I am moving from Win XP to Win 7, and can find no way in Explorer Squared on Windows 7 to stop the animation of the main explorer panes.
X2 is in single pane mode, and the view style is list, giving me a compact listing with small icons. I'll browse to (say) C:\Windows\System32, which is a large directory, and then type letters to locate and bring into view a file. For example, "A" brings into view the first file starting with "A", and "Z" does the same for files starting with "Z". Whenever I type a letter for a file not in view, I am given a sequence of rapidly changing views of the folder as the view is scrolled one column to the left or right until the file comes into view. At the limit, pressing "Home" and "End" alternately does a full series of column scrolls across the contents of the folder.
I've turned off all of the Windows visual effect settings (such as "animate controls and elements inside windows") that I can find but the X2 window panes still animate. They did not animate on Windows XP.
Can I make the display to update immediately to a view with the selected file, as it did before? What do I need to set?
How to stop animation of the main explorer panes
Moderators: fgagnon, nikos, Site Mods
I am pressing letters that do correspond to files -- there are "A" files and "Z" files -- and in any case the same behavior occurs with "Home" and "End" which move to the first and last files in the folder respectively. Whenever I press a key that selects a file not currently in view, the screen is updated over and over again, showing many intermediate positions between the originally shown display and the display that has the newly selected file in it.
For example, on my machine, when I look at C:\Windows\System32, there are approximately 100 columns of files in the in the folder, and only three columns fit on the screen. Shifting between Home and End, I think I see seven or eight screens flicker past as the display is moved from one end of the folder to the other.
A different demonstration is this. If I select a file in a given column, and then use the cursor-right or cursor-left keys to move to an adjacent column that is off-screen, the window does not update immediately to show the new column, but instead animatedly moves the columns in small increments, over a half-second or so, to roll the next column into view.
What I am asking is how I stop this animation. Windows' own explorer updates immedately to the selected file (thank god, though, for X2), and X2 on XP updated immediately.
For example, on my machine, when I look at C:\Windows\System32, there are approximately 100 columns of files in the in the folder, and only three columns fit on the screen. Shifting between Home and End, I think I see seven or eight screens flicker past as the display is moved from one end of the folder to the other.
A different demonstration is this. If I select a file in a given column, and then use the cursor-right or cursor-left keys to move to an adjacent column that is off-screen, the window does not update immediately to show the new column, but instead animatedly moves the columns in small increments, over a half-second or so, to roll the next column into view.
What I am asking is how I stop this animation. Windows' own explorer updates immedately to the selected file (thank god, though, for X2), and X2 on XP updated immediately.
Given the last three replies (by nikos, IneedHelp, and fgagnon), I used Spy++ to watch messages on the pane when using the right-arrow key to navigate from column to column, and saw a great number of user messages to the pane during the scroll. Aha! I said to myself, and then rebooted XP and tried it there: same great number of messages, but faster faster faster. As I am in the middle of this painful move from XP to W7, moving applications and tools, I have not yet installed the native video drivers for my graphics cards. The three preceding replies (thanks all of you) suggest to me that likely this is the cause of the difference in observed behavior (i.e. on XP the updates happen so fast that they are not seen).
So, when I next reach a natural break point, and make a full-disk image backup, I'll put in the drivers, see what happens, and then post an update here. Thanks for the replies.
So, when I next reach a natural break point, and make a full-disk image backup, I'll put in the drivers, see what happens, and then post an update here. Thanks for the replies.
(1) Windows explorer snaps immediately to the selected off-screen item, which I the behavior I seek; however, the Windows 7 Windows Explorer does not use a ListView control or a SysListView32 control for its main display but instead something called a DirectUIHWND class item.
(2) Just for diagnosing and testing, I downloaded the poratble version of QDIR, because it too uses listviews. On Windows XP it snaps immediately to the selected item (just as does X2), and on Windows 7 it does the scrolling thing (as does X2). This makes it pretty certain that the animated scrolling is something done by (my installation of) Windows. Maybe a reader here will know what it is and how to turn it off.
(2) Just for diagnosing and testing, I downloaded the poratble version of QDIR, because it too uses listviews. On Windows XP it snaps immediately to the selected item (just as does X2), and on Windows 7 it does the scrolling thing (as does X2). This makes it pretty certain that the animated scrolling is something done by (my installation of) Windows. Maybe a reader here will know what it is and how to turn it off.
