This post is a warning sign on the virtual highway of computing life. It’s for those attempting to stay in the fast lane while driving a creaky and leaky Windows XP. I think I just got passed by a lime green 1973 pinto, and the old lady driving it gave me the finger.
Anyway, I came very close to shoving a sharpened pencil in my eye tonight. Just to take my mind off the pain.
Here’s why:
Did you know that if you hold down the shift key when you click on a folder, while you’re in the “explore” view, and you’re viewing that folder’s contents as thumbnails, that the Windows explorer will NOT show the file and folder names under the thumbnail? The shift key actually toggles viewing the file names on and off. Gah. Sputter. Cough. Choke.
Did your further know that if you hold down the shift key and double click on a folder, while NOT in the “explore” view, that the Windows explorer will open a new window into a “explore” view, showing the contents of that folder? Gah. Sputter. Cough. Choke.
If you’re like me, experiencing this results in the public broadcasting of an embarrassingly large quantity of loosely related short nasty words, the throwing of small meowing kittens, and a spree of Teddy bear strangling.
Woa unto those who don’t know about the thumbnail view shift key toggle, um, eff-up, because this the type of thing the sends people to rubber rooms, drooling on themselves, mumbling about conspiracies, and giggling inappropriately at people getting hit in the crotch during dodgeball.
All I knew was that my file and folder names disappeared for no reason that I could possibly reconcile with my tenuous grasp on reality. I searched options boxes, menu items, and various other nooks and crannies. There’s even a obvious “choose details” dialog box. Seems like a likely place for this sort of thing. Hey, the first item is “Name”. Aha! Wait, it’s checked, and keep waiting, because I can’t click on it or change it, yet my file names and folders are still not visible!
AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!
Meeeeeeoooooooooow…… thump.
Meeeeeeoooooooooow…… thump.
Holy fracking sheepdip! I must have a virus or spyware, or my disk is corrupted! Maybe I’ll have to repave my machine. Mike makes a sudden embarrassing, involuntary, and quite rude sound and then bolts from the room, only to return a few minutes later with a nice pair of freshly laundered big boy pants.
Also try this. Go to a folder with lots of folders in it. Open it all nice and fresh and don’t do anything to it. Now hold down shift key and double click the last one. Ha ha, you just opened all the folders in the window into their own separate windows. See, if you want to double click a folder and have it open in its own window (and only open one window), you have to click on it first. Gah. Son of a Pilsbury Dough Boy! Meeeeeeoooooooooow…… thump! I swear I did this about twenty times in the last hour. Genius, pure genius.
And now, dammit, I’m out of kittens. And, frankly, the will to live.
