumped to the bottom', but without actually using it for yourself, it's hard to see how it's annoying.

Just because Windows 'has always worked like that', doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. That and I hardly expect Microsoft to make anything backwards compatible.

 

[VirusType2]

the video in the third link

Ops, that's a completely different problem.

I removed that link from the original post, thank you.

Just because Windows 'has always worked like that', doesn't mean it's the best way to do it.

But it is the best way to do it (at least better than the new way), that's why everyone is angry and switching back to XP. It's ridiculous. I've had Windows 7 since it came out and never really used it because of a few small things like this. It's infuriating and counter-intuitive.

 

[Druckles]

Sorry, I don't understand the problem, then

 

[VirusType2]

Really simple. You want to double click an item to launch it right?

Well, think again; Windows 7 will move the file if any other item in the row is too long.

The behavior of your double click: first click moved the item, second click hit something else: a different file, or an empty spot.

Someone made a picture:
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5135/explorerexample.jpg

 

[Danimal]

Don't view your files as List.

Problem solved.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Wow, what a small and menial problem to get really upset about and make you go through the effort of formatting and reinstalling an old OS just because you're more comfortable with it.

Crazy. I know you've been through hardships in your life Virus, but I can see why this one has been the tipping point. I hope you can pull through.

 

[Laivasse]

Haven't tried Windows 7, but I tried a brief experiment and it appears to happen on Vista as well, although I had to choose a folder containing hundreds of items and quite long file names before it happened. It would never bother me, though, because I don't use List view. And yeah, I believe it's meant to be some kind of auto-scrolling 'feature', similar to scrolling the left-hand pane when you're trying to drag-and-drop, which pisses off as much as it pleases.

 

[VirusType2]

Wow, what a small and menial problem to get really upset about and make you go through the effort of formatting and reinstalling an old OS just because you're more comfortable with it.

Crazy. I know you've been through hardships in your life Virus, but I can see why this one has been the tipping point. I hope you can pull through.

Oh, come on. I'm disappointed and this is an annoyance for me. A gripe.

I didn't reinstall my OS. I have a more than one OS installed. I've just been sticking with XP because of things like this.

Look, I've been using Windows for like 20 years. I mean this is like a new car that goes right when you steer left, and I'd rather change it back.

Windows 7 is great overall; I'm quite happy with it. There are many things that are better and some things that are different, but not better; I can get used to that. But there are a few things I want to change. I just don't care if that hurts your sensibilities. I want to set up my new Operating System my way.

"I should just live with it, it's not a big deal". It's not a huge deal but it's messing up my productivity and I just want to change it back. So you want to make it personal? Just stop it.


The cool thing about Microsoft Windows has always been that you can do it your way; have it your way. There is more than one way to do things. This isn't OSX. But they made some changes and took out some important customizations. You can't turn off auto-sort anymore, for example.


When I first got Windows 7, I spent a few hours searching for fixes but found almost nothing. I figured I would come back when they got the bugs sorted out, and people had more knowledge about how to customize things. (Remember all the attention UAC got?)

Here I am, 6 months later (or whatever) and I finally found others that have the same gripe (with this particular issue I'm having). If you don't agree, then fine. If you want to live with it, or it doesn't bother you, then by all means.

Meantime, I think I've given up; it doesn't look like there is a way to change this, but I have found a place to submit this feature request to Microsoft Windows 7 feedback.


Here is another problem that I'm having (this applies to all versions of Windows XP SP2 and up):

Say you download 50 images (from the Image Dump, for example). Anytime you want to view one, it tells you that it is "from an unknown source and has been blocked to prevent damage to your computer", and I have the choice to unblock it. These are scanned automatically by my A/V, and I'm aware where they are from. You should be able to select them all, and unblock them all, but no; I have to go through and unblock each one.

So, maybe you don't mind things like this, but I won't deal with it if I don't have to. Right click; select Properties; and selecting unblock 50 times is not how I want to spend my time.

I did find a few ways to fix it, this seems like the best one: http://intellects.in/2008/11/08/permanently-disable-file-unblock-security-feature-in-vista/

Not sure how safe this is, or what the repercussions of that would be. Would that mean .dll's and script files downloaded from the internet would not be blocked and be able to execute through another program? So I don't want to do anything foolish, but I'm just trying to improve my experience.