I can say for sure that what you are experiencing shouldn't happen by default on Windows 7. This list drawing issue almost sounds like an incompatibility between the OS and hardware component, most likely something related to the GPU.
Using a virtual computer isn't a solution to your problem, but it might give you some clues. I recommend you use VMware, and install the same Windows 7 you used for the host machine and see if x2 behaves the same.
First try it before installing VMware tools, then after installing the VMware tools (they help with interaction between host and guest), then updates and so on.
Or you could drop Windows 7 and go for the final build of Windows 8. Jeff Atwood, the founder of StackOverflow seems very happy with it (in his tweets- I didn't read any article):
Using a virtual computer isn't a solution to your problem, but it might give you some clues. I recommend you use VMware, and install the same Windows 7 you used for the host machine and see if x2 behaves the same.
First try it before installing VMware tools, then after installing the VMware tools (they help with interaction between host and guest), then updates and so on.
Or you could drop Windows 7 and go for the final build of Windows 8. Jeff Atwood, the founder of StackOverflow seems very happy with it (in his tweets- I didn't read any article):
Some user on a forum I am visiting often also says:Windows 8'ed all 5 PCs in the house. Best and fastest Windows upgrade experience I've ever had.
Win8 is noticeably faster than Win7 in every way: install, booting, sleep/resume, file operations, you name it.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'll probably move to it soon since I've got 95% of my applications set up in sandboxes, so I will have to install only applications that require driver installation.I can tell you from personal use. The final build of Windows 8 is a lot different from those pics. It's basically windows 7 but with a different start menu.
After you get your gadgets installed it's almost exactly the same as windows 7, but faster. A lot faster.
Upper and lower right corners work for stuff like file searches, turning power on and off, PC settings Start menu (bottom left corner corner for start window as well and the windows button also goes there) Upper left corner for apps you've opened for quick access (like email and other stuff like that)
You can customize the start window however you want as well A lot more fluid then the start menu is.
I honestly hated Windows 8 at first, until I learned how to use it. Once you learn, it's a lot better than 7 is.
Just to finish this off, I did a brand-new fresh install of Win 7 onto a freshly formatted partition, turned off all of the Windows animation settings, downloaded the no-install portable version of QDIR, and ran it -- the same animated scrolling showed up. So the unstoppable animation is a Windows anomaly (at least on my system).
That "turn off vista" option was already set -- I really searched for things to try.
At the end I turned to AutoHotkey (hey I'm geek) and have modified my global helper script to intercept all keyboard characters typed to X2's main window panes and briefly suppress updates. A hack but it has fixed the problem (although it has not had long-term testing or testing under extreme conditions). Below is an excerpt.
You could generate the hotkeys with a loop, and not have all those separate lines at the top, but this is clearer (in my huge helper module) and simpler.
At the end I turned to AutoHotkey (hey I'm geek) and have modified my global helper script to intercept all keyboard characters typed to X2's main window panes and briefly suppress updates. A hack but it has fixed the problem (although it has not had long-term testing or testing under extreme conditions). Below is an excerpt.
Code: Select all
#IfWinActive, ahk_class ATL:ExplorerFrame
~A::RunExplorerSquaredKeyboardTrapper("A")
~B::RunExplorerSquaredKeyboardTrapper("B")
>>etc<<
~Down::RunExplorerSquaredKeyboardTrapper("{Down}")
~Left::RunExplorerSquaredKeyboardTrapper("{Left}")
>>etc<<
#IfWinActive
RunExplorerSquaredKeyboardTrapper( SetChar )
{
NowWind := WinExist("A")
ControlGetFocus, NowPane
If (SubStr(NowPane, 1, 19) = "ATL:BrowserListView")
{
ControlGet, NowItem, Hwnd, , %NowPane%
DllCall("LockWindowUpdate", "uint", NowItem)
KeyWait, %SetChar%
Sleep, 1
DllCall("LockWindowUpdate", "uint",0)
}
}
Hah, I like that solution! Very clever. (Personally I'd just stop using List-View and always use Details, but that's just me.otlaolap wrote:DllCall("LockWindowUpdate", "uint", NowItem)
) Ultimately these sorts of solutions (to an imaginative mind) will add up to a thesis on why humans no longer need to chase their food (that being the real purpose behind Civilisation). 