Changing how you select and open items

Normally, you click to select an item in an open window (indicated by highlighting its name and/or icon) and double-click to open the item. If you're more of the Web-surfing type, you can change this scheme by selecting the Single-Click to Open an Item (Point to Select) option on the General tab of the Folder Options dialog box. After selecting this option, you only have to point to an item in a folder and click it once to open it.

Tip When you choose the Single-Click to Open an Item (Point to Select) option on the General tab, Windows 7 automatically activates and selects the Underline Icon Titles Only When I Point at Them option as well. When this option is in effect, you see the underlining (akin to a hyperlink on a Web page) only when you actually position the mouse pointer over the item. If you want this hyperlink- type underlining to always appear beneath items you open in a window (making windows even more like your typical Web page), select the Underline Icon Titles Consistent with My Browser option instead.

Changing how items are displayed in a folder

The View tab of the Folder Options dialog box contains a wide variety of options for controlling the appearance of the items in the Explorer windows you open. Among the most important options on this tab, you find the following:

• Always Show Menus: Select this check box to ensure that each window displays the good old menus, File through Help, above the taskbar in the Explorer window (not selected by default). That way, you always have access to these tried-and-true menus without having to remember to press the Alt key!
• Display the Full Path in the Title Bar (Classic Theme Only): Enable this option to have Windows 7 display the folder's traditional pathname (with the drive letter separated by the different folders and subfolders separated by backslashes) in the Explorer window's title bar, assuming that your computer employs one of the Classic desktop themes to make your copy of Windows 7 more like the Windows 95 and 98 you once knew and loved.
• Hidden Files and Folders: This particular option comes with its own two (sub)options: Do Not Show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives (selected by default) to hide the display of certain system-type files and folders, and Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives to display them.
• Hide Extensions for Known File Types: Select this check box (not selected by default) to suppress the display of the filename extensions such as .doc, .xlsx, and .html.

Tip To apply all the changes you make on the View tab for the currently selected Explorer folder to all the Explorer windows in Windows 7 (Documents, Computer, and so forth), finish making your changes and then be sure you click the Apply to Folders button at the top of the View tab in the Folder Options dialog box before you click the OK button. Click the Restore Defaults button at the bottom of the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box whenever you want to restore all the Windows 7 original view settings.