by Ed Bott
When Microsoft first introduced Internet Explorer 4.0, they didn't just offer a web browser: The complete IE4 package included an optional component called the Windows Desktop Update, which made radical changes to the interface that debuted in the original version of Windows 95.
With Windows 98, the Windows Desktop Update is no longer an option, but instead is an integral part of the new operating system. If you're familiar with the original Windows 95 interface and haven't previously used IE4, you'll notice the following interface changes when you install Windows 98:
NOTE: Because the names are so similar, it's easy to confuse the Windows Desktop Update and the Active Desktop. In fact, even some Microsoft marketing pieces use the two names interchangeably. The two are not the same, however; in fact, the Active Desktop is one small part of the Windows Desktop Update. You'll find detailed information about the Active Desktop in Chapter 33, "Web Subscriptions and the Active Desktop."
With the Windows Desktop Update installed, you have several important interface choices to make. To see the available options, open My Computer or an Explorer window and choose View, Folder Options. Click the General tab to see the dialog box shown in Figure 5.1.
FIG. 5.1 Choose your interface: the Classic Windows 95 style, one that resembles a web browser, or one that combines the two.
TROUBLESHOOTING:I've opened Explorer, but I can't find the Folder Options choice on the View menu. You're probably viewing a web page in the Explorer window, in which case the View menu offers an Internet Options choice instead. Click in the Address bar, type C:\, and press Enter. The Folder Options command should now appear on the View menu.
Choose one of the following three interface options:
The following sections provide details on the options in the Custom Settings dialog box.
FIG. 5.2 Choose any combination of these options to create your own custom interface.
TIP: Although the Custom Settings dialog box looks daunting, it actually follows a simple organization. Each of the four options includes two choices. If you choose the top item in each list, you end up with web style; choose the bottom option in all four cases, and you end up with classic style.
Choosing the option labeled Enable All Web-Related Content on My Desktop has the same effect as checking the Active Desktop's View As Web Page option: It turns on the Active Desktop. Clicking the Customize button takes you to the web tab of the Display Properties dialog box. Choosing Use Windows Classic Desktop turns off the Active Desktop.
For a full discussion of your Active Desktop options, see Chapter 33.
In the classic style Windows interface (Open Each Folder in Its Own Window), the original window remains open when you display the contents of a new drive or folder. If you drill down through multiple folders and subfolders, you'll end up with a screen full of windows. Choose the web style interface (Open Each Folder in the Same Window) to display the contents of each new drive or folder in the same window you started with, replacing the contents that were there previously.
Thanks to the Windows Desktop Update, Explorer lets you view any folder as a web page, using a standard folder template or a custom HTML page you create. web view adds a banner to the top left side of the folder window and an info pane below it; the file list appears on the right side of the window. Choose the top option (For All Folders with HTML Content) to use web view with all folders; choose the bottom option (Only for Folders Where I Select "as Web Page" [View Menu]) if you want to selectively turn on web view.
For a full discussion of web view, including details on how to create your own custom HTML folder templates, see Chapter 8, "Managing Files Using Web View."
The most important interface choice you'll make is how you use the mouse to select icons and open folders or launch programs. By default, Windows 98 takes a conservative approach, preserving the familiar double-click style introduced in the original Windows 95 interface. To change this option, choose Web Style or open the Custom Settings dialog box and choose Single-click to Open an Item (Point to Select). The first time you choose this option, you'll see the Single-click warning dialog box shown in Figure 5.3.
FIG. 5.3 Because the single-click interface is a radical change, Windows asks you to confirm your choice when you first select it.
Why the warning? Because when you choose the web style interface, you change the way Windows handles some of its most basic tasks. Table 5.1 offers a side-by-side comparison of how you deal with files and folders using the two navigation styles.
| Task | Web Style | Classic Style |
| Select an icon | Point to the icon. | Click the icon. |
| Open an icon | Click the icon. | Double-click the icon. |
| Select a group of adjacent icons | Point to the first icon, press and hold down the Shift key, and point to the last icon. | Click the first icon, press and hold down the Shift key, and click the last icon. |
| Select multiple icons | Hold down the Ctrl key and point to individual icons. | Hold down the Ctrl key and click individual icons. |
| Drag and drop | Point to an icon, press and hold down the mouse button, and drag icon to a new location (same as classic style). | Point to an icon, press and hold down the mouse button, and drag icon to a new location. |
TROUBLESHOOTING:I've chosen the single-click option, but Windows ignores me when I adjust the option to underline icons only when I point at them. When you choose the single-click option in the Custom Settings dialog box, you also have the choice to underline all icon titles (as Internet Explorer does) or to underline icons only when you point at them. If you've selected the top choice in all four sections of the Custom Settings dialog box, Windows shifts your choice to web style and ignores your underlining preferences. The only way to force Explorer to accept this change is to select the bottom (classic) choice in one of the first three sections of this dialog box.
Installing the Windows Desktop Update adds an assorted group of advanced folder options as well. To adjust these settings, choose View, Folder Options, and then click the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box. The advanced folder options are listed at the bottom of the dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.4. Table 5.2 outlines the effects of each of these settings.
FIG. 5.4 These are the default settings for advanced folder options.
| Option | Effect When Checked |
| Remember Each Folder's View Settings | Saves the icon view of folder windows; also saves size and position when you use multi-window browsing option. Does not apply to two-pane Explorer windows. |
| Display the Full Path in Title Bar | Shows full DOS-style path (e.g., C:\Windows\System) in folder windows. This is handy when comparing subfolders with identical names in different parts of the Explorer tree. |
| Hide File Extensions for Known File Types | Uncheck this box to show all file extensions, even when the file type is registered. |
| Show Map Network Drive | Adds two buttons to the Standard toolbar. Check this |
| Button in Toolbar | option if you regularly assign drive letters to shared network folders. |
| Show File Attributes in Detail View | Adds a column at the far right of Details view. |
| Show Pop-Up Description for Folder and Desktop Items | Displays ScreenTips when you point to My Computer and other desktop items; experienced users should not check this box. |
| Allow All Uppercase Names | Normally, Windows capitalizes only the first letter of all filenames (e.g., Abc). Remove the check from this box to allow file and folder names to consist of all uppercase letters (such as ABC). |
| Hidden Files | Choose whether to display hidden and/or system files. |
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