Here's a different way to 'fix it' (this showcases what I'm talking about, if you don't follow): http://www.paraesthesia.com/archive/2010/05/19/unblocking-multiple-files-at-once.aspx

EDIT: OK, lots of research... I made this change: http://imgur.com/3JN9F.jpg

It works.

I'm not too worried about images, I've actually never had any harm come from one. I have very tight security software also.

 

[Adabiviak]

lol @ Danimal, but I do use detail view (never list view), so had never seen this before. Try using the keyboard instead of the mouse (arrow keys and letters to navigate, Enter to open). The window will still move with the behavior mentioned above, but it won't affect which file you're focused on.

Basic keyboard navigation in Explorer (my faves in typical order):
Win+E - open Explorer (focus for me usually starts in the file pane, but I don't know if this is universal)
Shift+Tab - change focus to folder pane
Home - move to top of folder list
Letter keys - move to folder in list that starts with that letter (CCSSS for me)
Right arrow - expand that folder/item
Letter keys - folder navigation
Enter - display that folder's contents in the file pane
Tab - shift focus to the folder pane
Letter and arrow keys - navigate to file in question. Even if you're in list view, the new behavior will still be there, but it won't change your navigation or selection.
Enter to open, CTRL+C/X/V, shortcut key+up arrow+enter... do your thing.
Alt+up arrow - navigate up folder tree while leaving focus in the file pane. Backspace will also work, but it's more of a 'back' button, and you can Shift+Tab back to the folder pane if you need to go 'down' another folder path.
Alt+down arrow+up arrow+enter - close Explorer. Alt+F4 works, but the arrow keys are in muscle memory better for me, plus I only use the left Alt key, so my right hand has to cross a lot of keyboard turf to hit the F4 button.

Alternately, you can still change the mouse behavior into single clicking to open a file (like a link), no? That should work, because the window space evaluation+move seems to happen on the 'mouse up' event of the first click.

This new behavior "makes sense", in that, depending on the file name lengths in the window space, you could end up with a column in which you only see the first few letters, and would then need to scroll one column further to the right (thereby losing focus on the item in question) to make sure you have the correct file. It's not a bad assumption that if the user has selected a file that's obscured by its placement in the window, that the window should scroll to let you see the full name of that file (as opposed to assuming that the user would want to open a file while unable to see the entire file name).

Also, I'm not seeing the list view move so far that it puts a different file under the mouse for the second click unless you're clicking within a few millimeters of the right edge... it only moves it as far as the longest file name in that column, but no further, so even if you started by clicking on the shortest named file in that column, the move just puts you into blank space. Am I not recreating this right?

 

[VirusType2]

It's a huge problem for me during my daily tasks. I'm glad that no one else is in the same situation.

I don't want it to move anything on it's own; ever. I feel like I'm playing wack-a-mole.

I scroll through mostly with the mouse wheel (alternatively with the scroll bar, and sometimes with the arrow keys; page up; page down; home; end), how about you guys? I'm talking a folder with hundreds if not thousands of files, some with 70 character file names, and some with 1 character file names.

By the time I find what I'm looking for ... I get all excited and click it and it disappears, back into the mess of text, hidden in its habitat like a school of fish. Which fish was it? Just totally ****ing throws me off. Now I have to hunt it down again. /Scroll the mouse wheel to look for the file... and double click it... ONLY FOR IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

 

[Vegeta897]

List view so so completely useless and stupid. Who wants to scroll horizontally? If you want your items in a list, Details is far superior. You even get to see the details, and easily arrange by different criteria just by clicking the column headers.

 

[Laivasse]

List view has never agreed with me because I dislike not being able to see File Size and Date Modified at a glance.

