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Explorer to open in "Computer"?



 
 
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  #31  
Old December 20th 18, 03:58 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

In message , Wolf K
writes:
On 2018-12-20 09:31, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

[]
Changing the icon for a desktop shortcut works. Changing the icon
for a pinned - I don't know what they're called, still shortcut? -
isn't so easy.



Delete the taskbar icon, change the desktop icon, then pin it to the
taskbar.

Wahey! That worked. At first I was going to ask you _how_ to pin it to
the taskbar - dragging doesn't work - but then I found that Pin to
Taskbar is one of the options in the right-click menu for a desktop
shortcut.

Now, where is the icon that appears next to the "Computer" "shortcut" on
the desktop (a blue monitor, with I think a minitower PC behind/to the
left of it) stored? It's not in explorer.exe, nor the venerable
moricons.dll ...


255soft.uk
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

User Error: Replace user, hit any key to continue.
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  #32  
Old December 20th 18, 04:16 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| Making a shortcut (desktop, QL, or pinned) to Explorer is easy; making
| one that makes it open with a particular focus - or, at least, the one I
| wanted (the level above C:\) - was less so.

Yes, you said you wanted a "My Computer" window.


To be precise, I wanted a pinned object that opened in a Computer
window. (I think the condescending "My" got dropped with Windows 7?)

By dragging the shortcut on the start menu to the
desktop and then dragging that to the taskbar, it's
just a simple drag-drop to create an icon in the pin
area or on Quick Launch. And it opens to Computer.
No complicated steps necessary.


The shortcut in my Start Menu - I eventually found it, well down
(because it begins with W) under Accessories - opens to Desktop.

(The only glitch was that the pinned icon changed
to something uninformative that I couldn't make out.)


Yes, it is hard to make out, isn't it! I think it's a folder in a clip,
with some coloured tags: certainly not very legible. In my other
investigations, I've found it is the first (number 0?) icon in
explorer.exe.

Similar should work for any folder: Drag the folder,
create a shortcut, drag that to QL or pin area.


Or, have it open, right-click on the task bar bar, and select Pin. But
this method doesn't retain the target in the case of an explorer
shortcut, and - as you've found - even a method that _does_ retain the
target _doesn't_ retain the icon. (The Computer "shortcut" on the
desktop is not the same as [most] other shortcuts on the desktop: most
of them can indeed be dragged to the taskbar to make a pinned item
[which I hadn't known], but that one can't.)

It's very rare that command line operations are
actually necessary for anything. That's why it's
called Windows and works with a mouse.

You WIMP (-:. Yes, of course, and in many cases, the GUI ways do work
well. But there are always cases - and, so far, this seems to be one -
where the GUI creators haven't implemented it seamlessly.


--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

User Error: Replace user, hit any key to continue.
  #33  
Old December 20th 18, 04:34 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| http://www.geoffchappell.com/studies...er/cmdline.htm
|
| Thanks - I'd say that's more an exploration of the explorer command
| itself, and looks like a good one. It also gives the amusing - and, as
| he says, probably unintended - fact that just
|
| explorer ,
|
| (_with_ the comma!) does what I wanted, opens at "Computer", with a lot
| less than the spaghetti string!
|
Note that he also mentions it's undocumented.
If I remember correctly, that website is a record
of secret API gems that Microsoft were forced to
make public, rather than just sharing them
with favored partners.

But undocumented functions
are a different story. Microsoft are very dependable,
in general, about maintaining compatibility with
documented functions. Things that worked in Win95
will still work now. The exceptions are mostly quirky
cases. For instance, they broke GetVersionEx, used to
find out which Windows version is running, by making
it lie when compatibility mode is used. So people have
to use hacks to be sure which Windows version is
running! But those problems are rare.

With undocumented things it's the opposite. They
seem to love to break them, just to spite programmers
who go behind their back. And they say as much, warning
people not to use undocumented functions. I've seen
frivolous changes time and again.

Windows Shell brings in further complications. It's
basically an API for Explorer, not for Windows. And
it exhibits various odd behaviors. Much of it is also
unofficial. For instance, they broke folder display in XP
and never fixed it. Then in Vista/7 they broke that
system, for no reason. Typically they break things
frivolously, just enough to make them undependable.

In some cases it may not be so much spite as
sloppiness and design by committee. Just as one chef
might decide whisks go in drawer #2 and the
next chef wants them in drawer #3. Whimsy wins out
over common sense and order.

All of which is to say it's best to stay away from
undocumented functionality of any kind. It's likely
to come back to bite you.



  #34  
Old December 20th 18, 04:46 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| (The Computer "shortcut" on the
| desktop is not the same as [most] other shortcuts on the desktop: most
| of them can indeed be dragged to the taskbar to make a pinned item
| [which I hadn't known], but that one can't.)

I'm just not seeing the trouble you're having. I dragged
*Computer* from Start Menu and got a Computer
shortcut. I dragged that to the Taskbar and it opens
to Computer. I dragged it to QL and it opens to Computer.

Maybe you were dragging the oddly official Computer icon.
If I remember correctly I think I avoided that because its
behavior is unpredictable on Win7. It's fine on XP, despite
being an unorthodox shortcut. But I seem to remember
that it disappears without notice, or some such, on Win7.

|
| It's very rare that command line operations are
| actually necessary for anything. That's why it's
| called Windows and works with a mouse.
|
| You WIMP (-:.

