Desktop file system upgrades with IE4

Internet Explorer 4 gives Windows 98's desktop filing system a makeover, adding Web browser-like capabilities to Win 95's disk browser windows and Windows Explorer filing utility.

Disk browser windows get Web browser-style controls

Once you've installed IE 4 you'll notice some changes to the disk browser windows that open from the My Computer icon on the Win 95 desktop. All browse windows now have IE-style backward and forward buttons, complete with drop-down history lists. They also have IE's Go menu, which takes you directly to your home and other Web pages, and the cascading Favorites menus, which contain links to locations on the Web and your local disk (click here for more details on creating Favorites for non-Web locations).

Tip - if you don't see the IE-style buttons, right-click on the browse window's menu bar and make sure that Standard Buttons is checked. Checking Text Labels will switch on text captions next to the buttons.

Although your browse windows are automatically upgraded with Web-style buttons and menus, you can choose whether or not to use the new, Web-style way of working with folder and file names in the browse window display. This is called the integration mode.

To set the integration mode, choose View... Options... from a browser window's menu bar, then click the General tab of the Options dialog box.

The Integration mode section of the tab contains three options (see next sections for details). The options are the new Web-style mode, the existing 'Classic' (Win 95) mode, and a Custom option which lets you set a combination of options from both modes.

The integration mode you select here will apply to all disk browser windows, and to Windows Explorer.

Web style integration mode

In Web style mode, folder and file names look and behave like Web page hyperlinks. They're underlined, and each name changes colour when you move the mouse pointer over it. (The pointer also changes to a 'hand', the standard Web pointer meaning 'click here to follow this link').

Most importantly, in Web style mode a single-click on a folder or file name opens it, like single-clicking to follow a hyperlink in a Web page. To open an item's pop-up menu (containing options such as delete and rename), right-click on the item.

 Once you're accustomed to it, this is a faster, more convenient way of working, but it can take some getting used to, especially when you're doing things like group-selecting items, click-dragging them and renaming them. Click here for more details and a ScreenCam movie on using the mouse in Web style integration mode.

Choosing Web style mode also allows you to customise your disk folder windows with background images and active HTML page views. Click here for more details on customising your folder windows.

Classic integration mode

In Classic mode, folder and file names look and act as they've always done in Win 95. To open an item, double-click on it (two left-button mouse clicks in rapid succession). To open an item's pop-up menu, right-click on it. To select an item, left-click on it once. You can then group-select further items by holding down the Shift or Ctrl keys and clicking on other items.

In Classic mode, you can't see custom views of folders. However, any custom HTML pages or backgrounds you've previously set up in Web style will be reinstated if you switch back to Web style later.

Custom integration mode

Custom integration mode lets you choose a combination of features from Web and Classic modes.

The Browse Folders options determine what happens when you open a folder - with 'in the same window' set, the new folder's contents replace the current one's, with 'in separate windows' set, the folder's contents appear in a new window.

The Show folders as Web pages options control the use of custom HTML files which you create for viewing folder contents (click here for details). With 'only when I choose' selected, a custom HTML file is applied to a folder window only when you select View... As Web page from the folder window's menu bar.

The File and folder icons options determine whether folder and file names behave in the Web-style or Classic way. 'Select when Pointed at' makes them behave in Web-style way, 'Select when single-clicked' makes them behave 'Classically'. See the sections above for details of Classic and Web-style behaviour.