Customize Folders

My sister has decided she doesn't like the yellow folders in My Pictures.Is there a way to change the folders color,also put a different background rather than plain white.Running Windows XP Home.Thank You.Cumbrian

 

What plain white background? Do you mean behind the folder icons or within a window what?

If you right click a folder and select customize it will allow you to pick an icon to replace the folder. Windows has a limited amount of these things and they're not always easy to find. The normal popup that comes up when you select to customize has all yellow folders with some variations. For instance though if you have a Nero folder you can select cutomize and scroll to the Program Files Nero Nero.exe and you will find a ton of icons there.

You can do what I do, I have a folder in My Documents called My Icons. In it I put a bunch of icon files I have downloaded from the net (there are alot of free ones out there) and then I can scroll there from the customize function. This is the way you will get different colored folders (typically blue) in different styles and variations. I also collect .png files and I use the free graphics program Irfanview to convert them from .png to .ico so they are compatible.

Finally if we're talking about the folders in My Pictures only, why not go to the top of Explorers window and select the View tab and then Thumbnails or icons instead. Thats the way to change a whole gaggle of folders to something else rather than the one at a time way mentioned above.

 

To change the background of the My Pictures window you would have to select the Classic version of Windows and customize the background selecting the color you want. Right click a blank spot on the desktop and select properties, then select Appearance and select Windows Classic Style instead of XP Style and hit the other advanced button. Here you can drop down the ITEM: menu and select the Window seletion (at the bottom) and set its first color to change ALL Windows colors not just the Pictures folder. You can play around in here and do all kinds of stuff, change icon spacing and size alter colors for the windows borders and top menu bar etc. You can even make a top menu bar two colors blending yellow to blue or orange whatever. You can create your own colors or choose the limited ones that show at the bottom when you click a color box. In Win98 I could save these changes as a new desktop profile but I don't see a way to do it in XP. That doesn't mean it can't be done, it just means I haven't done it.

 

Appzallian thanks for your reply.I have done has you said and created a folder in My Documents named My Icons.This is so i can practice on my own PC before trying to explain to my sister.The white background was the one behind the folders in My Pictures.She wants some kind of pattern instead of white.Thanks Again.Cumbrian.

 

I'm afraid there is just no way to put a pattern into the background of any window in XP or Vista or any Windows OS for that matter. You can change the color of the background in the Classic mode of XP but no patterns. Not even 3rd party software can do that, its just not a part of the way backgrounds within windows works. You can put patterns on the desktop but thats a whole different ballgame than the window background, which is supposed to be like paper not pictures or patterns.

You might also tell your sister that perhaps she should get into the habit of using the details view for everyday use. Not only does it give you the most infomation on specific files but you can list over 40 pictures on one page in alphabetical (or by date) order Its much easier to find what you want if you know the name and you don't have to worry as much about what the folders look like cause they end up tiny.

When I first install XP I go into Windows Explorer and then into TOOLS > FOLDER OPTIONS then VIEW and I set these options:
check these:
1. display contents of system folders
2. display the full path in the address bar
3. do not cache thumbnails
4. show hidden files and folders
uncheck these:
1. hide extensions for known file types
2. hide protected operating system files

the last one will give you a warning and might not be appropriate for your sisters machine but its important for getting the most out of and tweaking XP.

finally with a folder open and with View > Details set, I press the button "Apply to all folders" and now every folder on my system shows the details view which I deem to be the most practical if not the most pretty. I then open the Control Panel and set its view to "icons" which seems adequate for that folder. I leave my pictures folders in detail view but sometimes I change it to thumbnails if it helps me find a certain photo I don't know by name.