Eric from Pacific Heights, California, asks:
Is there any way to start up folders in Vista and Windows 7 with File, Edit, View, Tools, etc. on the top?
Hi, Eric! Thanks for writing.
Believe it or not, there is.
Good ole Microsoft. I know that every operating system that they put out will always have changes (both major and minor), but when it comes to the traditional things, maybe they should leave well enough alone. For instance:
Instead of this:
Wouldn’t it be nice to have it like this?
Vista and Windows 7 has the “old” way of having the menu on top disabled by default, but it does let you enable it temporarily, if you would like.
When you have a folder open, press the Alt key and the menu will appear. Press Alt again and it will disappear.
Temporarily is fine, but here is how to do it so that the menu bar stays there:
First, open one of your Windows folders. I opened the User folder. To access it, go to your Start button and left-click. The Start menu will pop up; go up to the very top of the right pane where your name is (under the picture), and left-click on it.
Your user folder will pop up and the top-left of the folder will look something like this:
To enable the menu bar permanently (or until you want to change it back), left-click on Organize. On the drop-down menu, left-click on Layout. A new menu will pop up.
Okay, last step. Point your Cursor to Menu Bar (it’s at the top of the menu) and left-click to put a check by it.
That’s it! Now every time you open a folder in Windows, the menu bar will be there.
(Note: If you decide you want it disabled, just follow the above instructions, only when you get to Menu Bar, left-click on it to remove the check mark.)
Enjoy!
~ Lori Cline
Tags: menus
You have definitely saved my sanity! I was going crazy trying to find “tools”
THANK YOU!!!
Excellent tip – I was wondering the same thing!
Loved that tip, been looking for something like that for a while.
I love it, I give it a perfect 10. Your hands and eyes get so used to placement of certian buttons.
Another way to put the menu bar on your folders and files is to go to Control Panel> Folder Options > View. Then under Advanced Settings > Files and Folders> find “Always show menus”, click that and you’re done! To undo this follow the same instructions and unclick “Always show menus”. This is what I always do when starting with a new PC or after a reinstall. I have a Vista PC and don’t know if it will work with Windows 7. Just a thought! Love your newsletters and was one of the first to to be a Premium Member.
Kind Regards,
Pat
Thanks, I am having all sorts of problems getting used to Win 7 and this hint eliminated one of them.
Two thumbs up
Fantastic and clear!!! Thanks
Thank you so much. Outstanding tip.
Thank you so much for this menu tip. It was extremely helpful. I, too, was going nuts.
[...] If you’d like Windows to permanently display this menu, please take a look at the tip, Setup Classic Menus in Vista and Windows 7.Under the View tab, scroll down to Restore previous folder windows at logon and add a check [...]