Computer help - missing shortcuts in file windows
 

Finally decided to ditch Windows 2000. Installed a 2003 but when I open a file window (such as "open files" or "save as"), I'm missing the large icon shortcuts to desktop, my documents, etc. on the left side of the file window. How do I restore it?

You can try this:

Download TweakUI from Microsoft.

Install the program.
Go to Start -> All Programs -> Powertoys for Windows XP ->
TweakUI.
Once the program is running, click on the + sign next to Common
Dialogs in the left hand column.
Click on Places bar.
Select "Show default places".
Click OK.
Go to save a file and see if the problem is fixed.

Dave

Won,

What do you mean "installed a 2003??" 2003 What? XP or ???

Finally, W2000 is one of the best, most stable platforms that MS ever made, so unless someone has a very good reason to upgrade, especially to XP which has severe security issues, this is not a good upgrade.

Ditto to Vista which will need at least a year to debug. Course XP is 4-5 years old and still not debugged so I might be being optimistic here...

What Joe said X10!

I meant Windows Server 2003.

With all the "hot fixes" and add-ons on the 2000 it became so slow and unstable, at least on my computer. Besides, the regular format was due and I was hoping, with W2003, some of the fixes for W2000 would have come implemented. Maybe I'm being optimistic here too.

I tried XP and absolutely hated it, I don't understand why MS keeps making their new OS look nice and flashy but gives the advanced users less and less control over what really matters. I'm gonna try the 2003 for a while, and if I don't like it, I'm going back to Linux. I'm not even gonna waste my time with Vista, I mean, an OS is suuposed to be streamlined and fast, and not require 1 Gb of minimum memory to run. It's not even a joke.

Speaking of a streamlined OS, the first time I installed Linux, it took me a month just to configure the wireless card on my laptop. As fun as the whole troubleshooting and figuring out how to do ***** was, something I missed from W3.1 and 95 days, I didn't have time to spend doodling on Linux with school, work and all. But if this doesn't work I might just be left without much choice.

As far as the original question is concerned, the registry for "My Places Bar" is under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Comdlg32\Placesbar] and mine had a key "noplacebar=1". Simply turned it off, and now I have it.

Thanks for your help, gentlemen.

Won

Server is really not the best option for a desktop computer. It will have more overhead that a desktop OS, and out of the box, it is configured to favor background services over user applications. You can tweak this by going to into your systme property, clicking advance, then clicking on performance. I can't recall exactly where the setting it, but you can configure it to favor user mode applications.

It is disheartening to here you guys bashing XP. If you dislike the 'flashy' interfaces, simply turn them all off. You can make an XP box look exactly like a 2000 machine. XP has some features that I would not want to live without, not the least of which is a remote desktop connection.

That being said, 2000 was (and is) a nice, simple, stable OS.

I remember people used to say that when I first started using Windows 2000 with most everyone else still on 98. Windows 2000 has the same options to "optimize" for either background services or programs. I'll also try to disable all the services that is only required for Server, if I can figure out which one is which.

Even without the bubbly red and blue buttons, the XP decided it was gonna set my music folder as, well, a music folder. That meant the sort options for the files were according to length, artists and so on (I can't really remember what they were exactly), and I couldn't use "by date" which I use frequently to quickly find songs I acquired around a certain period. I couldn't change the folder back to "regular" file folder, not after a format, not even after installing SP2 that just came out. It was one simple nuisance that I just could not live with. I know it's stupid, but that's me :D

I consider remote desktop access as a security threat.

Ok I'm really really stupid.

I opened my music folder and guess what, Windows 2003 set the folder type as music folder and walla, there's no sort by date option again. Turns out, each "sort by" options come from each tab in detail view, so I added a "date modified" tab and changed it back to list view, now I can sort it by date!!!

Won -

Glad to hear you have a partial answer to your problem. Not sure how W2K became slow and unstable; I use it and have found it rock-solid, but I manually control add-ons and updates.


HardDrive -

I like windoze - really do. What I DON'T like is microsoft's treating everyone like a pirate. It's guilty until proven guilty with them. WinXP offers nothing, imo, over W2K except a further restriction of usage rights and further insinuation of DRM and policeware into a computer.

WinXP is tied to hardware configuration to get a reg code. My attitude is that it's none of microsoft's fukcing business what kind of hardware is in my computer. Also, I should not have to suffer downtime or beg for a new reg code to recover from a hardware crash, and I should not have to answer to Redmond every time I change computer configuration.

There is absolutely nothing I have found that XP does better than 2K -- at least nothing I care about. Why, then, should I downgrade to XP for no other purpose than stylistic points???

True story: Bought a ThinkPad (love 'em, btw) and it arrived without an O/S disk. For me, that's a major problem as it's only a question of *when* the drive will die. Call IBM tech support and ask for the O/S disk. Answer? "Microsoft won't let us provide O/S disks with a computer." WTF???!!! So I inquired about what I was supposed to do when the drive crashes - the answer was that I had to get a new drive with the O/S pre-installed from IBM so they can control the O/S for microsoft. Now I'm pi$$ed off. I can't back up the O/S and can't keep my business running if the drive dies -- all because microsoft wants to treat me as a pirate and force me into XP. That was the last straw for me.

I could go on for way too long about this; suffice to say that we are the frogs and the water has slowly been getting hotter. I choose to jump out.

Linux. Yes, it can be a bit user-hostile. This is where the Mac and windoze have an edge, but there is a wealth of apps available. One way I use linux a lot is for safe internet use using knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/). My systems are pretty well locked down, and many web functions are not available on my workstations. Enter knoppix - it's a downloadable, bootable cd or dvd which makes your computer full linux and makes all resources on your computer available, but safely. Great stuff! For those wanting to go fully into linux, look into Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) which makes the process rather pleasant. Incredible what's out there.

Oh, remote computing. Terminal Server works fine with W2K.

KAR 120C

One thing I didn't count on was the lack of driver support for Windows 2003. I guess I'll try the XP again now that I know how to sort my music folder.......