Customising "My Computer"

I have a partially sighted friend who has just purchased a new computer
running windows xp home version, upgrading from a windows 98 machine that he
has used for years. Because he is partially sighted, he wants to retain, as
far as possible, the "look" of his old machine - as he says, he knows where
everything is. He also uses a software "screen magnifier" program. I / we
have managed to replicate exactly his overall desktop and folder appearance,
however, I am struggling with the task pane to the left of the folder
window. Is there any way to loose this? i.e. I want to get rid of the blue
background "system tasks", "other places" and "details". When you look at
these with the magnifier, they just make a mess on screen and you loose the
actual folder / file icons in the clutter.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

In k,
Kevin Harper wrote:
I have a partially sighted friend who has just purchased a
new
computer running windows xp home version, upgrading from a
windows 98
machine that he has used for years. Because he is partially
sighted,
he wants to retain, as far as possible, the "look" of his old
machine
- as he says, he knows where everything is. He also uses a
software
"screen magnifier" program. I / we have managed to replicate
exactly
his overall desktop and folder appearance, however, I am
struggling
with the task pane to the left of the folder window. Is
there any
way to loose this? i.e. I want to get rid of the blue
background
"system tasks", "other places" and "details". When you look
at these
with the magnifier, they just make a mess on screen and you
loose the
actual folder / file icons in the clutter.
Thanks in advance

Kevin

Go to Control Panel - Folder Options.
Note: You can also click on Tools - Folder Options on the
toolbar at the top an Explorer or My Computer window.
In the Tasks section of the General page of Folder Options,
select "Use Windows classic folders".
Click OK.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
In k,

Go to Control Panel - Folder Options.
Note: You can also click on Tools - Folder Options on the toolbar at the
top an Explorer or My Computer window.
In the Tasks section of the General page of Folder Options, select "Use
Windows classic folders".
Click OK.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thank you! I think I;ve been using Windows XP for far too long - that's
something I should have known. I actually used it when I first moved to XP!

Thanks again

Kevin

In k,
Kevin Harper wrote:
"Nepatsfan" wrote in message
...
In k,

Go to Control Panel - Folder Options.
Note: You can also click on Tools - Folder Options on the
toolbar
at the top an Explorer or My Computer window.
In the Tasks section of the General page of Folder Options,
select
"Use Windows classic folders".
Click OK.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thank you! I think I;ve been using Windows XP for far too
long -
that's something I should have known. I actually used it
when I
first moved to XP!
Thanks again

Kevin

You're welcome.

Nepatsfan

have you looked at the accessibilities option on xp.







"Kevin Harper" wrote in message k...
I have a partially sighted friend who has just purchased a new computer
running windows xp home version, upgrading from a windows 98 machine that he
has used for years. Because he is partially sighted, he wants to retain, as
far as possible, the "look" of his old machine - as he says, he knows where
everything is. He also uses a software "screen magnifier" program. I / we
have managed to replicate exactly his overall desktop and folder appearance,
however, I am struggling with the task pane to the left of the folder
window. Is there any way to loose this? i.e. I want to get rid of the blue
background "system tasks", "other places" and "details". When you look at
these with the magnifier, they just make a mess on screen and you loose the
actual folder / file icons in the clutter.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

That's the first thing I did thanks - the high contrast black background setting, with a bit of tweaking, was exactly what he had in win98, so that saved me a lot of sorting. We had two main problems, (a) the "clutter" from the task pane in folder windows, which has now been sorted in this thread, and (b) winxp would not save the revised theme, which I've managed to sort from other postings in this group.

Thanks

Kevin

ps, sorry about the top posting, I couldn't get OE to allow me to post below my snip.
"mikeyhsd" wrote in message ...
have you looked at the accessibilities option on xp.