Well, yes, then there's the geek point of view, which
regards command line as a dweeb's version of hiking
in mosquito-infested jungles full of poisonous snakes.
Somehow the romance of that is lost on me. Sweating
and huffing and puffing is never a rational end in itself.
But I did used to like secret decoder rings when I was
young... shortly before discovering girls.




  #35  
Old December 20th 18, 06:21 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| (The Computer "shortcut" on the
| desktop is not the same as [most] other shortcuts on the desktop: most
| of them can indeed be dragged to the taskbar to make a pinned item
| [which I hadn't known], but that one can't.)

I'm just not seeing the trouble you're having. I dragged
*Computer* from Start Menu and got a Computer
shortcut. I dragged that to the Taskbar and it opens
to Computer. I dragged it to QL and it opens to Computer.


I'd forgotten (it's easy to forget the obvious!) that Computer is
_there_ in Start! However, I just tried dragging it on here - it won't
drag for me.

Maybe you were dragging the oddly official Computer icon.
If I remember correctly I think I avoided that because its
behavior is unpredictable on Win7. It's fine on XP, despite
being an unorthodox shortcut. But I seem to remember
that it disappears without notice, or some such, on Win7.

|
| It's very rare that command line operations are
| actually necessary for anything. That's why it's
| called Windows and works with a mouse.
|
| You WIMP (-:.

Well, yes, then there's the geek point of view, which


I just meant "Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointer" (-:. I know you well
enough not to consider you a wimp!

regards command line as a dweeb's version of hiking
in mosquito-infested jungles full of poisonous snakes.
Somehow the romance of that is lost on me. Sweating


Me neither. (Though a lot of the time a few years ago, Linux enthusiasts
had a tendency to drop into it. Less so, now.)

and huffing and puffing is never a rational end in itself.


Me too - "the only muscle I like exercising is the one between my ears".
Though I do acknowledge the advisability of exercise for health reasons
- I just don't _do_ it (-:! [Touch wood, I'm well: my weight, though too
large for my height O ("I'm too short for my weight"), stabilised many
years ago, i. e. isn't increasing.]

But I did used to like secret decoder rings when I was
young... shortly before discovering girls.

(-:



--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Vacuum [I came, I saw, It sucked] - , 1998
  #36  
Old December 20th 18, 07:38 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Frank Slootweg
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Posts: 1,226
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:
In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| (The Computer "shortcut" on the
| desktop is not the same as [most] other shortcuts on the desktop: most
| of them can indeed be dragged to the taskbar to make a pinned item
| [which I hadn't known], but that one can't.)

I'm just not seeing the trouble you're having. I dragged
*Computer* from Start Menu and got a Computer
shortcut. I dragged that to the Taskbar and it opens
to Computer. I dragged it to QL and it opens to Computer.


I'd forgotten (it's easy to forget the obvious!) that Computer is
_there_ in Start! However, I just tried dragging it on here - it won't
drag for me.


I'm on Windows 8.1 with a 'Classic Start Menu' and for me 'Computer'
(called 'This PC' in Windows 8.1) doesn't drag either

BUT if I right-click it, it gives a 'Create shortcut' choice, which
places a shortcut on the Desktop. Drag the shortcut from the Desktop to
the Taskbar and the icon is automatically pinned to the Taskbar and the
icon is the icon you desire (screen with PC-tower in the background).
((At least in in 8.1,) That icon is in C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll.)

[...]
  #37  
Old December 21st 18, 01:03 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Explorer to open in "Computer"?

In message , Frank Slootweg
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:
In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| (The Computer "shortcut" on the
| desktop is not the same as [most] other shortcuts on the desktop: most
| of them can indeed be dragged to the taskbar to make a pinned item
| [which I hadn't known], but that one can't.)

I'm just not seeing the trouble you're having. I dragged
*Computer* from Start Menu and got a Computer
shortcut. I dragged that to the Taskbar and it opens
to Computer. I dragged it to QL and it opens to Computer.


I'd forgotten (it's easy to forget the obvious!) that Computer is
_there_ in Start! However, I just tried dragging it on here - it won't
drag for me.


I'm on Windows 8.1 with a 'Classic Start Menu' and for me 'Computer'
(called 'This PC' in Windows 8.1) doesn't drag either


I'm on 7SP1 (-32), also with Classic Shell, so it looks as if that might
be a common factor.

BUT if I right-click it, it gives a 'Create shortcut' choice, which
places a shortcut on the Desktop.


Yup.

Drag the shortcut from the Desktop to
the Taskbar and the icon is automatically pinned to the Taskbar and the
icon is the icon you desire (screen with PC-tower in the background).


The "drag from desktop to taskbar" is where it went wrong. But ...

((At least in in 8.1,) That icon is in C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll.)


.... I could at least look at its properties and see where the icon
was/is (it is indeed in the file you say), so I was able to create a
normal desktop shortcut (to "explorer ."; I'm sure one with the two
colons and spaghetti string would have worked too), and drag _that_ to
the taskbar. So result achieved!

[...]

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Someone once said that scientists and prostitutes get paid for doing what they
enjoy. - Prof Stepehen Hawking in RT 2013/12/7-13
 




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