I've played around with it a bit as a result of this thread and while it's nice to be able to see slightly more files at once than you see via Details, the scrolling implementation does seem a bit glitchy. If I switch from Details to List view in a certain folder, it might show, let's say, 4 rows of files and folders in the window at once, with longer file names being contracted to fit the column size. But then if I go into a folder and come back out, or if I scroll really fast, suddenly it expands the column sizes to maximum so that only one row at a time is visible in that folder (so it becomes just like a useless side-scrolling Details view with no details shown). Also, just for shits I tried once more to recreate the auto-scroll thing that bugs you, Virus, but now I can't for some reason.

tl;dr List view is buggered imo.

 

[Viperidae]

Real men use details.

But really. You want a truly annoying bug in W7?

Drag your libraries folder onto your desktop.

Actually don't, because you'll be ****ed.

Basically, I did it by accident, and there's no way to remove the shortcut without dicking around in the registry, which ends up messing up the explorer menu and My Documents.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

It's because of this I've gotten used to '1 click + enter.'

 

[Druckles]

If you want configurability, Virus, mess around with Linux. Don't like something, download a piece of something else to change it. Still not happy? Change the source code and recompile yourself.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Nerd alert

 

[Raziaar]

What's list view? I do use detail views though when I need to see a lot of files at once. I think it's my default for most things.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

It's like a nut.. you can play with... outside

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOwRqQ70p-k

 

[Druckles]

Nerd alert

Hey I've never done any of this shit. Just opening up possibilities.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I'm just trollin' as us'

 

[No Limit]

Although I haven't personally used Windows since before windows even came out this seems like a minor thing. Just click once and wait for the screen to move before double clicking, I know it's a pain in the ass but you get used to these things after a short while. I also personally never use list mode, I much prefer detailed view if I need to see it in a list. I don't think I've used list view since windows 98.

 

[Cancer]

I did some testing and tinkering and have found this "issue" to pertain specifically to the behavior of the horizontal scroll bar.

When you use the vertical one, the movements are smooth and free; You can stop literally where ever you want.

However, with the horizontal one it seems to get locked down by the list columns. Just try scrolling horizontally and you will notice that you can start moving the scroll bar, and only at select areas does the actual view moves. There is like an inch of "empty space" in the scroll bar area that you can scroll through and it will not do anything to the view, only at "certain points" does the view actually scroll.

Basically, the vertical scroll is free and fluent, while the horizontal scroll seems to be rigid and locks into lists, rather than actually letting you to scroll however you like.

I think this is the result of the issue you are receiving. Because the scrolling gets locked down to these columns. So when you try to select and run something, it goes with the "column" approach, rather than just moving a tiny bit.

I tried looking at the list view in "Window's Uninstall" and it was not as anal when looking at the list view, and the movements of the scrolling where a lot like the vertical ones.

So I think the issue here is that the horizontal scrolling in folders bases its movements on predetermined "column" areas. Which for what ever reason don't seem to be editable, as I don't seem to find a way to have those "ordering" tabs to appear above the listings, so I am not able to change the width of these "boundaries" that the scrolling seeming to be using.

I guess I will continue to see what is up with this. But I am really sure it has something to do with the supposed lack of control we have of actually editing the column widths in the list view. Heck, to be honest a lot of the "details" that are present in other views seem to get hidden in this view.

 

[Asus]

I never liked list view.
If I know the file name then seeing more files on the screen does not really help imo. (pluses and minus but it is pretty much a wash in this case)

Moving files into sub folders (same screen) seems to be pretty daring in list view. Just imagine those times you let go of the mouse button too early while dragging and dropping. In detail view it either goes into one of the few folders in view or you do it over empty space and nothing happens. In list view there are a lot more possible folders that your file could have been dropped in and you might have to do a search.

And the detail columns available for sorting in detail view are awesome. By file extension,, size, date modified or accessed. And Cancer makes a good point about the column widths in detail view which can be changed (once) and they are the same for that folder each time you come back so you can see what you want to see (long file name or keep the column short to show other details).

On computers with an old mouse or laptops that are not that sensitive or quick I often will do the click+enter instead of double click.

 

[Krynn72]

+1 to the "never liked list view anyways" wagon.

 

[Ridge]

Extra Large Icons ftw!!

 

[Krynn72]

Only for porn.

 

[Raziaar]

Only for porn.

Only savages view porn from directly inside explorer.