Replacing windows explorer totally : Win-E shortcut

[Gathar]

Hello everybody,

I recently tried xplorer² lite, and I wanted to set it up as a full replacement to windows explorer.

The main point that was difficult was to replace the Win-E shortcut that I use a lot so that it can launch xplorer². I finally did it, and since it does not seem to be common knowledge here, I post how I did it.

I downloaded the free program hoekey ( http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~tsr22/apps/#hoekey ), that can add shortcuts to windows. As explained in the example file of this program, I deactivated default windows shortcut

Code: Select all

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
  "NoWinKeys"=dword:00000001

And added a line in hoekey config file so that Win-E now launch xplorer².

Regards,

[prosayist]

You can do this (as I have) without any extra software simply by changing the default action for the type of 'folder':

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell

in the right pane of this key the (Default) data value is set to 'open' or 'explore' by default.

Simply add a key (right click HKCR\Folder\shell, New>Key called 'xplorer2', add to that key a new key called command and give it a default action of "F:\ull\Path\To\xplorer2.exe" /1 /T "%1" (while including all the quotes and modifying the 'FullPathTo' with the full path to your installation of x2)

After this, change the (Default) data value in HKCR\Folder\shell to 'xplorer2'.

bCheck's apps are nice but I would recommend you check out http://www.autohotkey.com for a hotkey program as it is very robust and well-developed providing many more options than most other hotkey utilities including keyboard control, mouse control, low-level windows functions (minimize the active window etc.) It comes with a 878k help file though the program file itself is only 202k - it's a very thorough help file.

Of course it's larger than 12k and it takes some getting used to.. let your preferences be the judge as to which program is better for you; they all have their positives/negatives

[philosopherdog]

Greetings I tried your reg hack, but what I got was xplorer2 coming up when I clicked on control panel, but everything else stayed the same (that is, win-e, and clicking on explorer gives the default result). Is that a complete description of what to do?

[philosopherdog]

Actually, it's going into xplorer2 when I click on the mycomputer icon and control panel. I just added a new shortcut key to xplorer2. That's easy. Just right click on the icon and go to properties. Change the shortcut key. I just made mine cntrl+alt+e. The regular win+e key still takes me to mycomputer. So, that's a pretty good solution. Thanx for the post.

[philosopherdog]

I've noticed a weird thing about this hack... It has to do with whether or not a program state starts the next time. I find if I save a state then it will only give me that saved state if I start the program from the icon or shortcut key, but it will return to a default setting that is different from the saved state if the program is started by clicking on my documents or my computer. There must be some switch in the reg key that controls this. Anyone figure this out? Ciao,
PD

[hbschwartz]

I've noticed a weird thing about this hack... It has to do with whether or not a program state starts the next time. I find if I save a state then it will only give me that saved state if I start the program from the icon or shortcut key, but it will return to a default setting that is different from the saved state if the program is started by clicking on my documents or my computer. There must be some switch in the reg key that controls this. Anyone figure this out? Ciao,
PD

I have a suspicion: Often all or part of a program and its states is stored in the windows memory or disk cache, when you close it. If you reopen the program in some ways, it will read it from the cache to save time. If you open the program in other ways, it will read it from your hard disk and thuse naturally restore default settings.