Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Configuring Your User Interface for Maximum Functionality

The user interface that you see when you begin using Windows Server 2008 probably isn't optimal. It represents the user interface that Microsoft thinks most people want, but it really doesn't provide everything you need. In fact, after you complete the basic setup of your server, you probably want to optimize the interface so that you can perform management tasks in greater comfort. The following sections describe the personalization options you have at your disposal. How you configure them is up to you because everyone has different comfort needs. Play around with these settings - have fun, try something new. After a while, you'll eventually find the settings that suit your particular needs.

Defining the Folder Options settings

The Folder Options applet of the Control Panel opens the Folder Options dialog box. Even though these settings may not seem very important, they can significantly affect your ability to perform useful work because they tend to affect most areas of Windows. For example, these settings affect how you interact with Windows Explorer and what you see in the various Windows Explorer panes. The following sections describe the three tabs of the Folder Options dialog box.

Configuring the General tab

The General tab contains settings that affect how you interact with folders. For example, you can choose to display the previews that define the new version of Windows, or you can use the classic folders. The previews and filters can make it easier to find what you want, but they also consume resources and tend to slow Windows Explorer, making it harder to work quickly. Consequently, you need to consider whether using this feature will make you more efficient or using classic folders is worth the loss of information.

Likewise, you can choose how Windows handles new folders that you open and whether it provides a browser-like, single-click interface or the traditional double-click interface. The choices you make depend on what makes you feel comfortable - what makes you work most efficiently.

Configuring the View tab

The View tab helps you make display decisions. For example, you can choose whether Windows always shows application icons rather than thumbnails of the information within files. The application icons are helpful because they tell you which application opens the file, while the thumbnails can be helpful because you can use them to locate certain kinds of information. In most cases, you want to use application icons on a server unless you also use the server to modify data files (the main source of thumbnails).

A few of the settings are counterproductive for administrators. For example, it's helpful to see file extensions for the sole reason that doing so makes it less likely that you'll attempt to open a file with a virus in it. Because you're an administrator, you also want to see all hidden files. Otherwise, you might not be able to access some types of system resources and management utilities. In fact, if you're anything like me, you even want to display the protected operating system files so that you can access them when needed. Most of the other settings are of the comfort variety, and you should experiment to determine which settings work best for you.

Configuring the Search tab

The Search tab defines how you search for items on the hard drive. The thing is, you must start the Indexing service before any of these settings makes a difference. After you start the indexing service, you can use these settings to configure how Windows searches for items on the hard drive.

Before you decide to start the Indexing service and use the system resources to work with it, consider that the Indexing service indexes only items for the local drive. In other words, you must work at the server to gain any benefit from using it. In many cases, you find that the payback for using the Indexing feature on your server is so small that it's better to use other techniques to search for items you need.