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There are a lot of changes in Windows 10’s File Explorer compared to Windows 7’s Windows Explorer. If you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 and you don’t like the changes, we’ll show you how you can get the look and feel of Windows 7’s Windows Explorer back.We’re going to use a free tool called OldNewExplorer to perform some of the changes, along with changing some built-in Windows settings and tweaking the registry. Don’t worry: the procedures are simple and we’ll take you through each part.NOTE: You don’t have to make all of the following changes, of course–you can just make the ones you really want. But to get the most Windows 7-like experience in File Explorer, you’ll need them all. Download and Install OldNewExplorerThe first step is to to a folder on your hard drive. Keep in mind this is a third-party tool that alters the Windows system, so you should absolutely make a backup before continuing in case something goes wrong.
We have tested the tool thoroughly, but you never know when a Windows Update might cause something to break.Next, extract the downloaded file to that folder using a tool like. OldNewExplorer is not installed like other programs. First, run the program by double-clicking the OldNewExplorerCfg.exe file.Then, on the OldNewExplorer configuration dialog box, click “Install” in the Shell extension section. This allows the settings on this dialog box to be applied to File Explorer when you select them.Give the program permission to make changes to your PC. The User Account Control dialog box displays twice. Click “Yes” both times.The message “Installed” displays in the Shell extension section of the OldNewExplorer configuration dialog box.Disable the File Explorer Ribbon and Change the Look of the Navigation BarMicrosoft added a ribbon, like the one in Microsoft Office programs, to File Explorer in Windows 8, and changed the look of the navigation bar.If you don’t like the ribbon, you can disable it and use the command bar from Windows 7’s Windows Explorer instead. To do this, check the “Use command bar instead of Ribbon” box in the Appearance section of the OldNewExplorer configuration dialog box.NOTE: There are additional options below the “Use command bar instead of Ribbon” option that look like they depend on that option.
However, they can be selected even if the command bar option is not. These additional options are automatically checked when you check the command bar option.If you want to hide the caption text on the File Explorer title bar, check the “Hide caption text in File Explorer windows” box. Check the “Hide caption icon in File Explorer windows” box if you also want to hide the icon and have an empty title bar (if you turned on the “Use command bar instead of Ribbon” option).You can also hide the “Up” button by checking the “Hide Up (go to parent folder) button” box, although that button is rather useful. You can also “Enable glass on navigation bar” which makes the navigation bar the same color and style as the title bar, instead of white.To change the style of the navigation buttons (right and left arrow buttons) on the navigation bar, check the “Use alternate navigation buttons style” box in the Appearance section of the OldNewExplorer configuration dialog box.The altered navigation bar area will look similar to the following image. We decided not to hide the Up button.Enable the Details PaneWhen you show the Details pane in Windows 7’s Windows Explorer, it displays at the bottom of the window. However, the Details pane was moved to the right side in Windows 10, taking up precious horizontal space and causing you to widen the window to see the file details.NOTE: If you replaced the ribbon with the command bar in the previous section, you can show the Details pane by selecting Organize Layout Details pane.
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